Hello, friends, and welcome to another in our ongoing visits with the world’s most pedantic superhero, Captain Word Guy. Captain Word Guy, what’s on your mind today? Inflation. You mean when prices for goods and services rise while purchasing power falls? No. I’m talking about word inflation – the practice of misusing a word, either by misunderstanding or misapplication, until [...]
As a Roman Catholic male, I am eligible to become Pope. Granted, it’s something of a long shot, but just in case, I have prepared my application: “Howdy do, Buongiorno and Dominus Vobiscum from Indianapolis, Indiana, home of the world’s greatest automobile race and, should the white smoke puff in my favor, thenextBishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor [...]
I admit it. I buy things on impulse. I seldom go through a grocery checkout without picking up a Kit Kat bar or a pack of Doublemint, and I once came home from a quick errand with milk, bread, and a new Pontiac. Anyway, while it occasionally has led me to some silly purchases (the Pontiac was a lemon), I [...]
For years, I have discussed the benefits of the manual transmission for our motor vehicles. Well, I call it discussion, but it was really more like shouting into the wind. People just don’t want to shift their own gears anymore, no matter how much you point out that it makes you a better driver, more in control of your vehicle [...]
My dog, Cookie, is 13-years-old, which moves her into the stage of life we call Senior Dogitude. Well, maybe that’s not the precise veterinary term. But it’s closer than the other phrase I am using for her current status: Weird Old Lady. She’s forgetful. Often she’ll stand at the back door, asking to go out and, upon getting her wish, [...]
It is Awards Season again – or as I like to think of it, that special time of year when Mike once again finds out he is WAY out of touch. The World Wide Interweb Thingie is alive with chatter about who is going to win which statuette at what show – Oscar, Emmy, Tony, Golden Globes, Grammy, Granny, Silver [...]
I like New Year’s. Or rather, new years. New Year’s the holiday doesn’t mean all that much to me. New years as in here comes another 365-day lap around the sun – well, that’s another matter entirely. See, I’m not much for parties, don’t drink champagne and get kind of bored with football after the eighth or ninth hour of [...]
Had you driven past my house one recent Friday, you would have seen a workman on the roof stringing Christmas lights. For reasons of safety and schedule, I decided to let someone else do the job this year. But had you driven past my house the day after, you would have seen me up there re-doing the job. So much [...]
Had an unusual encounter with a panhandler the other day, and in my neighborhood, that is saying something. We get a lot of panhandling here. Business is so good they come right up to the front door sometimes, saving me the trouble of running into them on the street. People have told me they do this because they’ve made some [...]
Lots of people are mourning the Hostess Twinkie, but I think reports of its extinction are premature. I’m certain someone already has a plan to license the names and recipes of all those Hostess snack foods. It wouldn’t be the first time this has happened in the snack food industry. Dolly Madison Zinger (made by Hostess), anyone? Snack food industry. [...]
