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After the kids,

Come the granny pants.

You know the ones.  Underwear as comfortable as the flannel nighties and Crocs you started to wear when "feeling sexy" finally slipped off your list of Life's Priorities.

Chuck saw "underwear" on my shopping list and humbly requested that I buy some panties that don't look like the ones from his mom's laundry basket.  Some that live up to the name - unmentionables.

So, I decided to honor his fantasy and bought a package of the cutest, cheap, plus-sized Hanes ladies' briefs (those high-cut, hip-hugging kind) that Wal-Mart carries.

A couple of days later, I pulled on a pair and, "Darn!"

"What's wrong?"

"I just tore a hole in my new underwear!"

Chuck sighed, "Well, I guess they just don't make 'em like they did in '1956."

Sigh.  Nope, I'm sorry, Dear.  They don't.

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Chuck often chides me for spending too much time yakking it up on the Writer's Digest Writer's Forum.  I've tried to quit, honest, but I'm addicted to that place and the people.  If you are a writer or writer wanna-be, you owe it to your career to check it out.  Not only do we have a lot of fun, but you will learn A LOT about writing, publishing, grammar, and why you need to kill your adverbs.

Earlier this week one of the authors started a thread about using real-life people in fiction, which inspired me to parody the Miranda Warning for writers.  Maria Schneider, WD Editor, posted it here. 

And now, I'm going to bask for a while.

 

 

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Here it is!  The end of our 21 Days of words you've probably never heard and are less likely to ever use.  I'm ending the series with one of my favorites I've been saving for you. 

shibboleth

pronunciation:  shib-uh-lith

definition:  A pattern of behavior, speech or activity that sets apart a group of people.  Also, a common belief or saying with little current meaning or truth.

I love this word mostly because of the somewhat comical story behind it.  This is a passage taken from the Bible, Judges 12:4-6 (NIV):

Jephthah then called together the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, "You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh."  The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, "Let me cross over," the men of Gilead asked him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he replied, "No,"  they said, "All right, say 'Shibboleth.' " He said, "Sibboleth," because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.

Today, a shibboleth is akin to a stereotype.  Think about groups of people:  Christians, Muslims, Jews, homeschoolers, plumbers, Arkansans, gays, lawyers, etc.  What are some shibboleths you hold?

 

 

  1. 21 Days to a Bigger Vocabulary - Day 20

Page 12 of 20

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