In My Own Write Jimmy’s Thoughts - and Not Yours

Dining In - or Out...

Sun, 7 Feb 2010 15:21:17 -0500

Well, enough of these questions from the nieces and nephews…
Believe it or not, I have questions of my own. For instance, I always wondered what is the difference between a "diner" and a "restaurant."
Well, after doing my normal extensive (more than 5 minutes) research, I still don't really know, but what the heck, I should probably pretend that I do.
They're both 'eateries,' but the name sort of gives you an indication of it's theme, formality, price, menu, and maybe operating hours.
I think a diner is typically American - diners do exist in other countries, but I'm pretty sure they first existed, and became popular, here.
A restaurant prepares and serves food (and drink) to their customers and meals are generally served, and eaten, on premises. (It does seem that more and more restaurant are installing take-out windows/services.) Restaurants also often specialize in one type of food - Mexican, Italian, German, Greek, etc. The people that prepare the food in restaurants are usually referred to as 'chefs.'
Diners are often housed in smaller buildings than restaurants and many are constructed with an outer layer of shiny steel - an architectural feature that seems to be unique to diners… Diners appeared to become popular during the 1950s, when a lot of Americans were "taking to the roads." Most diners usually feature food that includes burgers, fries, shakes and most breakfast items. Most of the food is cooked in skillets and fryers. And the people preparing the food are referred to as "cooks."
Diners are often open longer hours and I expect all feature "breakfast all day."
I wouldn't say that restaurants are higher class, but while a diner might say it is a restaurant, I doubt that a restaurant would ever say it was a diner…
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Stracensky’s Sister the Nun

Sat, 6 Feb 2010 12:49:20 -0500

A few days ago while it was snowing, I responded to one of Chris' questions concerning the flag orientation on the tail of Air Force One. The same e-mail contained another question; here's the second question, "Also, Mike and JR want to know why a nun (like Auntie Bobbie) is also referred to as a sister. My guess is because it's a bunch of ladies living together like sisters but what do I know!"
Since its snowing agin, here's the answer to that one…
To begin with, nuns are sisters, but not all sisters are nuns. I believe that, technically, a sister is a vowed religious who works within the greater community as well as their own religious community. A nun is a cloistered religious and most activity is restricted to just their own community.
The religious community of a nun is referred to as a religious order while the religious community of a sister is referred to as a congregation (or sometimes an institute.) So that's why all nuns are religious "sisters," but not all religious sisters are nuns. In the Catholic Church, a nun is a female that has taken solemn vows, in which a person renounces the right of ownership of goods.
Of course this question should have been directed to Auntie Bobbie, who might have had to refer it to me - but that's really the correct protocol.
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Three Quarters of the way...

Sat, 6 Feb 2010 12:08:54 -0500

Just came in from shoveling a bit of snow - depending on where you measure, we have between 24 and 30 inches, not counting drifts - looks like one in the back is probably close to 4 feet. The problem with shoveling (besides being heavy) is that there is no place to put it.
If you believe the weather people, we’re about 3/4 done - by my calculations, that means we can expect about 7 to 10 more inches by 10 p.m. tonight when it will (supposedly) stop. I know why Cleveland wasn’t on my “retirement places” list - and I’m beginning to wonder why West Virginia was.
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Flags

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:20:59 -0500

I'm a little behind in catching up on my e-mails - since it's currently snowing outside, I thought this might be a good time to get started.
First up is de-niece, Chris. She wrote, "I saw Air Force One last week. Obama was speaking in Elyria & it was parked at Hopkins. I just so happened to be working the Pro Show at the IX Center so I took a look. Was bummed I didn’t think to bring my camera but oh well! Anyway, I noticed the American flag on the tail is reversed of how it’s usually pictured; stars on the left, stripes on the right. Instead it’s stars on the right & stripes on the left. Do you know why?"
Of course, I know why - she was looking at the wrong side of Air Force One. If she had gone around to the other side, the flag on the tail would have looked right (correct) to her.
The correct way to display the flag, when displayed flat, either horizontally or vertically, is so that the stars appear to the observer's left.
However think of the tail of Air Force One as a flag pole. When the wind is blowing the flag straight out (as it has around here lately,) if you look at the flag from one side, the stars are on the left; but if you walk around to the other side of the pole, the stars are on your right. Just think of the vertical fin or stabilizer of Air Force One as a flag pole - when the airplane is flying, the flag unfurls to the rear; it looks like the flag is "traveling" through the air.
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Oofty Mcgoofty

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 14:56:35 -0500

I was in a meeting a month or so ago and used the term "that's just dinky-dao." Everyone looked at me like I was crazy - in fact, my statement meant that the idea that was being proposed was crazy. "Dinky-dao" is a Vietnamese term meaning "very crazy." Not sure why I used it - sometimes it just seems kinder to use terms like that instead of just blurting out "you're crazy!"
Of course, that got me to thinking… we use a lot of words that don't make a lot of logical sense; when we think someone is crazy, or not quite up to snuff, we use a lot of different terms and phrases. Even though you don't hear the phrase "up to snuff" much anymore, it was popular when I was growing up. It's origin referred to the tobacco snuff, not to snuff out a candle… "up to snuff" referred to someone who was fairly smart and not easily fooled. It probably was used because snuff was mainly used by adult men usually of some affluence (snuff was expensive.)
But, today we use a lot of terms to describe people that don't come up to our "standards." A few I can think of are:
Nuttier than a fruitcake
As useful as a chocolate fire guard
An intellect rivaled only by garden tools
As quick as a tortoise on Prozac
As useful as a screen door on a submarine
Anyhow, you get the idea.
Again, when I was a kid, we referred to crazy as loony toony and also as oofty mcgoofty. Both expressions were picked up from the cartoons in the movies. loony toony from the Looney Tunes cartoons and oofty mcgoofty from a cartoon with Daffy Duck in it - I think. It turns out that Oofty Mgoofty was the name given to a real person; several versions of the story exist, but the one that I like best is about a guy in San Francisco in the late 1800s that wanted to be a circus performer. He wasn't particularly athletic or a very good actor. He decided to become one of the freaks in the sideshow - he covered himself with tar and horse hair. In the sideshow, he jumped around in a cage shouting, "oofty, mgoofty!" - the name stuck. The story goes that the tar caused him to become sick and he had to lie on the roof of a building for several days in the sun for the tar to melt off his body. Later, he realized that the tar had killed most, if not all, of the pain receptors in his skin. Oofty then marketed himself by offering to let others punch him (for money.) Apparently he finally took one punch too many…
I suppose by telling that story, I can be accused of practicing floccinaucinihilipilification - estimating things as worthless and belittling other's achievements. Call it what you might - but as I've always said, don't be some ordinary moron; try to be an Oxy-Moron!
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