Brought to You by the Letter O

O isn't necessarily my favorite letter in the alphabet (because of a certain billionaire's self-absorbed use of it) like Q and X (I especially love K), but I do appreciate it because it is one of the underused vowels (Wheel of Fortune will agree), and I do like the underdogs (the reason I rooted for the Jets).

One of the coolest words in the English language is "onomatopoeia." O is used 4 times, once for no reason (it's like a silent E), and it basically comes after every consonant. So, with those hints spelling onomatopoeia should be easy, right? Yeah, I know it still takes practice. Another reason why onomatopoeia is so cool is because of its meaning. It's that word that you can never think of when you want to say, "what is it called when a word makes a sound? You know a sound word like 'buzz' or 'beep' or meow.' That word." That's what onomatopoeia is... a sound word. I know onomatopoeia sounds like a terrible skin disease that causes puss to leak out of boils, or an Italian saying in their sing-songy English "I gotta go pee-a."

I wonder if the fantastical Cirque de Soleil show "O" in Vegas is short for onomatopoeia, and the producers couldn't figure out how to spell it correctly and just gave up . . .

What Is This Really About?

One of my facebook friends from college current status is a quote from the hilarious show Community (by far one of the funniest shows ever, like up there with Arrested Development), but he didn't stop there. He continued to post quotes from the show, and they are all definitely funny. Of course I added my "hahaha!" in there (in case you didn't know I disdain "lol" and never use it because it is overused,  most of the time, inappropriately--I burned my finger lol. My boyfriend cheated on me lol. I gave you herpes lol, ok so that one is appropriately used but you get the drift, and I also don't like it because people are really saying laugh[ing] out loud, come on we really don't say that in a conversation you just laugh so why not use the onomatopoeia for laughing "haha?"), and another guy just clicked on "Like." That is not enough.

Why doesn't facebook offer a "Love" button. Like is not intense enough. It's a weak emotion. It's noncommital. It's like saying "Meh. I don't love, but I don't hate." And that is not how we should talk to our friends. We need to love what they do, or hate it, and we tell them that to their faces ... sometimes. . .  right?! And we especially "Love" everything about Community.

Jeff Winger's snarky comments. Abed's infatuation with John Hughes and pop culture--he's like "I see your value now" Rainman. Brita who tries to be extreme and nonconformist when she really isn't. Pierce who is creepy, and oblivious to his creepiness. Shirley, sweet Shirley, who explodes if you badmouth Jesus (and I agree with her). Annie, who has her panties wound so tightly that she is one explosion short of an aneurism. Finally, Troy, the jock he's too. . .  ambidextrous . . .  I mean ambiguous.

Yes, last night's episode was funny, and I have been waiting forever for new ones, one can only watch the stop-motion Christmas special for so long to fill the void, and in case you were wondering I thought it was the most Christmasy Christmas episode of any show Fall season.

So, yes I wanted to "Love" all the comments my friend made because they were more than just "meh." Oh, and Facebook doesn't have a "Hate" button either.

Do Pretentious People Know They Are Pretentious?

I have met a lot of pretentious people in my life--and I apologize if I've ever given off the pretentious vibe --and I wonder if they realize they are pretentious. I met a boy in college who thought he was the pooh, but he wasn't. He was unkempt with greasy hair and grungy clothes, and he liked to give his opinion when it wasn't warranted.

One time I was talking to one of the teachers (an adjunct who had a Master's and was accepted to a graduate program) about fairy tales, and I guess you can say he had first hand experience with fairy tales because he used to live in Germany, the land of fairy tales--Grimms Brothers, Neuschwanstein--and the pretentious undergrad rudely butted into our conversation and inisted that the adjunct was talking about a fable. A very different sort of story (although, they are both included in the folk tale category) and a very specific type of storytelling. Yes, fairy tales have morals like fables, but they are implicit not explicit like fables, and besides, since when has Cinderella ever been a dog? They kind of went back-and-forth for a while (really, it was ridiculous and the pretentious fool should have just shut up when he had the chance). After the room was cleared, the smug pretentious jerk looked up fables on-line and found out he was wrong, but never owned up to it like a pretentious fatherless child would do. I only know that he looked it up because after he left the room I looked up the history of the computer that he used and he googled fables. I felt pretty good after that.

That was then this is now, and I ran into another pretentious person the other day, and she was offering me unwarranted advice. I am older than her, have had cooler experiences than her, and I know what I am doing. Anyways, I did look up her suggestion, and maybe she was right, but that doesn't  mean I have to listen to her . . . because she is pretentious.