The "What's on your mind?" Thread -2017

[tallyollyopia]

Ick. Make sure you carve out time to take care of yourself. That's not a luxury, that's a necessity. As they say, put your own oxygen mask on before you start trying to put one on someone else.

I'm trying.

Haha! No matter how I try to say it, it either comes out with 2 syllables or as "chr". Like I said, I'm pretty sure that's the only way I've ever heard it pronounced, or maybe it's subtle so that's just what my ears hear. Funny.

My grandma used to say "warsh" for wash. I don't think that's Midwestern, or at least I haven't heard it from many people. I wonder where she picked that up.

Hehe. My DD does that; he also says things like "Yellow", instead of "Hello". Of course, he grew up in Southern Missouri.

Yep, weird way to pronounce some words. Regionally it can really differ. "Warsh", now that's southern, I heard people say that in Texas and was wondering where the "r" came from.
Where do people say "Mashashoosetts"? In Massachusetts. Ever listen to Bernie's speeches?
New Yorkers say "Noo Yawk". They seem to not be able to pronounce "r's" at all. I had a friend whose name was Pat Arthur. She made a plane reservation and it was noted down as "Pat Hawthorne", she grew up in New York City. When I asked for her at the airport because I could not find her I was told she was not on that plane so I went home. I got a call from her asking why I was home, that she was waiting for me at the airport (this was before cell phones). So I had to go back to pick her up. We went to the counter to find out what was going on as she certainly had been on that plane and we had a good laugh once we figured out it was her NYC accent that caused the misunderstanding. What she really said for the longest time was "A-tha". After many years in California she managed to say Ar-tha, but never could say the "er" sound at the end.
When I first came to the States a neighbor asked me that since I was going to the store if I would pick up a bag of "Aish Potatoes" for her. I did not know what that was but figured there would be a sign telling me about the various potatoes. I could not find any and so went home without any potatoes saying they did not have any. It was not until much later that I figured out that she had said "Irish potatoes" which were plain ordinary white potatoes, I would not have known that either.

Coyotes: In Texas they said Ky-ots, in SoCal where most people pride themselves on saying Spanish words with the correct pronunciation they say "Ko-yo-tes" but I have also heard "Ka-yots" or Ka-yo-tes" or "Ka-yo-tees".

It makes it difficult for foreigners to understand what people say when it differs a lot from what they have learned as "proper English". Then they learn the regional way of speaking but again are lost when they visit a different part of the country. Native speakers don't have that problem, they can usually understand English in all its forms, I said "usually", there are some that are so different or so full of colloquialisms that they sound like another language altogether (try Cockney or what used to be called Ebonics). Then there is twang, and sing-song, and talking through the nose and in the back of the throat, on top of which is the speed of one's speech. Oh my, it gets more difficult to figure out what is "proper English".
Mid-Atlantic is what newscasters speak or West Coast now because by the time people have brought all their different ways of speaking to the West Coast it has been so blurred by exposure to all the other ways they hear that there is no regional accent left. Television has helped a lot as people are exposed to it every day all the time.

True and other words starting with "tr". Don't know how somebody came up with 'tshr" but that is so small a difference that I would probably think of it as a speech defect if I heard it just like some people lisp and every "s" sound comes out as "th". So what? As long as it's understandable.

arouetta - did you study linguistics? Those are usually the people who know HOW a sound is formed with their lips, tongue and teeth.

There was a group that came to speak at our church that came from another, non-English speaking country once. When the leader of the group got up to speak he mentioned that when he got off the plane the first words he heard were, "Hey ya'll! How ya doin'?" His first thought was, "Was that English?"

 

[DreamerRose]

My grandma used to say "warsh" for wash. I don't think that's Midwestern, or at least I haven't heard it from many people. I wonder where she picked that up.

I grew up in Washington, DC, with neighbors from Ohio. The mom always said "Warshington," which I always thought was odd, but I agree, it's Midwestern. It's definitely not southern. No one in the South says "warsh." They do say "ahrn" for "iron," though, as in "tar ahrn."

I have a couple of little books called How to Speak Southern, and to a Southerner, they're hilarious.

 

[arouetta]

arouetta - did you study linguistics? Those are usually the people who know HOW a sound is formed with their lips, tongue and teeth.

No I haven't, though the little toe dipping I've done makes me want to learn more. There have been two things in my life, one a teeny little thing and one huge, that got me interested in language and communication.

The teeny reason was when I was in elementary school. I was put in speech therapy because I didn't say my "S" right. The sound came out right but someone had noticed I didn't have my teeth and tongue in the right spot. Why they cared enough to put me in speech therapy long before the IDEA I don't know. Anyway I learned to play lip service (pun intended) in speech therapy to make the therapist happy and then said it my way the rest of the time. Years later I found a possible explanation. Most people can't make the "SV" sound without inserting an "E" that is a common combination in the Scandinavian languages. Think of the name Sven for example. I can if I say "S" my way, but I can't if I say "S" the way I'm supposed to. My great-great grandparents and many of their closest relatives came from Norway, so I have wondered if that modified way of saying it would be the correct way in Norwegian and it's simply a holdover as parents taught their children to speak.

The huge reason is that my daughter almost never spoke until she was almost 5 years old. To be factually correct, she didn't communicate. That meant lots and lots of speech therapy, which meant learning a ton about both speech and non-verbal communication so I could do the lessons at home between appointments. I never did learn sign language, I have the same problem with it that I've had when learning other languages. I pick up syntax quick but the vocabulary is the problem, which probably goes hand in hand with my word recall memory difficulties. (My family is long used to me saying, "I can't think of the word but it starts with T and similar words are...." and they supply the word for me.)

Between the two when the subject of dialects and accents come up and we're talking of a specific word I think to say the word to myself and focus on how my mouth moves.

 

[arouetta]

Well what I was afraid of happening did happen. I've lost muscle strength.

I have a lift limitation of 10 pounds, push/pull limitation of 10 pounds and no reaching overhead at all. I've been adhering to them pretty closely. Since a shopping cart probably weighs 10 pounds empty and definitely is over that when full I've been putting much of the force needed to push them with my left arm, mostly steering with my right.

Think of those huge double-decker clothing racks you see at stores. We had a talk about keeping the fire escapes clear and how if someone was seen walking by a partially blocked exit, even if they weren't the ones to block it, there would be disciplinary action. Well every night those double-decker racks are put on the sales floor in a way to block one of the fire exits. Last night I asked about it and was told I had a really good point. And then I was told to move the racks to a different area. I was feeling lazy and I didn't want to waste the time moving them so instead of walking back and forth one rack at a time (which still goes past my push/pull restriction since I can't move them one-handed) I moved three at once...twice. I did hurt after and kicked myself for doing too much but last night was so crazy I didn't have time to pay much attention to the pain.

Well I am REALLY hurting today. But the ligament pain in general and the pain location when I move my arm across or behind me is not hurting any more than usual. The pain is muscle pain and it's located very close to the ligament but the actual locations are more in the chest. Since my left arm has zero pain whatsoever it means that the muscles on the left side are stronger, despite me being right-handed. Ick. Rebuilding strength is hard. (And yeah, I haven't started PT yet due to financial limitations.)

 

[Margret]

arouetta , but no suggestions, I'm sorry to say. I'm afraid you'll just have to regain your strength later when you've healed. I'm still trying to regain strength in my left hand from a broken arm that happened in 2012!

Here in Colorado, there's a small city, Pueblo, south of Denver. I've always pronounced that "pweb'-lo," because that's the way the word is supposed to be pronounced when it's just a word, not a name. But my father and all the native Coloradans I know or knew from his generation pronounced it "pee-yeb'-lo," and I've no idea where that came from.

I once met a minister from Australia who was in the U.S. to attend some specific events and decided to make the most of it by renting a car and seeing all the sights. He said that he never realized he had an accent until he got here. He also said that the rented car broke down when he was visiting Quebec. The first person who stopped to help knew cars but spoke only French. The second person who stopped to help didn't know cars but spoke both French and English, so he could translate, but he was from Texas and had a strong accent. Someone finally stopped who knew only English, but was from the midwest and could understand the Texan and make himself understood by the Australian.

Margret

 

[Mamanyt1953]

And then there was my father who said "frog," "log," "fog," and "dawg." I never quite got that. And there are my male cousins from South Georgia who could stretch a four-letter word into six syllables. And the cousin from Northh Alabama who would chirp, "Hey, y'all! I'm Cah-line" Most of my accent is gone (stop laughing, Margret!), but I can still drawl with the best of them! Thank goodness, it is something between South Georga and North Alabama, neither of which are twangy and nasal (depending on the state of my sinuses on a personal level). Oddly, North Georgia and South Alabama are twangy. Go figure, or as my neighbors here in North Carolina would say, "Go figger."

 

[arouetta]

Just some random thoughts....

First, I'm not allowed to order from Nature Box for a month. I've slowed down the munching now that I'm calorie counting and I wasn't even halfway through the last box when the new box arrived today.

Second, I don't know what happened but I gain two pounds overnight and instead of it being a fluctuation it stayed for a few days. It's been a week and it's only now starting to go down again. Ironically it jumped when I was doing really good, and I've been a little piggy the last few days and now it's going down. Wonder if I accidentally put my body into starvation mode?

Third, I love the local Goodwill. I'm vertically challenged though, so everything needs hemming. I got my hands on a nice skirt. 100% wool, looks great with a blazer, is something that really should be matched to a suit jacket. I need to take 7 inches off of it. There's a nice liner on the inside and there's a slit in the back. I would have to hem the liner and the skirt separately and with so much material being taken off I will have to sew the slit closed as there would be maybe an inch of the slit remaining. There's no way to raise the slit as the material was cut around the seam in such a way that prevents it. I'm debating on trying to do it myself, despite it being more complex than a normal hem job. I'm debating on having it professionally altered. I'm debating on not damaging it and returning it to Goodwill.

Fourth, all my cats have matted fur and I can't figure out why. I've chopped all the mats out of Montressor, which was a major challenge. He's normally the sweetest loving kitty, but when I messed with the mats he freaked. I think his arthritis hurts him the most where the mats were. I tackled Midway yesterday and it'll take a few days of fur growth before I can tell if there's more or the fur is just bunched up. Shadow though is a non-stop work in progress. Just like Montressor the mats are happening the most where the arthritis is the worst. As far as I can tell though, she's simply stopped grooming parts of her body where the arthritis is either the worst or she would have to move that part of her body to reach a different area.

Fifth, I love my daughter......but she and I can't stand each other. Last night I was customizing my ringtones and notification sounds and wanted to test my text message alert. I had forgotten that I gave her a custom text message alert sound. So I stood in her bedroom door and asked her to send me a test text. Some weird setting on my phone was overriding the custom sounds, so several texts until I got the sounds right. But having forgotten about the custom sound, instead of the sound I expected my phone said (mean angry voice) "I hate you! I hate you!" (same voice now happy) "Call me!" My daughter was like what the heck, and I told her that basically it was how we relate to each other. She got all annoyed and said "No it isn't!!!" Mind you, we get into snarling matches at least once every other day, so yeah, that's how we relate.

Sixth, my car is broke. It's broke bad, I'm pretty sure the transmission went out. It died on the main road of my apartment complex so the kid and I pushed it into a parking spot. Of course it went out the same day my husband traveled out of state for a wedding. I'm really glad I live close to work, the Uber fees aren't that bad. I don't know what I'm going to do in the long run though, we can't absorb another car payment.

Ick. 1am and I have to be at work in 12 hours. Goodnight.

 

[foxxycat]

Just popping in. No news. Just enjoying not waking up to alarm. The cats are happy I'm home more often.

 

[tallyollyopia]

I grew up in Washington, DC, with neighbors from Ohio. The mom always said "Warshington," which I always thought was odd, but I agree, it's Midwestern. It's definitely not southern. No one in the South says "warsh." They do say "ahrn" for "iron," though, as in "tar ahrn."

I have a couple of little books called How to Speak Southern, and to a Southerner, they're hilarious.

They would be. Would you post a couple passages, just for the humor?

No I haven't, though the little toe dipping I've done makes me want to learn more. There have been two things in my life, one a teeny little thing and one huge, that got me interested in language and communication.

The teeny reason was when I was in elementary school. I was put in speech therapy because I didn't say my "S" right. The sound came out right but someone had noticed I didn't have my teeth and tongue in the right spot. Why they cared enough to put me in speech therapy long before the IDEA I don't know. Anyway I learned to play lip service (pun intended) in speech therapy to make the therapist happy and then said it my way the rest of the time. Years later I found a possible explanation. Most people can't make the "SV" sound without inserting an "E" that is a common combination in the Scandinavian languages. Think of the name Sven for example. I can if I say "S" my way, but I can't if I say "S" the way I'm supposed to. My great-great grandparents and many of their closest relatives came from Norway, so I have wondered if that modified way of saying it would be the correct way in Norwegian and it's simply a holdover as parents taught their children to speak.

The huge reason is that my daughter almost never spoke until she was almost 5 years old. To be factually correct, she didn't communicate. That meant lots and lots of speech therapy, which meant learning a ton about both speech and non-verbal communication so I could do the lessons at home between appointments. I never did learn sign language, I have the same problem with it that I've had when learning other languages. I pick up syntax quick but the vocabulary is the problem, which probably goes hand in hand with my word recall memory difficulties. (My family is long used to me saying, "I can't think of the word but it starts with T and similar words are...." and they supply the word for me.)

Between the two when the subject of dialects and accents come up and we're talking of a specific word I think to say the word to myself and focus on how my mouth moves.

This has almost nothing to do with what you said, but you reminded me of it. When I was in Kindergarten and came home after learning the twelfth letter of the alphabet, AWM was horrified. See, in school they taught us that the letter was "Ale." AWM primly informed me when I got home from school that "ale" was a beverage, or a state of being. It was not a letter.

Well what I was afraid of happening did happen. I've lost muscle strength.

I have a lift limitation of 10 pounds, push/pull limitation of 10 pounds and no reaching overhead at all. I've been adhering to them pretty closely. Since a shopping cart probably weighs 10 pounds empty and definitely is over that when full I've been putting much of the force needed to push them with my left arm, mostly steering with my right.

Think of those huge double-decker clothing racks you see at stores. We had a talk about keeping the fire escapes clear and how if someone was seen walking by a partially blocked exit, even if they weren't the ones to block it, there would be disciplinary action. Well every night those double-decker racks are put on the sales floor in a way to block one of the fire exits. Last night I asked about it and was told I had a really good point. And then I was told to move the racks to a different area. I was feeling lazy and I didn't want to waste the time moving them so instead of walking back and forth one rack at a time (which still goes past my push/pull restriction since I can't move them one-handed) I moved three at once...twice. I did hurt after and kicked myself for doing too much but last night was so crazy I didn't have time to pay much attention to the pain.

Well I am REALLY hurting today. But the ligament pain in general and the pain location when I move my arm across or behind me is not hurting any more than usual. The pain is muscle pain and it's located very close to the ligament but the actual locations are more in the chest. Since my left arm has zero pain whatsoever it means that the muscles on the left side are stronger, despite me being right-handed. Ick. Rebuilding strength is hard. (And yeah, I haven't started PT yet due to financial limitations.)

I know how that is. You might try googling some PT exercises, and try working it yourself. It's not nearly as safe, but it is more affordable, and better than doing nothing.

arouetta , but no suggestions, I'm sorry to say. I'm afraid you'll just have to regain your strength later when you've healed. I'm still trying to regain strength in my left hand from a broken arm that happened in 2012!

Here in Colorado, there's a small city, Pueblo, south of Denver. I've always pronounced that "pweb'-lo," because that's the way the word is supposed to be pronounced when it's just a word, not a name. But my father and all the native Coloradans I know or knew from his generation pronounced it "pee-yeb'-lo," and I've no idea where that came from.

I once met a minister from Australia who was in the U.S. to attend some specific events and decided to make the most of it by renting a car and seeing all the sights. He said that he never realized he had an accent until he got here. He also said that the rented car broke down when he was visiting Quebec. The first person who stopped to help knew cars but spoke only French. The second person who stopped to help didn't know cars but spoke both French and English, so he could translate, but he was from Texas and had a strong accent. Someone finally stopped who knew only English, but was from the midwest and could understand the Texan and make himself understood by the Australian.

Margret

One of my first cousins (my DD has eleven siblings, so that's a long list) grew up in London, England. He came (once) to a family reunion when I was kid. Now, at the time, I was reading a lot--mostly stuff like The Chronicles of Narnia, Five Children and It, and books like that at the time. (I still read a lot, when time allows.) So, he'd ask for a torch, and I'd hand him a flashlight, and so on. I also spent most of that summer as an unofficial translator between Mid-Southern (which is what I term most of the family accents) and British. I thought it was hilarious, especially since he was so much older than me (I was ten going on eleven and he was twenty-four.)

And then there was my father who said "frog," "log," "fog," and "dawg." I never quite got that. And there are my male cousins from South Georgia who could stretch a four-letter word into six syllables. And the cousin from Northh Alabama who would chirp, "Hey, y'all! I'm Cah-line" Most of my accent is gone (stop laughing, Margret!), but I can still drawl with the best of them! Thank goodness, it is something between South Georga and North Alabama, neither of which are twangy and nasal (depending on the state of my sinuses on a personal level). Oddly, North Georgia and South Alabama are twangy. Go figure, or as my neighbors here in North Carolina would say, "Go figger."

South Carolina too, Dear.

Just some random thoughts....

First, I'm not allowed to order from Nature Box for a month. I've slowed down the munching now that I'm calorie counting and I wasn't even halfway through the last box when the new box arrived today.

Second, I don't know what happened but I gain two pounds overnight and instead of it being a fluctuation it stayed for a few days. It's been a week and it's only now starting to go down again. Ironically it jumped when I was doing really good, and I've been a little piggy the last few days and now it's going down. Wonder if I accidentally put my body into starvation mode?

Third, I love the local Goodwill. I'm vertically challenged though, so everything needs hemming. I got my hands on a nice skirt. 100% wool, looks great with a blazer, is something that really should be matched to a suit jacket. I need to take 7 inches off of it. There's a nice liner on the inside and there's a slit in the back. I would have to hem the liner and the skirt separately and with so much material being taken off I will have to sew the slit closed as there would be maybe an inch of the slit remaining. There's no way to raise the slit as the material was cut around the seam in such a way that prevents it. I'm debating on trying to do it myself, despite it being more complex than a normal hem job. I'm debating on having it professionally altered. I'm debating on not damaging it and returning it to Goodwill.

Fourth, all my cats have matted fur and I can't figure out why. I've chopped all the mats out of Montressor, which was a major challenge. He's normally the sweetest loving kitty, but when I messed with the mats he freaked. I think his arthritis hurts him the most where the mats were. I tackled Midway yesterday and it'll take a few days of fur growth before I can tell if there's more or the fur is just bunched up. Shadow though is a non-stop work in progress. Just like Montressor the mats are happening the most where the arthritis is the worst. As far as I can tell though, she's simply stopped grooming parts of her body where the arthritis is either the worst or she would have to move that part of her body to reach a different area.

Fifth, I love my daughter......but she and I can't stand each other. Last night I was customizing my ringtones and notification sounds and wanted to test my text message alert. I had forgotten that I gave her a custom text message alert sound. So I stood in her bedroom door and asked her to send me a test text. Some weird setting on my phone was overriding the custom sounds, so several texts until I got the sounds right. But having forgotten about the custom sound, instead of the sound I expected my phone said (mean angry voice) "I hate you! I hate you!" (same voice now happy) "Call me!" My daughter was like what the heck, and I told her that basically it was how we relate to each other. She got all annoyed and said "No it isn't!!!" Mind you, we get into snarling matches at least once every other day, so yeah, that's how we relate.

Sixth, my car is broke. It's broke bad, I'm pretty sure the transmission went out. It died on the main road of my apartment complex so the kid and I pushed it into a parking spot. Of course it went out the same day my husband traveled out of state for a wedding. I'm really glad I live close to work, the Uber fees aren't that bad. I don't know what I'm going to do in the long run though, we can't absorb another car payment.

Ick. 1am and I have to be at work in 12 hours. Goodnight.

Hope today is better for you.

Just popping in. No news. Just enjoying not waking up to alarm. The cats are happy I'm home more often.

 

[DreamerRose]

Sorry. Duplicate post.

 

[DreamerRose]

tallyollyopia - I'll see if I can find it - gonna be busy today; just checking in here (hyah). One thang Ah can tell you for shore is that "Atlanta" doesn't have any T's in it - it's "Edlanna."

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I grew up in Washington, DC, with neighbors from Ohio. The mom always said "Warshington," which I always thought was odd, but I agree, it's Midwestern. It's definitely not southern. No one in the South says "warsh." They do say "ahrn" for "iron," though, as in "tar ahrn."

I have a couple of little books called How to Speak Southern, and to a Southerner, they're hilarious.

How did I miss that last line? I'll have to look for those, as well as a hilarious book I had decades ago called, "The Southern Belle Primer." The reason it was so hilarious is that I knew those women! I want another copy. I actually remember going to weddings in South Georgia where the punch matched the bridesmaids' shoes!

 

[NewYork1303]

It is hot here today. Carrot has been spending the day up high on his cat perches.

 

[muffy]

It is hot here today. Carrot has been spending the day up high on his cat perches.

View attachment 181977

View attachment 181978

Carrot is gorgeous. I sure miss my red boys.

Muffy

 

[debbila]

My friend Linda grew up in Indiana. After hearing her teacher call her Lind-er many times, she told her one day, " My name is Lind-DA, Miss Johnson". The teacher replied, " That's what I said, Linder. ".

 

[tallyollyopia]

tallyollyopia - I'll see if I can find it - gonna be busy today; just checking in here (hyah). One thang Ah can tell you for shore is that "Atlanta" doesn't have any T's in it - it's "Edlanna."

How did I miss that last line? I'll have to look for those, as well as a hilarious book I had decades ago called, "The Southern Belle Primer." The reason it was so hilarious is that I knew those women! I want another copy. I actually remember going to weddings in South Georgia where the punch matched the bridesmaids' shoes!

My friend Linda grew up in Indiana. After hearing her teacher call her Lind-er many times, she told her one day, " My name is Lind-DA, Miss Johnson". The teacher replied, " That's what I said, Linder. ".

Oh, boy, I needed those laughs. I'll tell you why, but it might get a little ranty, so you may want to skip. You Have Been Warned.

Okay, so about two hours before work the night before last I got a text saying that our store needs to raise a thousand dollars for the yearly charity (Muscular Dystrophy Association Summer Camp Program, for all who are curious) this weekend, or the store is going to lose more hours. We can't afford more hours lost. So, On my way home I got permission from the AM (regular manager isn't supposed to work weekends or holidays) to bring in a can for donations. (Pushing for the charity as hard as I could only yielded a little over twelve dollars. As I seem to be the only person trying, I didn't think that was feasible for raising the thousand.) Well, last night during my shift I raised a little over fourteen dollars (and my shift is the slowest, even with the traffic pickup since school year ended), and got permission to leave the can there. That was the good part.

Yesterday, when I got up for work I learned that, during the night, Grandma's legs had started draining again. The person who noticed this was the volunteer who takes vitals, and since she doesn't actually have license to do anything, isn't allowed to touch the patients (it's an insurance issue). Well, the vital checker told the nurse, who said she'd get around to it, and apparently said that every hour on the hour as the bed slowly got more saturated (they had to change the mattress!!!) until eleven yesterday morning. (The vital checker told AWM about it when she went to visit yesterday afternoon.) My grandmother is the one who taught me that a lady keeps her claws sheathed until they're needed, so where were Grandma's claws while this was happening to her?! (They're on notice now--AWM was not happy. Neither was I, but I've been working over ten hours a day this weekend.)

Then, a little while later, I had two customers (regulars; they're big guys twice my size and about twenty years old) came in. Well, a cave cricket had gotten into the store (Cave Cricket - What's That Bug? for anyone who's interested), and they were terrified of it, so I took it outside. Wouldn't have been a big deal except that they were talking about trying to get a discount on the morning's purchase (they were planning to go to the lake today) for the trauma of having dealt with the bug. It irritated me a little bit.

A little later I had a tongue twisted moment when trying to say the name of the charity we're raising for, and a customer called me on it and tried to make me take money off his final balance because I said the name wrong. I apologized, said that it had been a long night, and he began ranting about "kids today".

Well, I was a little late getting out (yeah, I know--big shock there), and one of the last things I do before I clock out (I don't work after clocking out), is take out the garbage and recycling. On my way back in from my first trip, one of the customers, a woman at the pump, starts hollering and waving at me, so I trot over to see what's the matter and if I can fix it. When I asked her what was wrong she said, "You need to go faster if you're ever going to lose weight."

When I was making my first trip out with the recycling (we've gone through a lot of packages at the store this weekend, and I seem to be the only one who takes them out to the dumpster), I was a little overloaded and a customer kindly helped by grabbing what I'd dropped. We were on our way back in (he was there to get a coffee), when we came across three pennies. Thinking nothing of it, I grabbed the only one that was heads up (because exhaustion and superstition go hand in hand, trust me on this), and he grabbed the other two. Then he demanded to know why I didn't grab them. I explained that the one I'd gotten was heads up and he said, "Don't let superstition rule your life." I apologized and said it's been a rough year and I'm just hoping for a little extra good luck. At which point he said, "I lost my wife of less than six months to murder in the Wal-Mart parking lot and I'm the only one who cares. Is your year rougher than that?"

Ugh. I'm going to finish my dinner, go to bed, and hope things are better in the evening.

 

[DreamerRose]

How to Speak Southern is available on Amazon:
Here are some excerpts.

Airs: Mistakes. "That shortstop's made two airs, and the game's not half over yet."

Bard: To obtain the use of, not always on a temporary basis. "He bard mah shovel and never did bring it back.

Carry: To convey from one place to another, usually by automobile. "Can you carry me down to the store in yo' car?"

Co-cola: The soft drink that started in Atlanta and conquered the world. "Ah hear they even sell Co-cola in Russia." (Not mentioned is "coke," which is any kind of soft drink. "What kind of cokes do you have?")

Flares: The colorful, sweet-smelling part of a plant. "If you wife's made at you, it's smart to take her some flares."

Quietus: Pronounced kwi-EET-us and meaning to bring to an abrupt halt. "He was runnin' around with the blonde waitress from the Blue Moon Cafe 'til his wife found out about it and the quietus on it."

Ratcheer: On this spot. "Jest put the groceries down ratcheer."

Wenderlight: A pane of glass. "That baseball went right through the wenderlight."

 

[Margret]

---BIG SNIP---
Yesterday, when I got up for work I learned that, during the night, Grandma's legs had started draining again. The person who noticed this was the volunteer who takes vitals, and since she doesn't actually have license to do anything, isn't allowed to touch the patients (it's an insurance issue). Well, the vital checker told the nurse, who said she'd get around to it, and apparently said that every hour on the hour as the bed slowly got more saturated (they had to change the mattress!!!) until eleven yesterday morning. (The vital checker told AWM about it when she went to visit yesterday afternoon.) My grandmother is the one who taught me that a lady keeps her claws sheathed until they're needed, so where were Grandma's claws while this was happening to her?! (They're on notice now--AWM was not happy. Neither was I, but I've been working over ten hours a day this weekend.)
---BIG SNIP---

Many years ago (late '70s or early '80s), my aunt Helen was hospitalized for some comparatively minor surgery. After the surgery, she began to have problems. She felt a strong need to empty her bladder, but it just wasn't coming. She'd ring for a nurse to bring her a bedpan, the nurse would bring the pan, and then she couldn't pee, although one time there was a tiny bit of blood. The nurses got tired of answering her bell, so they moved the call button so that she couldn't reach it. They did the same thing with her telephone.

This went on all evening, until shift change. At shift change, the new nurse came into her room, said "Oh dear, your call button and phone are out of reach. Here you are," and put them back where they belonged. The first thing Aunt Helen did was to call my mother, who was a physical therapist and was highly respected and trusted in the family. It was the middle of the night but my mother got out of bed and went to the hospital, where she insisted that a doctor look at Aunt Helen. It turned out that she was hemorrhaging into her abdomen, which was putting pressure on her bladder and making it feel full. This was also the source of the little bit of blood in the bedpan, which should have caused the nurse to call a doctor immediately. Aunt Helen went into emergency surgery and the bleeding was stopped, saving her life. And the next day my mother went to the hospital and asked to speak with the patient representative. She told him that he was going to make sure that every nurse on that shift in that ward was fired for cause, so that it would be extremely difficult for them to get another job in nursing, and that if he didn't make that happen my mother would make sure that he was fired for cause. The nurses were fired, for cause.

Aunt Helen wasn't able to do any of this for herself. She couldn't even reach the phone or the call button! So she made the best decision that was something she actually could do -- as soon as possible she called a relative to come advocate for her, and that decision saved her life.

I don't know how all of this has been affecting your Grandma's mind, but she may be unable to actually advocate for herself in any way, including calling a relative for help. I'm very glad the vital checker made a point of passing this information along to her family.

Margret

 

[Mamanyt1953]

How to Speak Southern is available on Amazon:
Here are some excerpts.

Airs: Mistakes. "That shortstop's made two airs, and the game's not half over yet."

Bard: To obtain the use of, not always on a temporary basis. "He bard mah shovel and never did bring it back.

Carry: To convey from one place to another, usually by automobile. "Can you carry me down to the store in yo' car?"

Co-cola: The soft drink that started in Atlanta and conquered the world. "Ah hear they even sell Co-cola in Russia." (Not mentioned is "coke," which is any kind of soft drink. "What kind of cokes do you have?")

Flares: The colorful, sweet-smelling part of a plant. "If you wife's made at you, it's smart to take her some flares."

Quietus: Pronounced kwi-EET-us and meaning to bring to an abrupt halt. "He was runnin' around with the blonde waitress from the Blue Moon Cafe 'til his wife found out about it and the quietus on it."

Ratcheer: On this spot. "Jest put the groceries down ratcheer."

Wenderlight: A pane of glass. "That baseball went right through the wenderlight."

I would add:

Fur: at a distance. "How fur did she toss that thang?"
Tar: the thing that a car rides on. "We had a flat tar a block from the house!"
Worsen: Worse than. "I hate that worsen anything (pronounced enythang)

And the famous last words Good Ol' Boys everywhere, "Billy Bob, hold mah beer! HEY Y'ALL, LOOKEE HERE!"

For further reference, "Pepsi" is, in Oklahoma, like "Coke" in some parts of the South. "What kinda Pepsi you want?" "Dr. Pepper."

 

[tallyollyopia]

How to Speak Southern is available on Amazon:
Here are some excerpts.

Airs: Mistakes. "That shortstop's made two airs, and the game's not half over yet."

Bard: To obtain the use of, not always on a temporary basis. "He bard mah shovel and never did bring it back.

Carry: To convey from one place to another, usually by automobile. "Can you carry me down to the store in yo' car?"

Co-cola: The soft drink that started in Atlanta and conquered the world. "Ah hear they even sell Co-cola in Russia." (Not mentioned is "coke," which is any kind of soft drink. "What kind of cokes do you have?")

Flares: The colorful, sweet-smelling part of a plant. "If you wife's made at you, it's smart to take her some flares."

Quietus: Pronounced kwi-EET-us and meaning to bring to an abrupt halt. "He was runnin' around with the blonde waitress from the Blue Moon Cafe 'til his wife found out about it and the quietus on it."

Ratcheer: On this spot. "Jest put the groceries down ratcheer."

Wenderlight: A pane of glass. "That baseball went right through the wenderlight."

Many years ago (late '70s or early '80s), my aunt Helen was hospitalized for some comparatively minor surgery. After the surgery, she began to have problems. She felt a strong need to empty her bladder, but it just wasn't coming. She'd ring for a nurse to bring her a bedpan, the nurse would bring the pan, and then she couldn't pee, although one time there was a tiny bit of blood. The nurses got tired of answering her bell, so they moved the call button so that she couldn't reach it. They did the same thing with her telephone.

This went on all evening, until shift change. At shift change, the new nurse came into her room, said "Oh dear, your call button and phone are out of reach. Here you are," and put them back where they belonged. The first thing Aunt Helen did was to call my mother, who was a physical therapist and was highly respected and trusted in the family. It was the middle of the night but my mother got out of bed and went to the hospital, where she insisted that a doctor look at Aunt Helen. It turned out that she was hemorrhaging into her abdomen, which was putting pressure on her bladder and making it feel full. This was also the source of the little bit of blood in the bedpan, which should have caused the nurse to call a doctor immediately. Aunt Helen went into emergency surgery and the bleeding was stopped, saving her life. And the next day my mother went to the hospital and asked to speak with the patient representative. She told him that he was going to make sure that every nurse on that shift in that ward was fired for cause, so that it would be extremely difficult for them to get another job in nursing, and that if he didn't make that happen my mother would make sure that he was fired for cause. The nurses were fired, for cause.

Aunt Helen wasn't able to do any of this for herself. She couldn't even reach the phone or the call button! So she made the best decision that was something she actually could do -- as soon as possible she called a relative to come advocate for her, and that decision saved her life.

I don't know how all of this has been affecting your Grandma's mind, but she may be unable to actually advocate for herself in any way, including calling a relative for help. I'm very glad the vital checker made a point of passing this information along to her family.

Margret

Me too. At least it was the secondary staff, and not the regular staff (they had off for the holiday). AWM spent the night there (she took me to work so she could) and made sure they knew they were being watched--and that there would be Hell (pardon my language) to pay if something similar happened again. (AWM was trained as a combat medic, so she knows bandages and sutures.)

I would add:

Fur: at a distance. "How fur did she toss that thang?"
Tar: the thing that a car rides on. "We had a flat tar a block from the house!"
Worsen: Worse than. "I hate that worsen anything (pronounced enythang)

And the famous last words Good Ol' Boys everywhere, "Billy Bob, hold mah beer! HEY Y'ALL, LOOKEE HERE!"

For further reference, "Pepsi" is, in Oklahoma, like "Coke" in some parts of the South. "What kinda Pepsi you want?" "Dr. Pepper."

One of the things I did the last time I was at the hospital (when I found out that my bill had already been paid) was arrange to get a copy of my ER records mailed to me. I got them Friday (and only just finished looking at them), and I noticed something odd. See, I don't remember the ambulance ride. My last coherent thought between being parked in the ER and work was telling the paramedic that I needed to put the trashcan back under chute, because customers would use it anyway. I don't even remember giving consent, and I thought that I just blacked out, but on the record I'm listed as having been brought in AAR (Alert, Active, and Responsive). Well, that makes no sense. If I was passed out, there's no way that I could have been AAR--it's just not possible. It would explain a lot about my ER visit though (mainly how long they left me in the waiting room). Does anyone with more medical knowledge than me have a theory on what happened? (I have met a couple of local physicians--but I don't like--or trust--either of them. I'm slowly working my way through providers covered by insurance. Very slowly, I don't have a whole lot of time or money to devote to this.)