Lexiconologist ©

Many know that I love words… in fact, my friend helped me coin the word Lexiconoligist©. That is what I like to call myself now. I am trade marking that title and next year it will replace “life coach” where it calls for an occupation on my taxes. Caveat: This does not mean that I’m good at spelling… if you’ve read my stuff for long that is easy to pick up on… but I dyegress…. (<----- Angie, that was a joke!)

What I love almost as much as large interesting words and their meanings is thinking about phrases and their origins. My personal favorite, because I haven’t figured out yet, is “Let’s paint the town red!” I also like “crossing the Rubicon” Ask me what it means sometime. Why in the world do we say such things? And isn’t it interesting that some of the most nonsensical ones get handed down generation after generation. I think that is really very cool.

I am seriously considering applying for the graduate scholarship in Folklore at USU. I love Prof Siporin (and his amazing storyteller wife) and his classes were a joy to take. My favorite thing was collecting camp song lyrics and I had a great idea for a collection after his class was done. Also this phrase thing.

I know of a missionary going to the Southern states and it got me thinking about countrified sayings like “I felt lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon rut” and “She was more nervous than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.” *snork* You know, all the things that the narrator would say right before a commercial during the Dukes of Hazzard show. If I get the scholarship I’ll start my research at tvland.com .

BTW: Did you know that you can watch full episodes of old TV shows online? I showed my kids Family Ties, Gillligan’s Island, and a super awesome Charlie’s Angels. I forgot how much I loved Alex P. Keaton, how much I wanted to get marooned on an island and build cool camp gadgets like the professor, and how much I wanted to be a beautiful spy lady. I’m getting off topic again. Sorry.

So back to crazy phrases. I was subbing (is that really a word?) for the reading ladies in a kindergarten class. One group got away from me and well… ate me for lunch. *writes that phrase in research notebook* I’ve tried to stay vigilant and not let things get to far out of hand. In other words, I no longer trust the innocent looking 5 and 6 year olds. I’ve become a sinic. (<----- other joke!)

One sweetheart of a tiny blue eyed blondie tried to explain how many pieces of candy the regular teacher rewards them with (they are always so helpful in teaching me how to do the job right.) 1 whole smarty for every time they raised their hand sounded fishy to me. *makes another note* (how did it get from smelled fishy to sounded fishy?) The other kids were all holding their breath and listening very closely to my answer to that. So I narrowed my eyes at her, squished my lips to one side and said “I think you are pulling my leg.”

All five kids, at the same time, tipped over in their chairs to look at my legs under the table. *laugh out loud* HA! It was a riot. And best story ever for my folklore thesis. Doncha think?