Saturday, January 7

'Truthiness' - More Linguistic Ruination


There are three words I cannot tolerate hearing; similarily, my mind cringes like when an old school teacher runs her fingernails across a slate chalkboard to gain attention with a class full of numbskulls.


  1. Like.
  2. Whatever.
  3. Absolutely.
Before I explain the whys and wherefores of my dilemma, I present a brief historical overview, up to, and including the present linguistics contained within today's society.

In 1962 the radio air waves in North America brought us a new sound called: The Mersey Beat, music from England. The band was an unknown entity called: The Beatles and everyone complained the spelling was wrong. Parents across the land became very concerned about how their teenagers and younger children were hoarding around the radios, screaming for their new-found in-thing: The Beatles.

I remember my mother saying, after I asked for one of those pure leather "Beatle caps", that this music, this band, and these crazy styles are all a "passing fad". That statement was made round-about 1964.

Today, we are facing another change in style and in music: RAP. I will not make the error that my mother made over 40 years ago, but I only will pray that this music is only a "passing fad" and that it will simply just go away; it is for two reasons I say this.
  1. Rap lyrics and stylistic projectionisms promote a movement that is against the morals that this society has been founded upon.
  2. Rap lyrics and its condensations against police, women, and immoralistic projections in general, promote hatred and helps lead young people to a life of crime, drugs, and jail or death.
Rap - rap - rap - pleeze go a way - and - don' - cum bak - an nudder - d a y!

Here is my lingual problem that, not only what Rap music produces but society in general, the problem is that the media and the manufacturing sector are climbing on this linguistic nightmare, thus creating a society that not only cannot read properly, or for that matter they do not read at all, they cannot speak the "King's English", and for all intense and purposes: they "don't give a shit".

Do you know what the "King's English" is and what it stands for? Probably not eh...Maybe you do...

Getting back on track here, to explain the words above: "Like" and "Absolutely".

A note of subjection: These three words are used by lazy orators. People whose minds have become benumbed due to an insensitive lack of exercising of their cranium innards. Both words are used as filler in conversation when it actually hurts the cells when forced to think. However, these words have become such common place that as a University student says that when these words are not used in a sentence, "it would sound weird [without them]".

LIKE: This word was used in the 1930's as in jazz sessions that proposed a slang that was used by the lower classes, the ignorant ones of proper English language. To be cool, the upper classes grabbed onto this word, trying to sound "cool" and of course the word has now regenerated and has become the norm for today's conversations. In fact, if you do not use this word, well, obviously you do not fit it, you are not "cool" man!

But the most important factor of the use of this word "like" that bothers me is that it is used by people who do not think...They do not fulfill their part of a conversation: "It is like, you know." They change the subject here and now we are lost, as they are, forever. For God's sake, please complete a thought, if at all possible.

WHATEVER: Whenever I hear someone saying this I just want to smack them out of "whatever" characterization they are attempting to portray. Is it that they simply do not give an damn about something? Fine, but at least explain the WHY or WHY NOT? This word is used for "social significance", a term used for one to feel they "fit-in" with their peers. Sad.

Again, as with the usage of "LIKE", this word connotes a negativity, but more importantly, it generates the message that this person either does not know any more on the current topic at hand, or that they could not care less about the topic at all and simply want to move along, verbally speaking of course.

ABSOLUTELY: Media people are abusing this word by the second. Someone says something, and quit possibly the listener knows nothing about the subject, but to seem knowledgeable without the having to explain why, they simply insert the term: "Absolutely" and everyone is supposed to think that this person knows it all and we move on to another topic. All-in-all, nobody is finishing a conversation...At the very least the listeners are not contributing, only acknowledging that they know it "Absolutely".

basically, people do not take the time to explain themselves anymore. Is it a fact that they do not have the ability to do so? Or is it simply that they are too rushed to think? Or is a matter of pure ignorance, a lack of education through reading good literary novels?

I do know that George Orwell is turning over in his grave as I write this Blog.

Do yourself a favour and read Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" and see just how the movers and shakers manipulate our minds.



Tuesday, January 3

Working Out

Now that I am without a job, I am able to schedule my life in a more organized fashion. This includes my irregular workouts. Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays are my days...my time at the gym, at least that is the current schedule I am now working on.


I was surprised today when I walked through the doors and signed in at Ironworks Gym...I expected the place to be packed with born again resolutionists who made that faithful oath on New Years Eve to drop some lbs. Hell, I even downloaded an extra tech-podcast on my MP3 player to help pass the wait time for the treadmill and other machines I frequently use.

Not today!

The place was just as it normally is without any people with resolutions to break down the road. When I worked out at the YMCA you could tell the season by the wait times:

January: Full

Februrary: Still full, but slowly the crowds disapated down.

March: Not so full anymore. In fact, most of the big ones were long gone.

April: If the weather was a nice spring-like day, the place was near empty.

May - June - July - August and even a tad into September: Only the diehards.

October: Numbers up due to crappy weather and guilt from summer barbeques.

November: Stable.

December: The closer to xmas, the less heads bobbing on the treadmills.

But today at Ironworks, my gym of choice, I was astonished to see bascially the regular crowd working out, albeit a few students with nothing else to do but hang out and look macho.

For me, my macho days have long since surpassed and now it is a matter of staying healthy and hopefully I too can stick to my planned schedule of 3 days a week...

Although the seasons may be different at the Y, but of course that will change in over a short time soon...Resolutionists usually fail and go back to their old ways once again.

Let's face facts, according to a recent reality check, in the USA "only 8 percent saig they always achieve their resolutions...and the trend decreases with age...".

But does the size? You be the judge...

Monday, January 2

There is a Light at the End of the Tunnel

Yes, I finally did it today;
I quit my job.


Somehow, in a way, I have felt as one in Folsom awaiting parole, a prisoner within a job, a job that had long since become an albatross to personal freedom. Now, and forever, I am free to do what I want and when I want.


Of course the feelings have not hit home yet, as I still await a phone to ring from work, but that will eventually pass, probably by suppertime.


Quitting was relatively easy. I had planned this day, back and forth, over and over, in my mind for the past 4.5 years - my escape plan.

I walked into CN Rail, armed with form: CN92, already filled out, except for the line awaiting a witness, and saw manager Don Shank, the same guy who was helping me attempt to get information (over a time frame of 6 months) information on the CN pension plan that was never sent to me, and said: "I quit."

Don Shank looked up from his chair and said "what?" I simply handed him the form and my bag containing my CN paraphemalia. He didn't take the time to check the contents, all he asked, " have you talked to the right people?" I informed him that I have spoken to many over the past several years and this is my decision. He wished me luck and off I went through the gates of hell and into the outside towards my freedom.

Do not get me wrong here, CN was a good company to work for before the infrastructure was taken away from Canadians and became Americanized by "Straw Boss Bullies". Of course, I am not alone in this opinion, in fact, CTV's W5 television program did a special report a few years back on CN and ranked the company the "second worst company to work for in Canada." Or something close to that. Since Westray Mines were ranked number one and have since gone under with their mangers locked up in jail, well I would suppose that CN has now earned the ranking of the top worst company for the way they treat employees, according to W5 that is.

Ok, enough said about that company, although I would like to state that for the most part the guys I worked with over the years were the best, but it is my time to depart and I only wish that the ones who remain the best of luck and I wish they will eventually stand up for their rights and say "NO MORE" to the abusive management therein...Now, I do solemnly promise never to bother mentioning them again...Good riddance I dare say! LOL

After being "self-paroled" today, I went to Lambton College and registered for another course, this time for a computer course: CompTIA Linux+, leading to certification. I won't go into technical details as you can easily pickup that stuff on my TECH TRENDS Blog. Or at Sarnia Computer Users' Group, where I am an executive member and editor.

Keep coming back to this site, I will be writing my various adventures and sightings within the human race...Ever wonder why we are referred to as a "race"?


Sunday, January 1

RESOLUTIONS - we all make em!

My Personal Goals for 2006

  1. Quit my job tomorrow and take life easy.
  2. Write more...maybe a new novel - fiction this time?
  3. More canoe trips. Get more active in Scouting.
  4. More camping excursions and research expeditions.
  5. Develop better and deeper computer skills (Linux).
  6. Snorkle in the southern islands.
  7. Read 18th C. novels and continue English studies.
  8. Volunteer at the Imperial Theatre.
  9. Rejoin Toastmasters International again.
  10. Selective TV viewing only and no commercial radio.
They say that life is short and in the spectrum of things within a geological sense of time, they (actually it was Henri Frederic Amiel 1821-1881) are correct in that statement. I plan to use my time wisely, never a dull moment will nudge up against me as it does with those who complain of personal boredom.

Tomorrow I will be jobless; it is "the first day of the rest of my life," a day to celebrate as each day comes as a blessing, a day to live life to its fullest...something that many never seem to grasp the handle of. This Blog is a part of my tomorrows, my todays, and my forevers; it is my life's beacon that shall shine upon my daily doings, my plans, and my ambitions; as a wise man will make more opportunites than he finds - Francis Bacon.

TECH TRENDS

TECH TRENDS

Check out Gregory's new computer Blog, covering technical trends such as: What's new in computers, the latest virus warnings, Microsoft issues, Linux operating systems, and Open Source products...Plus tons of boo boos that we deal with every day in the world of computers and the Internet.