Gazing into the Square

Why are we so fascinated by animal shows? We will watch hour after hour as crazy people go delving into woods, crevices, holes and waters looking to show us things we never want to come face to face with! We hover eagerly waiting to see creatures chase and catch prey as large or larger than we are... and wanna see more!

I admit I'm one of those fascinated by their habits. I love to see these crazy people put themselves in harms way. Humans are the most insane, most dangerous, most moronic, most intense creature out there. And we love to watch people get into the strangest situations. We laugh, gasp, cry and get frustrated right along with them as they struggle and survive the worst we can throw their way.
We invent fanciful methods of trouble and put them in it and when logic won't save them, we invent new ways of dealing with the trouble we created. And we love it!

"Oh look! Its a deadly flesh eating bacteria infected spider! Lets see if I can get this little fellow to crawl over my hand. If we're lucky, he may even bite me!" Moments later we're eagerly waiting to see if the hospital has the anti-venom. Have we as a species reached an insane madness, or are we just testing ourselves to find our own limits? I'm not sure. I find myself drawn to several conclusions however, one of them being I'm missing my show by writing this (turning to watch as crocodiles try to drag down a gazelle).

It's little wonder that we're willing to surrender to those things we consider safe. Home, TV, food, family, traditions and spending time by sharing stories. Maybe we're just wishing we could be as brave as they are...but aren't we really? I think it takes more bravery to stay the course and believe in yourself, trust in love and care about others around you. But... I'm missing my show...(turns to see a crocodile lung at a man holding a baby)...oh, It's ok, I've seen this episode.

Slanguage

The English language is loosening up. I found out not long ago that there are some slang words that are now listed as real words in the dictionary. My fascination with this began when I found out that 'Ginormous' became an official word last year. Apparently they were able to trace it's usage back to WWII. Ergo now it is part of the English language. So I started thinking about all the slang words I've heard recently that one day might become 'real boys'. There are different types of slang. Like the abbreviations you find in instant messaging or e-mails. There is also the dialect slang which is localized and is really an attempt to rewrite the language. Then there is common slang. That's the one where words you use seem appropriate but they're not considered dictionary worthy yet. I've made up a list of three types of common slang. Words that actually made it into the dictionary as permanent, words that are listed in the slang dictionary and not the official dictionary base, and words that aren't even listed in the slang dictionary yet. I've listed the year they were traced back to when available...I hope they make you smile like they did me!

Words that haven't made it yet:

Chillax (chill + relax)
Ba dink a dink (small human rear)
Ba donk a donk (ample human rear)
Etact (tactfulness in using electronic communications such as instant messaging)
Gestimation (guess + Estimation)
Jingo Jango (ridiculous)
Sitch (situation)

Words that have made it to the slang dictionary:

Wussy (wimp + pussy)
Homie (local pal)
Janky (old and broken)
Krunk (wild and exhilarating)
Bazillion (billion + gazillion)

Words that have officially made it to English language:

Phat (terrific, great) trace back to 1960
Dude and Dudette (buddy, surfer slang) trace back to 1991
Slanguage (slang vocabulary) trace back to 1900
Spim (instant messaging ads) trace back to 1999
Grody (disgusting) trace back to 1960
Groovy (really cool) trace back to 1815
Zilch (zero) trace back to 1966
Ginormous (giant + enormous) trace back to 1948
Babe (small child) trace back to 1150
Babe (girl) trace back to 1915
Psycho (abbreviated Psychopathic) trace back to 1935
Cop (police officer) trace back to 1695
Funky (odd and smelly) trace back to 1784
Edgy (highly irritating) trace back to 1837
Scram (to run away quickly) trace back to 1925
Spud (potato) trace back to 1400
Cash (paper money) trace back to 1590
Freebie (free item) trace back to 1940
Grungy (filthy) trace back to 1965
Bonkers (insane) trace back to 1945
Spork (spoon + fork) trace back to 1909
Boo Boo (injury or mistake) trace back to 1954
Caboodle (lot or group of things, as in kit and caboodle) trace back to 1840

You Better Get You Some Higher Education!

What is Higher Education? Well, that term is easy to define. Getting more education than you currently have achieved. Since this is the case, then we are all working to achieve higher education. If you think about it, there are so many ways to be an educated person in today's society. You can be socially educated, legally educated, naturally educated, or even earn a life education.

Personally I feel like life education is enhanced by fundamental education (school). Although natural education (learning by example) is also a huge part of what makes us educated people.  I don't believe there are uneducated people out there anymore. Every person who is exposed to the world earns an education of some kind. It may not be a good one, but it is knowledge and experience. The true character of a person is defined by how they take and use that education.

The underprivileged individual is only held in check by their ability to use the knowledge they have achieved. That is a direct result of this amazing country in which we live. No one is left in a status or level they can't get out of with some effort. You are only limited by the limits you place on yourself. Look at these self educated people (called autodidactic) who made it in a big way. Abraham Lincoln was a self educated lawyer. Bill Gates was a college drop out. Andrew Carnegie was one of the best known men of industrialization and he never went to school. Famous author Arthur C Clark never went to college. Walter Cronkite, one of America's best beloved journalists and long time CBS anchor dropped out of college. Charles Dickens never got to finish his childhood schooling.

Arguably these individuals took on life education and made it work. What makes it even better is that they had support. People who cared about what happened to them, giving encouragement from time to time. By far my favorite self educated person was Thomas Alva Edison. His teachers thought him unteachable. So his mother taught him at home during his early years. He went on to produce such wonderful inventions as electric light and early recording technologies.

So my point? No one is without opportunity and he/she who has support can conquer the world.