Some time ago, as I sat in on a discussion group with spiritually minded folk, someone mentioned that Rupert Spira urges his students to “Be Aware,” suggesting that such simple statement enables people to open up to a sense of themselves beyond the limits of the ego.
Unfortunately, I heard the statement to say, “be a ware” leading me to fall into a spiral of materialism from which I am still digging out.
My Bad!
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Rupert Spira is one of many modern, “non-duality” spiritual teachers. Spira’s website states that “Experience is one seamless, unnameable, intimate whole. It is thought alone that divides this intimacy into an apparent multiplicity and diversity of objects and selves, thereby imagining a ‘me’ and a ‘not me’.” This Wikipedia article discusses the non-duality belief system.
Thesaurus.com advises that the word ware is a synonym for commodity, materials, merchandise, and stock, among other things.
A few years ago, when a member of my family was working in the White House, he invited me to visit him there one evening. I was very excited about such a once in a lifetime opportunity.
When I wrote back to him to confirm that I would be coming, I, who consider myself well-versed in the use of the English language, even so far as to know (so I thought) the alternate spellings of certain words, wrote back to him thusly: “I am excited about joining you tonite, I think it will be a blast!”
I realized, after the Department of Homeland Security contacted me and revoked my visitation privilege and the FBI opened a file on me, that I should have paid attention to that pesky spell check indicator highlighting my word choice concerning the evening.
My Bad!
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While the Urban Dictionary reports that “tonite” is used to describe the time following daytime by those “to[o] stupid to learn how to spell correctly”, in fact, “tonite” is the correct spelling for “a blasting explosive consisting of a mixture of guncotton with a nitrate and sometimes a nitro compound,” as reported by Merriam Webster’s online dictionary.
The proper spelling of the word used to describe “the evening or night of the present day,” according to this Google Definition page is “tonight.”
Ironically, the writer of the Urban Dictionary quote referenced above misspelled the word “too” in his urban definition.
Bob McDonnell explores the use, misuse, and meaning of words on his blog, which you can visit by clicking HERE.
I have a posted link to Bob’s blog in the Resources section of this web page — see the column on the right.
I, a lover of language, was not aware of Bob’s blog before now, and that is . . .
My Bad!
My state legislature passed a law affecting powers of attorney, and included a form document in the statute. The new law mandates that banks must accept the new statutory form.
When I asked my lawyer if she recommended that I get a new durable power of attorney, she wrote back: “Because not all banks previously accepted lawyer-drafted powers of attorney and wanted to use their own forms, I tell everyone to use the new statuary form to avoid any future problems.”
Hmm. She recommended a “statuary power of attorney.” What a novel idea, a legal document etched in stone. That truly would be a “durable” power of attorney.
My Bad!
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Merriam-Webster has an online definition for the term “statuary”.
The ‘Lectric Law Library discusses Powers of Attorney and, in particular, “durable” powers of attorney.
I was talking to my companion about a mutual friend who is in a relationship that is spiraling toward a breakup. We both think he would be better off if he moved out of his girlfriend’s apartment, but he refuses to take any action to extricate himself from the situation.
During an email exchange with my companion in which we were discussing the suggestion that we visit our friend and help him remove his belongings from the apartment, my companion demurred, suggesting that doing so would be “feudal”.
What was my companion thinking, I wondered. Did he think that removing my friend’s belongings would feel too much like we were working for an overlord?
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Another time, a co-worker suggested that it would be best not to take action because doing so would be an exercise in “fertility”. Heaven only knows what that person was thinking. When I asked her about it later, she exclaimed:
My Bad!
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Google provides a number of sources that define the term feudal, which relates to the political system known as feudalism, and other sources that define the term futile, which relates to futility, the term my companion meant to use in his email.
A physicist I know recently asked me:
“Would it be too ballsy for me to suggest that we label the amount of radiation for each household surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan the ‘Family Joules’?”
But then he smirked, as he said:
My Bad!
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The Wired Science website has a good discussion of Japan’s March, 2011, nuclear crisis following a dramatic earthquake and tsunami.
A joule is a unit measure of energy as discussed in this Wikipedia article.
Nuclear explosions are measured in TNT equivalents, which also can be measured in joules, as discussed in this article.
“Family Jewels” is a crude term for certain male body parts, as noted by the online Urban Dictionary.
Mirriam Webster offers an online definition of the term “ballsy”.
A lawyer I know was reviewing a deed in which it was stated that the Grantor of the real property did so for “good and valuable considerations”.
He couldn’t help but wonder, did the buyer simply think about paying for the property without actually doing so?
My Bad!
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Nolo’s Plain English Law Dictionary provides a legal definition for the term “consideration”. Consideration in a real estate transaction typically consists of money, and it is not properly referred to in the plural as “considerations” no matter how much the purchase price.
“Considerations” generally means the careful deliberations that are the subject of the more common definition of the term.
Yesterday, I had dinner with a friend who asked me if I knew a particular person, which eminent person is the chairman of the board of a corporation, on which board my friend also sits as a voting member.
“Sure,” I said, “I know him. He’s one of your cronies.”
“Cronies?!?!” exclaimed my friend with indignation.
At that moment I wondered whether I had misused the word. Later I went back to look, and while most dictionaries define “crony” as a close friend or companion, my friend must have assumed I was hinting that there was cronyism at play, cronyism being the practice of appointing close friends to positions of power of influence regardless of such person’s qualifications for the job.
Unfortunately, my friend stormed out in a huff.
My bad!
I heard an advertisement on the radio today for a new drug available to help people with a certain congenital illness. A young woman spoke about her experience of suffering from a sudden seizure brought on by the illness, which seizure, according to the ad, could have been prevented by the new drug.
“Fortunately,” said the ad, “the girl’s parents rushed her to the E.R. and saved her life.”
Rushed her to the E.R., I thought, does this girl live in L.A.? Did her parents have the presence of mind to rush her to a television studio? Is E.R. the girl’s favorite television program and being in the presence of the stars of that show snapped her out of the seizure?
Then I realized that the girl was trying to tell me that her parents took her to the hospital Emergency Room.
My bad!
The Acronym Police website was formed to prevent Redundant Acronym Syndrome (RAS).
For the Facebook page of the Anti-Acronym Association of America, click HERE.
For the definition of the medical term “stat” click HERE.
Last night, my blind date told me that she likes “men who wear jewlery.”
“You’ll never catch me wearing jewlery,” I thought, “you can’t even buy such a thing!”
But she put a bee in my bonnet and I decided to get some bling. Unfortunately, I entered a typo into my search engine and ended up at the online jewlery store.
My bad!