Err ...

I'm seeing "err ..." a lot in my reading (of fiction).  I use "er," myself in my own writing, like, well, "Er, ... Taylor Swift, yeah, that's the ticket!"  It was a signal that the speaker was lying.

Err, in fact, is an actual word.  It means to do something wrong, to make a mistake.  Using 'err' instead of 'er' is just a little distracting.  Google reports that, in the sense of essentially just a non-verbal noise that people make, it is an interjection, indicating hesitation.

If you're an author, and you're writing dialog, it isn't crucial that you try to get the exact sound.  Just write the usual string of letters that has been used to indicate that sound.  In the case of this 'Err' sound, just use 'Er'.

To indicate Hey, slow down, I use Whoa.  Younger authors seem to use "Woe," which looks very wrong.

If I think of any others, I'll add them in later. 

Kay

Things Are Heating Up

Fortunately for me, Politics is not my whole life, though I keep a fairly close eye on political developments.

Politeness.
A hallmark of the Trump Presidency is how the MAGA people are impolite and confrontational to all but themselves.  And now they've got the Democrats— a word I use in the sense of Non-MAGA—doing it too.  It's going to take a decade before public discourse is conducted politely, if it ever is again.  47's lack of politeness reflects the entire "Tea Party's" frustration with what they call The Rule of The Elites.  By which they mean: crooked lawyers in politics.  But the poster boy for that sort of person is Rudy Giuliani—who appears to have lost a screw, and been pushed out of the club!

Quiet, Piggy.
This could easily turn into a slogan for Anti-MAGA.  All us Dems have different issues with 47 and MAGA.  But this slogan could energize us.

PBS.  NPR.  Kennedy Center.
There was a post today on Facebook that describes the enormous self-dealing that the MAGA-Led Administration has been indulging in.  That's intended to both entertain MAGA ("We're owning the Libs!") as well as make a lot of money for the Trump family.  It's going to take a lot of time and effort to de-politicize Public Media, if it ever is again.

Kay

A New Story I've Been Reading

The story—first book in a multi-volume series—by J. T. Lawrence, has some interesting characters, including this goblin, Salty.

I laughed myself silly!  The illustration is so perfect!  Actually, the character in the story is a little less in your face than the illustration would suggest, but, really, not a lot less.  And I can't think where the rollerskates come from.

The book is: The HighFire Crown, by J. T. Lawrence.

Am I a Democrat?

To make things absolutely clear:

As long as Trump and MAGA continue to hold their present beliefs, and as long as the Democrats continue to be the best, most viable opposition to Trump and MAGA, I will continue to remain with the Democrat camp, simply to oppose Trump/MAGA.

But there are some aspects of the Democrat party, and some members of it, that have been revealed as painfully unhelpful, and opposed to things that anti-MAGA people in general—and I with them—are working to do.

The "They're socialists!"  "They're communists!"  "They're terrorists!" rhetoric has been discovered by MAGA to be highly effective, and as a result, they trot that out every chance they get, to smear some (new) candidate.  This is the easiest knee-jerk response by FOX News, and it seems that they all take their cue from FOX.

Anyway, it appears that the Dems have won this off-year election fairly convincingly!  We have now around a third of our States being governed by women (and of course the news has to compile all the exciting statistics: the youngest ... yakkitty yak, the oldest ... yakkitty yak, the tallest, shortest, cutest, and so on).  Talking about women, META/Mark Somebody has discovered that I 'like' posts about women who have not been acknowledged as the inventors of various procedures or gadgets, and now my Wall is crowded with neglected women.  One invention in point is the pedal-operated trash can.  (Bless her, the gal who came up with that.  She and her husband established the field of 'Time and Motion Studies' which is now a pillar of business and industrial efficiency studies.)

But next year's election still needs to be won.  The entire House of Representatives will be on the ballot, as they always are, in even years, and several Senators.  The GOP believes that their cheerleaders stayed home for this election because it was an off-year election, so that the Dems won by default.  (And also, Trump wasn't on the ballot, like he says.  In 2026, if a majority of Democrats are elected, then they certainly could impeach the president, so in effect, he is on the ballot.  Hah.)

In 2028, we have the first election opportunity to vote Trump out of office.

Kay

More Compound Words

Bloodthirsty.  I don't even think 'blood thirsty' means anything.

Anyhow.  'Any how' is not a common phrase, but of course 'any old how' is (a common phrase).

Lifeguard.  I suppose you could say 'life guard' but that looks weird.

I'll add more if I remember.

Kay

A Democrat Landslide — November 2025

At this time, it looks as though it's a clean sweep for Democrats; and women, too!  But who knows?  They might unexpectedly turn up a million GOP ballots under some bushel, in some election room!

But as long as there are elections, the Democrats have the chance to bounce back.

Kay

Louisa May Alcott

I'm just going over to the Helen Blog to post about LMA.