Yesterday at work we were talking about Magic 8-balls. Specifically we wanted to know what possible answers there were. That led to the discovery of this site. The most amusing thing on it has got to be the disection of an 8-ball. And we did find our list of possible answers.

Enjoy!

I don't know why this came into my head this morning, but it did, so I will share. When I was little, my mom and I were at Wal-Mart (I believe) looking at juice. I tried to pick up one bottle or thing of juice boxes or something since it was the "cheapest". Mom showed me how to divide the amount by the ounces of juice or boxes of juice, whichever. That showed a different bottle/juice box set was cheaper. I wasn't very old, but old enough to do division. Maybe 3rd grade? There was a man in the aisle with us who kept looking over at our consumer lesson and laughing. He might have said something to my mom about that's a good thing to teach her, or some such.

Now most of the stores I shop at figure on the label the price per ounce (or whatever unit). It's in small letters and you have to look for it, but it is there. I appreciate that. And I appreciate my mother teaching me to shop.

Thanks to a good school system, a couple of especially aggressive teachers, and prolific reading habits, I have aquired a better than average vocabulary. I don't go around flaunting my word smith abilities, but I am comfortable with "big words". I recognize and understand them when I hear and see them, and I use them in my own writing and speaking.

Quick Linguistic Note: In linguistic terms (and this also pops up in ed classes), there is what is known as an active and a passive vocabulary. Your vocabulary is the sum total of all the words you know and understand. Your active vocabulary is the words you actually use in your writing and your speaking. Your passive vocabulary are the words you understand, they're part of your lexicon, but for whatever reason you don't use them frequently or at all. Active is what you use, passive is what you have and don't use. Typically an adult's passive vocabulary is twice as big as their active vocabulary. The person who is often the most impressive vocab wise (or perceived as the most arrogant know-it-all) may not actually have a bigger total vocabulary than you, they just have a larger percentage of their words in their active vocabulary. Also words can go back and forth between the two as your usage changes.

Okay, back to the point at hand: I know the word copacetic. I recognize it, I understand it. The other day one of my coworkers used it and I got to thinking. For whatever reason, I have never used that word, other than two sentences ago. I don't know why. Usually even when words have slipped back into my passive vocabulary, at one point I took them out and tried them on for size. But never copacetic. I don't like that word, and I don't know why. Perhaps because I think it sounds really 70s and cheesy.

And a general message: I have occasionally seen/heard people making fun of someone who uses a more advanced vocab word and mispronounces it. My father had a really good attitude about that. He used to tell me that all that meant was that person had only ever read the word, not heard it pronounced. This means that the person was reading, absorbing what they're reading, and trying to incorporate it into their daily life. They were trying to improve themselves and we should always respect and admire that. I used to do that as a child, read a word and then mispronounce it when I tried to use it. Now I tend to look up pronunciations because of that fear, and a desire to put my linguistics education to use by showing off my ability to read phonetic characters.

This weekend I worked which was fine. And I also saw Serenity with psycho_hedgehog which was wonderful. I avoided Firefly because I didn't want to come down with the obsession, but I just ordered the DVDs. Yeah, Josh Whedon can write. I skipped church on Sunday. I didn't feel good, didn't feel like going. Odd for me.

I just found out I have to work vetran's day weekend. I have that Friday off (library closed), but I work Sat/Sun. I was going to plan a road trip either to Phoenix/Tempe to visit people or to Colorado for a singles retreat. Oh well, c'est la vie. Another time perhaps.

My sister and her husband are coming into town tonight. Then my parents are moving them up to New York. I'm not really sure when the move is, tomorrow or day after I assume. I never really know what things are happening in my house. I'm usually surprised to find out that someone is going in or out of town, and I usually find it out about 24 hours in advance when seemingly everyone else knew for months. I don't think my family is intentionally keeping me in the dark, but somewhere there is a breakdown in communication.

One of my favorite patrons is this girl who will only check out paperback books because she hides them in her desk to read during school. It makes me laugh because I was so that girl. I spent most of third, fourth, and fifth grade with a book hidden in my desk or in my text books. Sixth grade was more interesting. And I did it some, but not as much in middle and high school. College I would occasionally do the crossword during class. In grad school, I may play freecell on my laptop or chat on AIM, but usually I'm paying attention. I feel like telling this girl that it is entirely possible to hide and sneak hardcover books during class. I did it for years. But maybe I shouldn't encourage this sort of behavoir?

I registered for classes for next semester. The schedule is awful. There is nothing that I want/need offered for the Kansas City campus or the internet. I am going to spend seven weekends in Emporia. And I will most likely end up working every weekend I am not at class. I may go insane.