The Daily Dose/October 25, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience…
THIS JUST IN: Language, of course, evolves. It’s why the language spoken by the Frisians who left the northern coast of the Netherlands evolved into Old English and then into the language you are reading right now. It’s why ‘idiot’ changed into ‘mentally retarded’, which itself turned into ‘mentally challenged’, with idiot now being a failry common insult, at least around here.
Also common are words being shortened. We won’t bore you with a myriad of examples, we will only bore you with two: stat and exam.
Yeah, This Is A Bulletin: Stat is short for ‘statistic’ drawn from a German word and today means a fact drawn from a quantity of numerical data.
Thank You Captain English: Exam is short for ‘examination’ which means, among other things, a detailed inspection or a test of knowledge. It comes from a Latin word meaning to test or weigh.
Get Your Official Daily Dose Policy Right Here: We approve of both of these, and most others, and use stat and exam more than we use the originals they came from.
Fly In The Ointment: For some reason, though, the seemingly recent trend of shortening ‘merchandise’ to ‘merch’ is annoying us no end. This could be because we’ve heard it pronounced two different ways: ‘merk’ and ‘merch’. ‘Sitch’ being used in lieu of ‘situation’ also annoys us. Maybe there’s a -ch bias we have that we are unaware of. Maybe we’re turning into old fuss budgets.
And You Wonder Why You Don’t Get Invited To More Parties: We tend to prefer a more formal and precise use of English, so if we ever open up a store here at the site, you can bet the link won’t read “Merch”. It probably won’t say “merchandise” either, because that word annoys us, too, sometimes. It will probably say “Stuff”.
Today At The Site
It’s Read Free Week! Enjoy both The Diary of a Nobody and The Bottom Ten on the house.
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow reports the restaurant on the end of town is closing. Today’s Diary.
The problem I’ve always thought is, like some of the dumpy houses for sale here, is it has the curb appeal of a sanitation plant…There is not an entrance on Main Street, there’s one in the back and off to one side, the grass and landscaping are unattractive and the place always looks uninviting and, worst of all, it always looks closed…The food was good – not as good as the diner’s – tho the service was dead slow like the diner’s, too…So now we’re all going to starve here in our small town…The diner remains closed and now the restaurant is closing and now the only place left to eat is the bar where the service is casual and flippant and you have a 50/50 chance of getting a properly cooked meal.
It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life.
It’s Read Free Week: click here to enjoy the Week 9 NCAA Bottom Ten and here to enjoy the Week 9 NFL Bottom Ten.
WARNING! Read Free Week won’t last forever! Click here to get in on the laffs. We offer 4Ever and Ever access, or cheapskates can purchase books and columns individually.
On This Date
In 1962 – During Day 10 of the Cuban Missile Crisis, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai Stevenson confronts his Soviet Union counterpart with pictures of Soviet missiles in Cuba at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, the Soviet declined to confirm their existence. The US also began enforcing its naval blockade of Cuba. Results were mixed, with the Navy failing to intercept one ship, while boarding another before clearing it to proceed.
In 1998 – Jason Elam of the Denver Broncos ties the NFL record when he kicks a 63-yard field goal as the Broncos defeat the Jacksonville Jaguars 37-24. Elam tied the record that had been established by Tom Dempsy of the New Orleans Saints in 1970. The record was later tied by Sebastian Janikowski in 2011 and David Akers in 2012 and is now held by Matt Prater, who kicked a 64-yard field goal in 2013.
In 1980 – Barbra Streisand is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of three consecutive weeks with Woman In Love. The song also went to #1 in 13 other countries, including Great Britain, West Germany and Australia and also topped Billboard’s adult contemporary chart. It was Streisand’s fifth and final #1 song and her ninth of twelve Top 10 hits. The song was written by Barry and Robin Gibb.
Quotebook
Lead the ideas of your time and they will accompany and support you; fall behind them and they drag you along with them; oppose them and they will overwhelm you.
Napoleon
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
The NFL had eight teams in 1943. Due to World War II, the Cleveland Rams did not field a team, and the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers combined their teams. The other teams were the Washington Redskins, New York Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago Bears, Chicago Cardinals, Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions.
Today’s Stumper
Who holds the NCAA for the longest field goal? – Answer next time!
