March 2012
9 posts
The first Saturday of the Spring
I was fantasizing about a beach vacation: Balmy weather, welcoming surf, inconspicuous waiters offering mixed rum drinks to me while stretched out beneath a palm tree. The smell of sun screen. My paperbacks getting just a bit sandy….
I’d go on, but you got the picture:
(That’s Bora Bora beckoning above.)
It’s a LAGOON.
What’s missing from this...
-jadis asked: Dear Ms. Birnbach, I am currently writing a study proposal on the subject of Preppy style, namely "if the style of the American Preppy was influenced by the British Sloane Ranger or vice versa". Do you have background knowledge on this? Would you say this is a question to be investigated in or is it rubbish? Any comments and links would be gladly accepted. Thank you, Maike
New Words of the Week & A THOUGHT
Not to get too personal, but for the first time, both my daughters are going away on their own Spring Break trips without me! Exhibit C left for the West Coast on her Glee Club Spring Tour, and Exhibit B is going on a classic senior year vacation to the Carribbean — with friends and no adults. So, I’m thinking about holidays, and my four words this week are a reflection thereof.
...
Dramatic Finish!
First, there was the word, and the word was Omniscient. (This is what Google offers by way of its images. Icky, but it’ll do.)
Then for most of the week, the strongest contender was :
MULCH. It was something on a lot of minds as one must get ready for summer and winter at the same time. (Will we remember the winter of 2012 as an oddity? Time can only tell. We may look back on...
Word of the Week Winner, & Another Thing
BEHOLD! The Ambivalent Weimaraner!
Weimaraner was the overwhelming winner this week, but ambivalent held its own.
Online, ambivalence is depicted with the usual “Am I ambivalent? Yes and no” buttons, billboards, and posters. Clever the first time, predictable thereafter. There is evidently a German singer called Ambivalent who looks fully male to me. This stock photo is...
Nerd v. Prep: Part 1
A note here on tumblr, began this discussion. It’s probably just beneath this post in the vintage typewriter, but because I think it’s important — relatively — I am posting it anew, as a new item of its own, so that it gets read. Thanks to the writer of the original note. This distinction has become blurry over time. Remember: nerds and hipsters will come and go;...
iobsessandpossess asked: Hi Miss Lisa! My question is this: most of my friends think I dress nerdy but what I'm trying to do is be preppy. Is there differences between the two styles and what should I do to make my look more preppy? Thank you and have a great day! :)
NEXT WOTW
Voting has already begun on the Facebook pages. I think I am very confused this week, and I blame the weather. (But Mother Nature does have the last laugh, so don’t say a word to her.)
Inflicted
Ambivalent
Weimaraner
Timorous
Vote now, friends!
Lisa
It has a satisfying sound, but its meaning....
You voted for Misanthrope. It means one who distrusts or dislikes humankind. How to illustrate this Winning Word? (Truth be told I was hoping macaronage would win, for two reasons. One was I had just seen the word for the first time ever, and second was the yummy pictures that would look pretty running through our typewriter.)
Comme Ca:
or comme ça:
(I have this image on a...
