We are coming on a month of the Obama President Electship. Its pretty phenomenal, and I will continue to be thankful for that for decades to come…
...this is nice...
On my way home for Thanksgiving, I stopped at the gas station and noticed one of my tires was woefully underflated (this flows better than underinflated). With the joy of the upcoming holiday season hovering over me, I strode over to the “air machine”. The following is the ensuing exchange between the service attendant and me.
Me (with a fistful of dollars): Umm…can I get some quarters for the air machine?
Attendant: No, it’s free.
Me (obviously not taking this in): No, I need quarters for the air machine
Attendant (clearly agitated at my blissful ignorance): No it’s free, the air is free. No charge.
Well I sauntered out of the service station, slightly embarrassed, but also amused by the serendipity of “free air”; this was going to be a great Thanksgiving after all! But, wait a minute, it was air! This is America, land of the free and home of the brave…our colors don’t run and such. We have troops stationed in the many corner of this world under orders to spread “liberty”, and protect our personal freedoms. I am not quite sure what to make of this, but I imagine that “air”, whether compressed or not, should be one of these freedoms.
Regardless of this, I would have foolishly paid my 75 cents, yet out of the kindness of their hearts, these wonderful gas stations attendants were giving me their compressed air. Thus, enabling to make the trip home without killing myself in any of a number calamities stemming from a blown tire. For this I am thankful.
...free air will do this to you...
I love old people. Not necessarily geriatric aged folks, but people from a distinctly different generation than mine. I love their use of antiquated phrases all of which I have adopted, or heard someone adopt. These phrases are similar to old ornate rotary phones, no distinct purpose, but cool to have around. Lately I have noticed a great number:
OLD PHRASE: “Turn of phrase”: as in, “I know you might not understand “from the soup to the nuts” but it’s merely a turn of phrase that we used back in the day.”
NEW PHRASE: “Saying”
OLD PHRASE: “In all my days”: as in, “I am 89 years old, and I have not seen a campaign run so poorly as that in all my days.”
NEW PHRASE: “In a minute”
OLD PHRASE: “Dial-up:” as in “I turned on my Dial-Up, because I had to check my email”
NEW PHRASE: “Internet”
OLD PHRASE: “Atlantic Time Zone”: as in, “What time zone are they in out in Arizona? Let me see, we’ve got pacific, mountain, central and atlantic right?”
NEW PHRASE*: “Eastern Time Zone”
OLD PHRASE: “From the Roota to the Toota”: as in, “Yeah, she was quite thorough with her inspection, she checked everything from the roota to the toota.”
NEW PHRASE: “Madd thorough”
In any effect, Happy Thanksgiving!
*I realize that this is simply a misnomer, because there is an Atlantic Time Zone, old folks are so smart.
