Finks, creeps and nerds

Remember when a fink was a nerd or a creep? I can recall several boys in high school who we used to call "finks". Such nomenclature is now not used. These guys are now nerds or creeps, although "creep" was a term we also used back in the day. Having grown up here, I sometimes run into "finks" from high school. Guess what? They are still creeps. Yuck.

We just welcomed a grandaughter into the world in Houston. Big debate about names and it got me thinking about names that no one would consider using. How about starting with mine...and then there are:

• Nancy
• Helen
• Buelah
• Doris
• Linda
• Dorothy
• Cheryl
• Agnes
• Betty
• Hope
• Carol
• Gertrude
• Alice
• Maude
• Clementine
• Margaret
• Wanda
• Diane.....I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

Same with boys' names. Why is that?

Could not tear myself away from another episode of 'Teen Mom'. This time "mom" was having a hissy fit because the boyfriend/father had talked to another girl. All the while, their baby was crawling around, ignored and helpless, until it fell off the bed and smacked its head on the floor. They managed to notice the kid only after it started screaming bloody murder. Well, totally understandable because mom and boyfriend were getting it off in another corner of the room. For all I know, they were making another! How annoying that the kid hurt itself. Kinda wrecked the mood. Too bad it hadn't swallowed a tack or choked on a peanut and died. Seriously, that's how uninterested the parents were. But then a funeral would have thrust "mom" into the spotlight again on the local tv news. That would have been perfect. She could have had her 15 minutes of fame and headed straight for the bar to start all over again.

I talked to a couple of savvy teenaged girls the other evening and asked them about drug use in their circles. Both said that drugs were not the problem, but there was a lot of drinking and pregnancy. Yeah, right. Don't the two go together!? Get drunk and get pregnant.

A little grammar hit me the other night. I was listening to a tv reporter and she said, "A cyclist such as him..." Now, if you add the unspoken word "is", you know that "him" is incorrect. It has to be "he". I passed that little trick onto my students and I hope some of them remember it. It is very easy to know when to use "he" versus "him" or "she" versus "her". You just have to add the unspoken verb and you have it. You don't even have to know what particle of speech is required or what it is called.

I love 'As it Happens' -- that CBC radio show. Don't always listen to it, but last night they had a bird expert on who informed listeners that 400,000 acres of wetlands had been created in hitheto fallow farmers' fields by paying the farmers to irrigate fallow fields. What a fabulous initiative! Before the gulf oil disaster, an acre of wetland was being lost every 40 minutes. Who knew?! So, the disaster has spawned the creation of more wetlands. What beauty God has again generated.

The only other thing I want to rant about is that there are 425 gondoliers in Venice -- all male. Finally, they have allowed a women into a gondola. BUT. She can only take out a gondola if a male allows it. If he is sick or wants to take the day off, etc. What have I been ranting about?! Women are still in the same trench in so many venues.