Swimming to Vancouver

That's what I signed up for the other day at our local pool.  A bunch of us are swimming (collectively) to Vancouver, a distance of 973 kilometres.  Yep, we are!  Every day we report our laps to one of the lifeguards, who records it.  So far we are almost to Canmore, only 850 or so to go!  It will be fun to see how long it takes.  (Alma, have you signed up yet?)

Speaking of the pool, never have I encountered such wimps (I was going to say "pussies") for lifeguards.  I mean, you can't utter one off-colour word they don't run and report to the director.  It's simply ridiculous how little fun young people are having these days.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I don't swear like a stevedore or a trucker.  No.  I swear in a more literary manner, or as one elderly friend said a while back, "Nancy, how come when you use the "F" word it never sounds like swearing?"  Because I don't throw it around all the time and because I never drop my "g"s when using it as an adjective. 

I have now vowed to discontinue speaking to any lifeguard again.  The herd thins, their loss. 

Speaking of dropping one's "g"s, it's everywhere in Alberta and drives me crazy!  People are "talkin' and walkin' and comin' and goin' and puttin' and thinkin' and runnin' and callin'" all over the place.  Unless you want to be a trucker or a stevedore or a gas station attendant or a cashier or a construction worker or......whatever, don't drop your "g"s.  Not that there's anything wrong with these trades, but you won't secure a professional job if you fail to complete words ending in "ing". 

I remember many years ago calling in a young woman who worked for me for an off-the-record chat.  "Marilyn, you are one of the smartest people I know, but your speech is going to de-rail you," I said to a somewhat shocked colleague. "What do you mean?" she asked.  "You drop your "g"s all the time and you substitute "goes" for "said", among other off-putting, ear-grating turns of phrase," I explained.  Here would be a typical comment from Marilyn:

"So, I was talkin' to Gary the other night and he goes, he goes, 'Geez Marilyn, whaddya mean?"

Sorry, that won't do in the boardroom.  You might as well have grade eight because you'll never rise in any organization.   

A couple of years later I saw in the business section of the local paper an announcement of Marilyn's appointment to a senior position in an accounting firm.  Complete with a professional picture, she looked as great as she always did, but must have started adding her "g"s, otherwise she would not have made it up the ladder in that firm.  I was very proud of her.

It may be a little thing, but it's huge.