Tuesday, February 12, 2008

I'm a hypocrite about words and definitely a dork for even thinking about this

I'm so weird and inconsistent about how I feel about using and pronouncing words we got from other languages. My overall philosophy is trying to be down to earth and unpretentious, and progressive and I definitely think language exists to enable communication, and that's it. Language constantly evolves, and I don't like the idea that there are definite ways to say things or that grammar/punctuation rules is set in stone. It's helpful to maintain some standards for clarity, and I loooove copyeditors, don't get me wrong, but people who call themselves "grammar-nazis" are really annoying and self-righteous. It's like, you're getting so hung up on these rules, and they're only there to facilitate you in conveying ideas. If people understand what you're saying/writing, then stop being annoying.

Anyway, given what I just said, it really really bothers me when people doubly misuse pronouns. I don't care when people misuse them in the more common way of using the incorrect pronoun as the subject of a sentence (eg., "Bob and me went there yesterday."), but I just hate it when people overcompensate and decide that any time you talk about yourself and someone else, that you should always use the pronoun "I." As in "This is really important to Ralph and I." No no no no no. It's the overcompensation that gets to me, because people make a point of using the subject pronoun when there's actually a distinction on when you use each, and they're trying to sound intelligent and smart by using 'I' in all instances. They know some sort of rule exists concerning the use of different types of pronouns, but they don't actually know what they are. That's what that is.

It bothers me when people misuse other words, too, usually food. Especially bruschetta and panini. Panini means "sandwiches," soooo, when Matt says he's going to make himself a "panini sandwich," he's actually saying that he will have a "sandwiches sandwich." The mis-pronunciation of bruschetta doesn't bother me so much as the misuse. Bruschetta is the bread, NOT a tomato, olive oil, basil mixture. You can have bruschetta with any kind of topping you want, or you could even just eat the bread with no topping and no tomatoes at all, and you'd still be eating bruschetta!

Vahz, Vayse; enDIVE, ahn-deev, I don't actually care, I don't think we should be too hung up. Though, it makes sense to try to pronounce things in the way they originally were, but if you're American, and from the Northeast like me, you probably have a really obnoxious, harsh, nasal accent, and I sound stupid and obnoxious when I start pronouncing "croissant" as "kwasohhhhn." When I worked at the diner, I would pronounce "gyro" as "jai-ro," because when I said it correctly, no one understood what I was saying. Some people said it as "guy-ro," and anyone would have to admit, that's pretty bad, and we should look down on and shun those people.

What's my problem? I know that's how those words are used in America, and I know what I'm getting when I order bruschetta in a restaurant, but whatever. I also have no problem when someone says "axed" instead of "asked," because, you know what, in the year 3000, that's how it's going to be pronounced anyway. (Thanks to Futurama for that little peek into our destiny).

I still order drinks at Starbucks by their actual names. AKA "grahhn-day" for a Medium. My friend who worked there told me people often come in and order a "grand." We laughed a lot about that.

Basically, it's OK when I'm pretentious about certain words, but when other people do it, it's obnoxious and a huge turn-off. That's fair, right?

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Super Tuesday!

I'm so excited to vote it's ridiculous. I wish someone invited me to a party tonight to watch the returns come in and celebrate. My plan is to vote on my way home from work, go home, walk the dog, etc., then make up some pulled pork sandwiches and cole slaw (along with some weird ale Matt got with like 9% alcohol, so it's THICK) and watch the the cnn coverage for the rest of the night. Did you know they have the best political team ever? I didn't until Wolf Blitzer told me every 5 seconds without stopping. Slate and I are on the same page. FUN NIGHT! I'M SO EXCITED!!

Today was also the parade for the Giants, and basically a billion people from Jersey had to come through the Hoboken station and take the PATH to get in the city. They stampeded me as soon as the train doors opened, and I was forced to dramatically fight my way through the crowd to get through the station. Giants fans apparently do not understand train etiquette! That's the logical conclusion, right?

Before I worked in an office, I would mainly purchase comfortable clothes such as jeans and cotton shirts when I shopped. Now that I'm not really supposed to wear jeans, I try to buy things I can wear to work. This usually means slacks, button down shirts and practical shoes (since I walk like a mile, I don't want to ALWAYS have to bring an extra pair). I just realize today that I dress like a MOM!!!! Ahh. I need someone to help me find cute work clothes that make me look like I don't have two kids and drive a van.

My only savior are these:



If I put these on with a skirt or jeans, I actually look like a city person who really knows where she's going and knows all about what's goin' on. But I can't wear them every day!!

Monday, February 4, 2008

Update

I stole this idea from Klosekraft, I love everything she does.

What I'm ...

...Reading: Perpetually catching up on my New Yorkers. Now that my commute is literally 7 min. on the train, I have no time in which my only option is to read, which is normally how I get it done. I've been forcing myself to sit down and do it, and the news is always about one month old. So right now, I'm reading all about how there's no way Hillary will ever win New Hampshire in the primaries, and other exciting things, etc.. I'm also in the middle of: Mere Christianity and The Poisonwood Bible (finally!). Mere Christianity is short, so I should be done soon, and the concept is really intriguing. I guess Lewis was a complete atheist at one point in his life, and converted to Christianity, and this book explains the truth in Christian beliefs based on moral law. So far, I'm on board with everything he's set up, so we'll see how it goes! I did recently read that it's Mike Huckabee's favorite book (puke).

...Watching: Just finished the second season of Dexter. AHH! If you watched the first season and wasn't too impressed, don't give up!! The second season was wonderful! The characters all get rounder and realer, including Dexter, which makes everyone more interesting, and it gets so suspenseful and scary! Only bad part: Lila, a really annoying new character who has the obnoxious Kiera Knightly thing going on with her jaw/lips and whose British accent sounds so forced that I had to look her up to see if it was even real. My private life will be consumed by Lost and Project Runway for the next couple weeks. Seinfeld is also another project.

...Cooking: Winter foods. I've been using the slow cooker a LOT. I'm trying to make us sick of all the slow roasts and stews and chilies before the weather gets hot and I don't want have the oven on. Winter greens have been great, which you already know all about. Once spring arrives, I'll be ready to GRILL and eat guac exclusively. Come on people! I don't always cook roasts and beef and mutton and comfort food! That's just what wintertime warrants!! Pretty soon I'll be totally spicin' it up, just wait!

...Planning: To help Matt get and prepare for a show at LITM (aka home of Cheesy Wednesday). This would be in late summer, and we really want this to happen! I'm also supposed to go to Spain in mid March with my sister, and I need to get down to business. Our cousin is studying in Sevilla, and the idea is that we'll stay there with her for a few days, visit another southern Spanish town (or do a couple day trips), and then go somewhere to Portugal, which I know nothing about. Does that mean we go to Lisbon? I need help. I'll probably just go to Rick Steve's. I think I have a free plane ticket, so this should be totally doable.

I'm also going to vote in the primary tomorrow. I'm so excited for this election, and since the Democratic race looks close in NJ, I'm definitely voting. I think I'm unafiliated right now, but NJ lets you declare at the polling place. So, I'll declare, vote for Obama, and then mail in a new registration form to unaffiliate myself. I don't want any more ridiculous propaganda than I already have.

...Knitting: I'm such a baby. I never do ambitious projects, and I whine about how long my dinky scarf is taking. It's about 1/3 done. I'll post a pic when it's half done. I'm really eager to start doing something fancier, so I'm going to have my sister come up and assist me in beginning a new project. I've been thinking of doing this. Wouldn't that be cool of me? I think I could def wear that sweater if I was a mom, so it should last a while. I'd even call it 'timeless,' wouldn't you? Claire says she thinks it's not too hard for me to tackle. We'll see!

Sunday, February 3, 2008

super bowl = who cares

I am the best girlfriend ever. Thursday and yesterday I made shepherd's pie and then pulled pork sandwiches upon requests. If I was your girlfriend, you could just be like, "Anna, I feel like eating meaty casserole topped with crispy mashed potatoes tonight," and I'd be like "Coming right up, you!" The shepherds pie was meaty and juicy.





I cooked the pork in cider vinegar for 8 hours and then mixed in BBQ sauce, honey, mustard, and soy sauce, and it was the best thing I've made in my entire life. I also made delicious mustardy, non mayo cole slaw and collard greens.





I heard Wet Hot American Summer the musical might be coming out!

That's all, I have to watch 3 more episodes of Seinfeld now, (the real love of my life)!