Truth

Nothing is truer than the wisdom of a child.

If you want to know if an infomercial is a scam, have a few school-age children watch it and listen to their comments. I did this today and here is what I heard:

"What a rip off! That doesn't work because it will poke you in the stomach. Ew, that is ugly! Who would want to do that? I don't like any of their hair; my hair looks better flat."

The first half was in response to a button/pin to make pants fit and the second half was in response to the bump-it hair thingymabobber.

I hope they stay so wise as they grow up...

Clouds

Today, I spent a most glorious Saturday afternoon hiking with my love. While I could pour my heart out here, I don't wish to make you gag. While I could go into why I actually lectured my love earlier this week, I doubt you want to hear me complain after that last post where I ranted myself into a tangled web of "wha-?!" (Don't you love how I write as though I have readers? It is endearing, no? Ha ha.) Anyway, this isn't a love post, this is a nature post... about a moment when I am pretty sure God wanted to remind me that He is present here on earth.

While we were hiking and climbing ever higher, we watched some clouds tickle the mountainside. The clouds seemed dainty, even, in their gentle caress of the trees dotting the side of Mount Baldy. Seeing this had a calming affect on my built up nerves.

Yet, the moment of awe came fifteen minutes after the clouds caressed and tickled the mountainside. We were standing on the path in awe of many more clouds coming from below us, crashing into the mountainside where they bounced off and over the clouds that were following their path into the mountain, and then crashed down into those clouds. The effect was of watching perfectly circular ocean waves... white, slightly transparent in the sky with the sun sending a glow through the image, washing the sight in a magnificent aura.

Breath taking.

Germans Save Earth's Critters; Americans Feast

Certain terms of endearment melt my heart. My top two favorites to personally be called is 'lovely' and 'doll.' Call me 'doll' and I may swoon right then and there, I kid you not. If I don't know you and you call me 'doll,' I may be twitterpated*. Granted, even a simple 'honey' from my sweetheart is enough to make my heart skip a beat and a simple 'beautiful' gets the butterflies in my stomach to remind me that they can still flutter. Contrariwise to 'lovely,' 'doll' and 'beautiful', American terms of endearment tend to be food-related, like 'honey.'

Think about it, we have (and please comment with more):

honey

sugar

sweetie

sweetie pie

cutie pie

muffin

cupcake

Now, while many of our terms of endearment make our stomachs yearn for dessert, Germans have terms of endearment that tend to make you want to save the environment for the critters we share the earth with:

Bärchen (little bear)

Biene (bee)

Gummibärchen (gummy bear)

Hasi (bunny)

Honigbienchen (little honey bee)

Mausi (little mouse)

Schneckchen (little snail)

Spatzi (little sparrow)

Tiger (tiger) **

Yes, I know that both nations have common terms of endearment that don't fit into the categories listed, but I am looking at general trends. Since I am a firm believer that language is a reflection of your thoughts (and contrariwise, that language shapes your thoughts), I come to this conclusion:

Americans get fatter as Germans go greener.

I should have chosen this topic for my linguistic project back when I had that class. Oh, well.




* I used it just for you.
** I must link that list to a website that helped me think of more beyond the three I could think of off-hand. I already knew that there were many more, but my German is a tad rusty. Gotta give credit where credit is due.