Regular Life

“Here’s an M.C. Escher book, Mark.”

I walked into the room expecting to see my wife holding out a book containing drawings by or a biography of M.C. Escher. I wondered about that, because I didn’t know we had such a thing. I was pleasantly surprised.

Until I walked into the room.

When I saw her, she held out a small strip of thin cardboard with an M.C. Escher illustration on it. It was an M.C. Escher bookmark. Oops. Such is the life of having a name that is also a part of speech.

I’ve been called a bookMark more than once.

Another corny joke on my name:
“When your parents had you, they really made their Mark on the world.”

Don’t Scrub the Spirit Level

As we unpacked our few remaining moving boxes on Sunday, Shannon worked to throw out documentation we no longer needed. Not much thrills her more than throwing things away. The manual from my Technics 7-band graphic equalizer, circa 1982? Even Mr. Mite Needit Sumday couldn’t stop me. Nope, pitch it.

Then I heard her say, “Don’t scrub the spirit level.”

What kind of religious tract had somebody placed on our door this time? “Excuse me?”

“It says right here, ‘Don’t scrub the spirit level. You could charge it electrostatically and it could temporarily lose the precision.’”

She held the manual for my new Manfrotto tripod, a great Christmas gift and something I’ve always wanted. I knew it had a built-in level, but just never had heard that term.

Reminded me of the time I heard a co-worker singing “This is my bull acid hole,” but upon further choruses I interpreted it more accurately, if less interestingly, as “This is my blessed hope.”

Death to Spacebat

Shannon called me yesterday to share some sad news. “He just said ‘placemat’ instead of ‘spacebat,’” she said.

“Oh, no. Death to the spacebat,” I said.

Before we got off the phone, he was saying “spacebat” again, so maybe it will hang on a little longer. Or he was just repeating his mommy’s words.

Adults sometimes change words, too.

Two words that have become verbs:
overnight
Example: Could you overnight that to me?

transition
Example: We’re transitioning to a new system.

A verb we use at work when someone stops using one of our products.
deconvert
Example: (unnamed customer) is going to deconvert.

This rarely happens, by the way, and usually is the result of a buyout or other type of takeover. So, with that one, the word gods are merciful.

There are lots more, but I can’t think of any right now, and my lunch time is over.

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