Sunday, November 16, 2008

Webster

You may be thinking that this post's title refers to that 80s TV show with the little adopted kid who lived in a house full of secret passageways. You'd be wrong. Although that show was an example of fine television, today I'm talking about definitions.
At lunch I casually mentioned to Bert that I'd been with a friend this morning who was complaining that she was exhausted. Una (come to think of it, "Ears" would be a good nickname for her) chimed in, "I know what exhausted means. It means unhappy, angry, upset, and sad." For a moment I was puzzled and then the proverbial light bulb went on and I got it. The only time Una hears that word is when I'm speaking harshly, as in "Una, I'm exhausted! Please stop chanting 'I'm playing my guitar' over and over again." Or "Una, I'm exhausted! Please put your coat on now because I don't want to ask you a fourth time." Or "Una, I'm exhausted! Please don't ask me for another treat. I already said no." If I were 4 and a half years old and were trying to decipher the meaning of the word exhausted from those context clues, I'd probably come up with her definition as well. I guess the next time I'm exhausted I'll need to explain that I'm sleep deprived and hence short on patience. And now I'm off to bed because (you guessed it) I'm exhausted.
This week my goal is to continue with vice 5. I'll be de-cluttering for 10 minutes each day. It's been a week into the challenge and I'm already noticing a difference. It's encouraging.

2 comments:

Mrs Furious said...

God I loved Webster... I'll never forget the episode when they first go look at the house (remember they used to live in an apartment?!) and when he went in one of the rooms there was a spooky life sized doll sitting in a rocking chair and it appeared to be alive and rocking but it was just the wind. That was from Webster right?!... it scared the crap out of me and I've never gotten over it!

Mary Poppins said...

mrs f--never saw that one, but now you've scared me. what is it with the 80's and creepy chuckie-like dolls?