March 3, 2011
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The Daily News1 I think it's time for everybody to stand up and boycott gas.
2 I'm serious.
3 I think that beginning Monday, we should all make a pact to spend no more than twenty bucks on gas for the entire week.
4 Not practical for some, but quite practical for many.
5 The oil companies are out of control, arbitrarily warning us that for no reason whatsoever, it is okay to start making prices climb, since we are such a bunch of suckers.
6 I've done this every time they start their shenanigans.
7 It isn't that difficult. And I could do it for two weeks if they keep this stuff up.
8 Think of how often we travel unnecessarily.
9 And don't get me wrong. I LOVE going for rides. It's the one thing that I will allow myself to do. And I LOVE the T000000NDRA, because it is a Disney ride, no matter where I go. Anybody who knows me knows this.
10 But the only way to make those guys keep prices more reasonable is to boycott. And the easiest boycott is to travel less and spend less on travel.
11 It's also goin' green.
12 So I'm not going to be the guy to begin a national boycott, but beginning next week I am going to refuse to spend more than twenty bucks on gas.
13 Pretty simple, pretty grassroots. Anybody can do it.
14 So do it. Monday through Friday, twenty bucks only. And even after that, never put more than twenty bucks in, and cut back on your driving.
15 Who's down?
16 Moving on, Part the First: Who's down. Ha.
17 I'm down.
18 I love all that Facebook talk.
19 So strange. Who ever said, "Too cute!" before Facebook? Or "Too funny."
20 Or "Woot!"
21 Or "Nom nom nom nom"?
23 Too wid.
24 Oh, that's mines.
25 Moving on, Part the Second: Did you know that people who say, "That's mines." actually think that "mine" has an "s"? I used to always think that it was just a cute form of "mine". My guess is because the possessive form of some pronouns tends to have an "s" at the end: his, hers, ours...mines?
26 Nope.
27 Most of the incorrectness nowadays has made its way into what we used to call "the vernacular", which is to say that it's now what people say.
28 I've brought this up before, but it bears repeating.
29 The word "dude" used to mean a city slicker who tries to dress up like a cowboy or a ranch hand.
30 As far as I know, that was the only definition of "dude".
31 Years ago, I had a paper turned into me that had a sentence that read, "So I said, 'Hey do, let's chill!' "
32 I looked at it around twelve times before it dawned on me that the guy meant, "dude".
33 Nowadays, EVERYBODY calls EVERYBODY "dude."
34 I don't mind, because I think it is now an endearing term. I call everybody dude.
35 But students have no idea that they are calling one another a city slicker who tries to dress up like a cowboy or a ranch hand.
36 Here is Dictionary.com's def: Dude: ( Western US ), ( Canadian ) a city dweller, esp one holidaying on a ranch. It is actually of unknown origin. It later came to mean any fastidiously dressed man.
37 It's earliest traces of a manner of addressing someone came "circa" 1970 when it surfaced as a surfer term for "man".
38 From there, I'm not sure. I would need to go to the Oxford English Dictionary, which I'm not about to do at 4:30 a.m.
39 My observations are that people started impersonating surfers, and it eventually came down to be simply a manner of addressing anyone, man or woman, boy or girl.
40 When my cat howls, I often say loudly, "DUDE!"
41 Yesterday a student said, "You didn't tell us we needed a rough draft on our paper!"
42 It was clearly on the handout.I clearly announced it.
43 The guy kept squawking, and I looked at him and said, "Dude."
44 He sheepishly gave in.
45 Moviing on, Part the Waters: Well, hey do, it's either way late or way early, but I think this ol' cowpoke is going to hit the hay.
46 Have a good day, and let's boycott us some gas.
47 Peace.
~H~
www.xanga.com/bharrington
Word Origin & Historydude
1883, "fastidious man," New York City slang of unknown origin. The vogue word of 1883, originally used in reference to the devotees of the "aesthetic" craze, later applied to city slickers, especially Easterners vacationing in the West ( dude ranch first recorded 1921). Surfer slang application to any male is first recorded c.1970.
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