Random Thoughts

Sometimes I have the weirdest thoughts. Just plain weird. But sometimes these notions are thought-provoking so I thought I'd use this venue to share my random, weird thoughts. After reading my thoughts, maybe you will find that some of the thoughts you have are not that weird after all!

Random thought #1

When I travel for work, I often stay in hotels that offer a free breakfast. Some even offer a free dinner/reception a few nights a week. I have often wondered when I'm dining in the community dining space in those hotels...Are there any diners in here who aren't really staying here? I mean...they don't ask you to show a room key before you pick up that plate or pour some waffle mix into the Mickey-Mouse-shaped waffle iron. Couldn't someone just walk in the front door, as if he had taken something to his car, and walk right to the breakfast area, pick up a stale donut and help himself to breakfast? I'm not brave enough to test that theory in a hotel in which I'm not staying, and I don't really care. In fact, if a homeless person is able to come get a hot meal, and the hotel doesn't care, that's perfectly fine with me. 

Random thought #2

Those who know me well know that I am a grammar nerd. Some may even call me a grammar tyrant. I disdain misuse of our English language, especially by adults who should know better. The fact that Americans are required, in most states, to study our native language for 12 years of school, and we still can't speak the language correctly is absolutely ludicrous! One of the worst sub-populations to use incorrect grammar is country music singers. Now, don't get me wrong....I love country music. Being a native Tennessean, I was born to sing and love country music. But I hate the way the country music industry disrespects our English language. I can understand, every once in awhile, possibly singing or saying the wrong verb tense, if you are recording and get caught up in the moment. But here's my random thought...isn't someone WRITING those words first? Don't most singers have lyricists? So, are the lyricists actually writing incorrect grammar? Or are the singers just singing the lyrics wrong? When I was younger, I wanted to be a country music singer. Heck, I still would love to be a professional singer. If that dream ever comes true, I promise all of you here and now that I will never, knowingly WRITE or SING a grammatically incorrect phrase. Whew, glad I got that out. Now, carry on...all you country music singers whose lyrics include "have drank"...uugghhh...I can't even stand typing that.

Random thought #3

For the most part, I am a rule follower. That's not to say that I haven't knowingly and purposefully broken rules in my lifetime, but - most often - I follow the rules...to the point that if the box of brownie mix directs bakers to only stir the mix 50 stirs, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to stir the mix exactly 50 times, not 49 and not 51...50 stirs. So here's my random thought....Who decided that the mix would work best being stirred exactly 50 stirs? Did test bakers try stirring the mix 48 times, and 48 stirs just weren't quite enough? Or did a test baker accidentally forget to start counting and stir the mix 53 times, and the brownies turned out awful? Yeah, I know, this is a silly worry, and one that I won't lose sleep over....unless my brownies don't turn out good. Then, I'm going to worry if I stirred them exactly 50 times.

Random thought #4

In college, I took a class in linguistics. For those who don't know, linguistics is the study of language and is broken into three aspects: language form, language meaning and language in context. While I don't remember much of what I learned back then, I do remember being fascinated by what I was learning at the time. I guess that's why this random thing bugs me so much....not pronouncing the "t" in the middle of a word. Recently, I was watching a reality TV show (I won't reveal which one in order to protect my reputation - LOL), and one of the characters kept saying "impor-ant"...leaving out the "t" in the middle of that word. Another word that I hear a lot which people in Northern Kentucky pronounce the same way is "Day-on"; they leave out the "t" in Dayton. I don't get it at all. Don't most people learn about syllables in elementary school? Don't they know that "t" in these words, for example, is not meant to be ignored? In these words, I think the "t" is called a hard consonant, meaning the tongue is supposed to touch the roof of the mouth to complete the pronunciation. Yeah, I'm sure they don't-t-t-t-t-t-t.

Random thought #5

Annoying Facebook posts could be the subject of a novel. We all could write a different novel about all the things that bug us about Facebook posts. But the one popular thing lately that has me puzzled is Facebook posts that include selfies (or pictures that aren't selfies) and the person who is posting the pictures has his/her mouth WIDE open. When did this become a thing? I mean, I can understand not smiling; I can even understand big, huge happy smiles or "all teeth" smiles, but why is the wide-open-mouth Facebook post even a thing?