Letters to the editor with pictures since 2002.
Published on Big Pine Key’s garbage pick-up days,
Tuesdays and Fridays.
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 [Eroding Society] When I was growing up folks used words like “durn,” “doggone,” and “dadblame” as adjectives. “Shoot!” and “Durnit!” were common ways to express frustration. When my granny got particularly upset, she would say “Fiddlesticks!”Words such as these are called “minced oaths.” They are socially permissible substitutes for similar words that are considered vulgar or profane. Until the late 19th century, most English language expletives (“cuss words,” as l learned to call them) were profanities—irreverent uses of words taken from religion or the Bible, words such as “God,” “hell,” or “damnation,” for example. Of course, it was coarse and socially unacceptable to use such words irreverently (profanely), so minced oaths such as “gosh,” “heck,” and “tarnation,” arose as substitutes. One of the most common early minced oaths was “Zounds!,” used to express surprise and a substitute for the profane “God’s wounds!” By 1900, as blasphemy became less shocking, obscenities and vulgarity began to replace profanity as the expletives of choice, with the most commonly used expletives/swear words being derived from words for body parts, bodily wastes, and sex. Naturally as these expletives became more common, so did minced oath substitutes like “shoot,” “shucks,” “flip,” and “fudge.” An observer of language in the 21st century might reasonably wonder whether we are witnessing the end of minced oaths. Nowadays, more than at any time in prior history, there seems to be little aversion or adverse consequence to the use of expletives that not long ago would have been considered outrageous and offensive vulgarities. With the normalizing of such words, the need for minced oath substitutes diminishes. So perhaps minced oaths are becoming a thing of the past. If so, I’m going to miss them, doggone-it. |
How long will a cellphone’s flashlight stay on before the battery runs out? |
| [Wetbacks] Arrests at US southern crossing surpass 2 million for first time. Link |
Next flight to Martha’s Vinyard. |
| [Slavery] ln 1849, enslaved American Henry Brown packed himself in a box and mailed himself to a state where slavery was illegal. He was a free man when he stepped out |
[Wind] It seems like everyone in the Keys has a lot of wind these past few days! |
| I have Google Fi for my phone service ($20/month). The sent me a $5 credit in case I had any interruptions in my service (I didn’t). Then today I got another email from Google Fi that said because my cable was out I was using the phone as a hot spot to get internet so I could watch streaming video on my TV which is very expensive use of pandwidth. They were not charging me for the extra bandwidth I used. Usually $10 per gigabyte. That’s about 2GB (HD) to 14GB for a (4K) movie. I’ve never had a phone carrier do anything for me before. |
Dating in 2022. |
| [Friday Joke] A woman awakes during the night to find that her husband is not in bed. She puts on her robe and goes downstairs to look for him. She finds him sitting at the kitchen table with a hot cup of coffee in front of him. He appears to be in deep thought, just staring at the wall. She watches as he wipes a tear from his eye and takes a sip of his coffee. ‘What’s the matter, dear’ she whispers as she steps into the room, ‘Why are you down here at this time of night.” The husband looks up from his coffee, ‘It’s the 20th Anniversary of the day we met’. She can’t believe he has remembered and starts to tear up. The husband continues, ‘Do you remember 20 years ago when we started dating, I was 18 and you were only 16,’ he says solemnly. Once again, the wife is touched to tears. ‘Yes, I do’ she replies. The husband pauses The words were not coming easily. ‘Do you remember when your father caught us in the back seat of my car’ ‘Yes, I remember’ said the wife, lowering herself into the chair beside him. The husband continued. ‘Do you remember when he shoved the shotgun in my face and said, “Either you marry my daughter or I will send you to prison for 20 years’ ‘I remember that, too’ she replied softly. He wiped another tear from his cheek and said “I would have gotten out today.” |
[Land Grab] ‘There are four new areas of Russia,’ says Putin. Link |
| Watch flooded streets in Key West after Hurricane Ian. Video |
Don’t forget to donate to the hurricane victims, some of it might actually get to the victims. |
| Big Pine Key AARP October 2022 Calendar. Full Menu > Ongoing Events |
 [Colonoscopy] There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was ‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA. I remarked to Andy that, of all the songs that could be playing during this particular procedure, ‘Dancing Queen’ had to be the least appropriate. ‘You want me to turn it up?’ said Andy, from somewhere behind me. ‘Ha ha,’ I said. And then it was time, the moment I had been dreading for more than a decade. If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like.I have no idea. Really. I slept through it. One moment, ABBA was yelling ‘Dancing Queen, feel the beat of the tambourine,’ and the next moment, I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood. The doctor was looking down at me and asking me how I felt. I felt excellent. I felt even more excellent when he told me that It was all over and that my colon had passed with flying colors. I have never been prouder of an internal organ. |
 [Hysterical Media] I agree that the media get their jollies by panicking the populace. If there’s a change of flooding they tell us the highest number; the same for wind. It’s always the highest number or the worst outcome. Even when the hurricane had passed, they were saying the entire Keys would receive 3 1/2 feet of flooding. On Big Pine I had 2-3 inches of flooding. |
| [First Reef Fish] What an ancient Maya city excavation taught scientists about the origins of reef fishes. Fossils pulled from the quarry of an ancient Maya city reveal the dawn of reef fishes. Link |
 
[Frangapani] Free fuchsia pink plumeria starters. Take all you want. Just stick them in dirt and they grow! On the decorative rocks by the 2nd driveway at 21023 7th Ave. E., Cudjoe Key. MM 21. |
| [Flood] Legend has it that people between Key West and Big Pine will be waiting for the second surge from Hurricane Ian for years. |
Duke and Duchess of Sussex ‘demoted’ on Royal family website. Well, at this rate Megan will never be queen. Link |
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| [Storm Fools] Anyone happen to see the fools dancing around the KW’s southernmost point monument prior to the storm? During the damaging winds and surge they had their bunny slippers and teddy bear nearby. |
[Worst Actors] Bruce Willis takes the cake. He doesn’t act. He just makes faces. Watch his recent movies where he mostly has bit parts. All he does is make faces |
| Struggling to get your wife’s attention? Just sit down and look comfortable. |
 [Send Money] Lower Keys Rotary updates & donations needed. We hope everyone fared well during the recent storm. Please contact us if you need cleanup assistance; our local Rotarians are always here to help. Decks & Docks is currently taking donations to support those affected by Hurricane Ian in the Cape Coral area. Below please information on what is needed. Our next meeting date would be October 7th. However, this is the kick-off of our annual Fall Festival beginning Friday evening. There will be no Friday Luncheon meeting. Information on this year’s event is attached. Please share with your friends and family! Volunteers are still needed! Sign up here |
Today, Friday is the first cold front of the season. It’s probably going down to 80° tonight. |
| I always knew I’d get old. How fast it happened was a bit of a surprise, though. |
Shortage? What shortage? |
| Migrants thank DeSantis for moving them thousands of miles from hurricane. |
When doctors text each other. |
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| published at 9:30am |