Tag Archives: drivel

Adorable

Words from Dic(tionary)

dictionary with letter A

Adorable: (adj) inspiring great affection; delightful; charming: e.g. she looked adorable

FBY.

It’s my new abbreviation for “Facebook Yap.”

I, for one, have always been suspicious of anything that steps in to replace something of importance which really does not capture the value–just fills the space.

Muzak, for instance, is no substitute for a concert. It deserves to be in an elevator, enclosed and prevented from being broadcast to too many corners of the earth.

That’s what I feel about the conversations, chatter and implications of Facebook.

So when I look at the word “adorable,” which used to have some tenderness, in my mind it has just become a way to describe a picture you received from someone, which you did not ask for, of their dog or child, and you are desperately groping for a way to tell the person you received it. so you send back a quick message, which says, “adorable” with twenty-four exclamation points. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

FBY has ruined so many words.

I can no longer use “cute,” especially S-O-O-O-O-O-O-O cute.

“Inspiring” is gone, since any little piece of drivel someone sends that they feel has a deeper meaning you must proclaim to be divinely unctioned.

Some of the old standards which should have died a long time ago have been dug up from the grave and re-shot in the head:

  • “They’re growing up so fast …”
  • “You can tell they’re in love …”
  • “I miss you …”
  • “Wish you were here …” and
  • “It’s really been a rough day …”

It saddens me–because there ARE things in life that truly are adorable. I once watched a bug try to crawl up a tree. Every time it got to the same place, gravity took over and it would fall. The little critter tried about seven times, and then apparently tapped some unused brain cells and decided to walk around the tree instead. That’s kind of adorable.

But when we have created a medium which focuses on US more than anything else, we have to also conjure a response to the offerings of others who intrude on our self-promotion by sending their own press clippings.

I have made the mistake of trying to write something truly significant or meaningful in one of the “comment” spaces, only to be ignored, and probably relegated as a “non-FBY’er” who still believes in complete sentences and knows the difference between “your” and “you’re.”

I value progress–as long as it goes FORWARD.

But I’m not willing to call something progressive that takes us back to the status of scrawling on cave walls, stepping back and grunting our approval.

Absaroka Range

by J. R. Practix

dictionary with letter A

Absaroka Range: a range of the Rocky Mountains in Montana and Wyoming.

There are folks who would insist that the problem lies in making mountains out of molehills. But equally as foolish is the present practice of making molehills out of mountains.

There are so many beautiful things happening in our world which are relegated to obscurity because they cannot bust through the lens of the 24-hour news cycle, that these projects and people have to be dismissed as irrelevant in order to justify the snubbing.

Can you imagine if you were the Absaroka Range? You are part of the Rockies, and if someone happens to be in Montana, waking up on a beautiful morning, you certainly exceed the status of molehill. But the Rockies get all the publicity; get written up in the Triple-A Travel Guide, and intoned in songs. No, you are stuck in Montana–considered a mere extension of the magnitude and beauty of your alleged superiors to the south.

Remarking on mountains being made out of molehills is really just an attempt to get everybody to calm down and not be overly focused on issues which we have decided to stick on the back burner, if not heave on the trash heap. But I tell you–perhaps the greatest danger in our generation is turning mountains into molehills, pretending that huge piles of important stuff really isn’t quite as significant as it appears to be.

These babies up in Montana are mountains. They may not get the press of the Rockies. They may be in a state that doesn’t have enough electoral votes to interest a fourth party candidate–but they’re still mountains. They still have reason to be proud. And when you stand next to them, they are just as intimidating to climb.

So be careful listening to the common drivel of our time. It won’t necessarily survive the decade in which it is spouted. Instead, do yourself a favor and before you dismiss that Absaroka Range up in Montana, go stand next to it and let its beauty and power sweep over your soul.