u/ThimbleBluff

From then on, he was known as Flat Stan Lee.

The other day, I was thinking about the phrase “the other day,” and it struck me how perfectly vague it is. Semantically, it can mean any day but today, but in practice, it usually takes place sometime between “last week” and “yesterday” (though even that isn’t hard and fast). That’s a very useful ambiguity!

Interestingly, “yesterday” itself is quite specific (one day ago), but yesteryear is not. And there’s no such word as yestermonth. “Next week” generally means anytime during the upcoming calendar week (starting Sunday or Monday), but “in the next week” means precisely the next 7 days.

Tomorrow is specific too, but as far as I know, there’s no counterpart to “the other day.” Maybe “in the next few days” fits the bill?

Anyway, in the next few days, if you can think of other interesting time-based words and phrases that you’ve used *recently* that describe various gradations of the past, present, or future, please chime in.

I hope to hear from you all “presently.” 😁

Did anyone eat spinach from a can as a kid because the Popeye cartoons showed it gives you super strength?

(I tried canned spinach once and hated it, but I love fresh spinach now.)

Because I live in a US state shaped by glaciers, words like moraine, esker, kame and drumlin are a part of my vocabulary. I also live on the largest escarpment in North America, so that’s a word I use pretty often.

What feature of your home landscape is rarely mentioned outside your area, but commonplace to you.

Because I live in a US state shaped by glaciers, words like moraine, esker, kame and drumlin are a part of my vocabulary. I also live on the largest escarpment in North America, so that’s a word I use pretty often.

What feature of your home landscape is rarely mentioned outside your area, but commonplace to you.

What words do you mis-type that turn into something funny or awkward?

I just tried typing “possibility” and ended up with pissibility. Other examples:

- Bank of America = Band of America

- signing a document = singing a document

I’ve been doing some genealogical research, and one thing that has struck me is how I get an impression of what my ancestors were like from very limited information. A single letter. Census records that show who they lived with and what their job was. A divorce proceeding or probate testimony. If I’m lucky, some photographs.

It got me to thinking: what image will my descendants have of me 100 or 150 years from now? We do have a lot more records today that can tell the story of our lives, but who knows what will actually survive? Technology becomes obsolete. Files get lost. Information gets thrown away, erased or damaged. Some people leave a big “footprint” of personal records, others tread lightly through their lives.

So what do you imagine future genealogists will think of you? Will there be photos, videos, diaries? Will they make assumptions about you based on your job, the length of your marriage, where you lived or what community groups you belonged to?

I found it to be an interesting way to put my experiences into a broader historical perspective. I’m curious what others here think.

My heart was pounding in the dark as I skidded to a stop and took in the situation—no cries of pain, no body visible on the road, just a streak of blood on my car that my wiper fluid easily washed away before I drove on.

“If you like, I can change the filters in your lenses so you will no longer see those spectral figures that have been following you around lately.”

It was Mini Apple-Less

“I feel nostalgic. Give me a draft of your best vintage beer.”

“Ok Mack! Here’s a PBR.” The bartender draws a cold one and puts it in front of the old guy, who promptly drinks it down.

“What do you think?”

“Wow!” he says. “That’s a blast from the Pabst!”