Mind Games

Most people know that grocery stores usually put milk at the back of the store, which forces the shopper to pass numerous other temptations on their way to get the basics – which they often end up buying. It’s a classic supermarket trick, and even when you know about it, it’s nearly impossible not to fall for. And we all know the reason that candy bars and tabloids are placed right near the checkouts.

But did you know that the items shelved at eye-level are usually the most expensive? Or that a store that hands you a basket or cart when you enter is trying to get you to buy more? (Apparently, people feel like idiots carrying a basket with one item to the checkout, so they’re more likely to fill the basket rather than ditching after entering.) Not only that, those cluttered, messy displays may have been designed that way – it seems that shoppers don’t want to mess up a neat display, and messy ones give a visual cue that the item is a good deal.

There are hundreds of other psychological games that retailers use to get you to buy more. This particular website, while centered around the UK, has an A-to-Z guide of some of the ploys that stores use, and makes for interesting reading.

Wag vs. Lug

It’s come to my attention recently that my mother (of whom I am admittedly a near-carbon copy) uses the word wag as a verb. This may not alarm you, seeing as it IS a verb, but she is not referring to a dog’s wagging tail, or wagging your finger at someone. No, she is using wag as a substitute for carry – as in, “I don’t want to wag this sweater around all day.” Worse, I’ve found that my stepfather & grandmother are both totally okay with this. I, however, cringe every time she says it.

Given my rural hick upbringing, I’m familiar with and accepting of the usage of the word lug for this purpose.

Lug (v.) – to move or haul.

See? A perfectly acceptable synonym for carry.

Wag (v.) – to move briskly and repeatedly from side to side, to and fro, or up and down.

Wag is a totally different concept, to me. Wag describes a clock pendulum, or the tongue of someone who can’t seem to shut up (admittedly, I am often this person). But it just doesn’t fit with carry. Am I the crazy one? I am interested in knowing if any of you also use this word. Comments are now open on all posts, with no logging in required, so post away!

moo

I have absolutely no practical use for any of the products offered by Moo.com, but that doesn’t stop me from totally wanting every single one of them. I mean, come on – they have stickers! And notecards that even have a little thing to help them stand up on a desk or table! I think I wish that I were the one who came up with this business in the first place, actually.

Resolve

I am not a resolution person. A new year is great and all, but to be blunt, I think it’s kind of stupid to start making resolutions just because it’s a new year. The date is not going to have any effect on whether or not you suddenly have the willpower to do whatever it is you failed to do for the last 365 days.

At the same time, I have found myself wishing I could make resolutions for everyone ELSE to follow in the year to come. The most important of these – if I had a magic wand and could force this upon everyone I meet – would be simple: Be nice.

Now, I’m sure this sounds kind of stupid and “well, duh” at first, like when a beauty pageant contestant says they wish for world peace when they probably just want the winner’s check, but I mean this sincerely. One thing I’ve learned about myself is that, nine times out of ten, I tend to give other people the benefit of the doubt. And one thing I’ve learned through observation is that, nine times out of ten, other people don’t.

When I say “Be nice,” what I really mean is to try to give other people the benefit of the doubt on a daily basis. When someone cuts you off in traffic, instead of getting irritated and mumbling (or shouting) about how they just couldn’t wait to get to where they were going, consider what their reason may have been. Maybe they have a sick kid in the car with them, and they’re rushing to get to the hospital. Maybe they’ve had a really long day at work and didn’t even realize you were there. And of course, maybe they’re just a jerk and don’t care about anyone else. But if you can’t be sure, then how can you justify your anger? On the chance that there really was someone on their way to the hospital, how can you judge them negatively in light of that possibility? Because if you were in their place, you might easily have done the same thing.

This is applicable in all kinds of situations, not just traffic. Start paying attention to how you interact with other people, whether they are friends or family or complete strangers, and you may realize how easily we tend to judge them. And your reaction could be the one thing that helps turn THEIR day around, if you choose it wisely.

So as you go through the rest of your year, making and breaking your own resolutions, just keep in mind that you don’t really know what everyone else is going through. And more importantly, keep in mind the saying, “There but for the grace of God go I.” Whatever wrong someone else has done, remember that you could very easily have been given their life and their challenges and their issues, and that it’s only God’s grace that has put you where you are.

6 Songs I Originally Learned By Hearing My Mother Hum the Few Lines She Could Remember (Which Were Often Not the Right Words or Were Out of Order)

1. ‘Cause I’m easy, easy like a Sunday mornin’...

2. “I’ve got spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle / As I go riding merrily along”

3. Kaw-lie-juhhhhh-uhhh-uhh-uh-uh-uh

4. “All night long…all night…all night…”

5. Baby, come back! Any kind of fool could see, I was wrong, and I just can’t live without you.

6. Come on, ring those bells! Everybody say, “Jesus, we remembered it’s your birthday!”

The Truth about Christmas

The Story of Jesus’ Birth: Separating the Bible Truth from the Myth

I have to be honest and admit that I did not verify the source or fact-check this article like I usually do before posting. I came across it while looking up information for Christmas Bells, and while the quality of the site and the presentation and organization are all a little lacking, I think there are some interesting details to be found within. I also know that Christmas is over, but would I really be myself if I weren’t perpetually late with things?

Lucky New Year?

How is that I’m well on my way to being 24 years old, and have lived in what I consider the South all my life, and only today found out that in the South it’s considered lucky to eat black-eyed peas for the first meal of the New Year? Personally, I believe in God, not luck, which thankfully prevents me from eating the mushy little buggers. But I find it very intriguing to see what other people believe bring them good luck. Perhaps more interesting would be to know how many people who believe in these traditions actually know why they are considered good luck. My bet is not very many do. Feel free to comment and tell about some other tradition I should know about by now!

Word Play

One site I use all the time is the Online Etymology Dictionary. It’s very rare that I can’t find a word I’m looking for there. (You can even use it to find the history of the word etymology.)

Also, check out Findaphrase.com, which could be a useful tool for writers, especially journalists.

Meet HEnry.

So apparently, I am now officially a namer. It turned out to be a he, and his name turned out to be Henry, and why in the world am I naming a laptop? I don’t know.

The male status had nothing to do with dependability, although things started out kind of iffy this morning, when I booted it up and found that my DVD drive was playing Hide & Seek. A quick google search told me this was a common issue with this particular brand of DVD drive and Vista, blah blah blah, and it could easily be fixed by going into that pesky little Windows Registry and just deleting a couple bits of vital-sounding code with names that started with something like B2032q09hk32948fb7-999lkdlkfhslkdfh. At that point, I was really started to rethink not waiting for a Mac, where problems like this would not await me straight out of the box, but then I remembered that my (unnamed) Gateway would not charge, and I don’t remember how to live without a computer, and I can’t afford a Mac, and – okay, then. Henry it is.

Overall, though, I am thoroughly enjoying this thing. Vista’s still weird, and you probably won’t get me to say I LIKE it, but I am grudgingly trying to respect it, at the very least. Historical romances tell you that respect can turn into like (and almost certainly will, if you are thrust into a completely unforeseeable Challenging Circumstance©, with the very person you dislike but cannot help grudgingly respecting as your only hope of escaping said Challening Circumstance©), but I’m not so sure it’s going to happen with Vista. (Or is that Mojave? I’m confused. AND I have that funny little “Mo-hov-ay!” jingle in my head.)

toSHEba

Me: Is my new computer a he or she?

Mom: Well, do you want it to be dependable?