being nice

It's raining!  I love the rain!

How often do you think something nice about someone, or maybe you even say something nice, but to someone other than the person it's about?

I tend to do it a lot.  

But I have been trying to make an effort to actually tell people the nice things that I think about them.  Why is it difficult to do that?  Is it because people often have an awkward reaction to compliments.  We don't want to make them feel uncomfortable -- which will make us feel uncomfortable? 

But we've all been on the receiving end and even those compliments that make us feel weird, make us feel really good, too.  There are words people have spoken to me that I take out and savor from time to time.  Things said years ago, even.  We all want to hear them, even if we don't know how to respond.

So, if I think someone is pretty, I want to tell them.  If I think someone is wise, I want to tell them.  It is hard for me, but it shouldn't be.  That's just silly.  I'm sure the devil knows the power that kind words have and he has done his best to deceive us into keeping them to ourselves.

*edited to add* We have to make sure that our praise and kind words are true.  If we just say nice things, that is flattery and that is deceitful.  True compliments have to be true.

in our own words

My son coined the word Disastrophy.  It's pretty self - defining.

My daughter uses the word Romantical and I have picked that up, too.

When I was a teenager my friend's boyfriend was disgusted by something and said, "That is so grosstech!"  I like that much more than grotesque.

When we need lip balm we say that our chips are lapped.  Ok, well, I say that.  And maybe my sister does.

And one time a kid, (when I was a kid) was in serious distress, but we were laughing instead of caring because she was holding her eye saying, "Ow, my allbye, my allbye!"

I frequently make up words when in a swearing state of mine. But Consarn-it works well.  Dad-blame-it, does too.  "What in tarnation?!"  I say "Dagnabbit", but my boy says "Dangrabbit."  I don't swear like a sailor.  I swear like a miner.  

Or a baby.  I sometimes say poo poo instead.

We have all the cute little things our kiddos used to say, too.  My girl called water "nanu" and girls "gores."  My boy had a problem with g's and d's, so daddy was "gaggy" and dog and God were both "gog."    Grandpa wasn't real thrilled with being called "crap-o"  but I thought it was cute.

What about you?  Have any unique words?

thursday thirteen

*Mel of Monday Through Sunday and her family arrived safely in FL yesterday - I imagine she will be online soon.*

Thirteen of my favorite words:

1 ubiquitous 

2 effervescent

3 anomaly -this is one of hubby's least favorite words, so I try not to use it around the house

4 quintessential

5 infinitesimal

6 asinine

7 preposterous

8 iridescent

9 Guadalajara - I don't get to use that one much.  

10 applicable

11 hullabaloo

12 languid

13 serendipity

words

I can't take full credit for my previous post. The idea, including the orange analogy, came from a sermon I heard in college.
But it has stuck with me. And I think about it frequently.

Now, why is it that some words are "bad" but they don't really mean anything bad. The word I used simply means poo-poo. Why is it ok to say one, but not the other? Why is it ok to say bottom, but not a##, (which is my favorite "bad" word, by the way, but more in reference to a person's behavior)?
Why is it bad to say hell? Hell isn't sacred. I don't feel the need to show any respect for it. In fact it ought to be more acceptable to say that than to say "Oh heavens." If you think about it. Right?

Damning a person isn't nice. I can see why we shouldn't do that. But to just say the word because you hit your thumb? Why is that bad?

I'm not advocating that we all go out and start talking like sailors, because, for whatever reason, these words are considered inappropriate and I think we need to guard our mouths for the sake of others. I'm just sayin...

(Although, it seems to be more and more acceptable to say these things as time goes by. And I guess we can look at words we say now that at one time were taboo. As words lose their power to shock, people just come up with new "bad" words, anyway.)

So, the point of my last post wasn't even so much about the word as it was the attitude underlying it. I could act like I was all together, but when the pressure was on, my true attitude sprang forth. And I think that was even more apparant in the statement I made about God watching over us than It was in that one "bad" word.

what are you full of?

Once, several years ago, we got in a car accident. We did kinda like Bo and Luke Duke and took a flying leap into some grumpy guy's front yard. As we came to the end of the road, literally, and I saw a four foot embankment looming in front of our car, I said a not so nice word. Not the worst word. But not really the word that I want to utter in the moment of my death.

I was in a rough place in those days. In a new city where I wasn't feeling at home. Didn't have any friends yet. Not really engrafted into our church. Just lots of stuff going on. I'm not making excuses, just giving the facts.

I was praying, I do remember that, but I don't remember if I was in the Word or not.

Anyway, in general, I had a bad attitude.

Before we crashed into and jumped the embankment, we crossed a highway. Hubby said that the angels must have been watching over us because we could have easily been killed by an oncoming car. I said, "If the angels were watching over us this wouldn't have happened at all!" Grrr

If you squeeze an orange, what do you expect to get out of it?
If I've filled that orange with ink and you squeeze it, what do you think you'll get out of it? It still looks and smells like an orange. It still is an orange. But you get out whatever is in there. duh, I know.
So, my question is, what are you full of? What comes out of you when the sqeeze is on?

the things people say

I have been thinking about this post for a while and then yesterday I unintentionally added to it.
You know how there are things you have heard that you will never forget? Usually something somebody said to you or about you. Or maybe something shocking.
Yesterday while at a friend's house, I said a bad word. It wasn't bad in context, it was a derrogatory term and I was simply referring to it, not using it to refer to someone, if you know what I'm trying to say. But, still, I said it. And I was just oblivious to her two daughters sitting there. My friend gasped a little and her seven year old gasped a little and also, she got that little smile that kids get when someone else is in trouble, LOL. Then I just felt so bad! Oh my.
This was the same child whom my dog bit, by the way...
Anyway, later as I was thinking about it, I thought, "just let it go." Because I tend to beat myself up for dumb stuff like that. But then I thought about how it may not be that big of a deal, but there is a possibility that T will remember that her whole life! When I was about six or so, my aunt was walking through the house and she said s---. It was so shocking to my little self that I still remember it.
Oh, well.
My point is that we all have things in our heads that were said by someone else. Whether good or bad.
Here are some of mine:
"Grandma used to think that maybe you were an actual angel because you were so good."
"Do you ever wonder if maybe you really are mental?" This person was brave enough to room with me for four years.
"Kay seems to be able to find beauty in almost anything."
"You could be really pretty if you let me give you a makeover." umm, there isn't a nice word to describe how this girl dressed.
"She's so self-confident." Ha. She's a good faker, that's what.
"Do you ever thank God for making you so beautiful?" How do you answer that?
"Your smile lights up the whole room."
"Move over, hefty."
"My husband thinks you are pretty." ummm, ok....
"You have a lot of insight and wisdom."
"You look like the kind of person who would smoke." What's that mean?
"You're lazy."
"My dad said you look like your face caught fire and someone put it out with a pitchfork."

Well, I think it's a big mistake for us to try to form our opinion of ourselves based on what other people say. No wonder people are so confused about who they are and their value!
What we need to cling to is what God says. And take the good that people say with grace and humility. Take the bad stuff the same way. Look for seeds of truth and change what we need to and move on. (Well, we can make that our goal, anyway)
Also, in light of LOVE, being nearly Valentine's Day, let's try to be conscious of our own words. We may say some little thing that doesn't mean much to us, but we never know which words are going to stick. Let's be intentional about leaving kind messages behind us. And if something hard must be said, make sure it's the truth and that it's well coated in love.

What about you? Will you share a little snippet or two that you store in your head?

word for wednesday

Intumnescence
A noun that means swelling.
Sprain your ankle? Get a bee sting? A perfect opportunity to use this word!

word for wednesday

sgiomlaireached -
The habit of dropping in at mealtimes

There's something you can work into your writing. A great little quirk to give your character.

(This word came from the Grandiloquent Dictionary.)