Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Out of Sorts

While it is true that I'm feeling antsy and I don't know why, that's not what this post is about.  It's about the laugh I got when I analyzed my emotional state and said that phrase to myself on the drive home from the post office.  I laughed as I wondered where my sorts had gone. I thought I had plenty of them in stock....

Or, I wondered, was I in sorts over the weekend with my girlfriend and am I now out of sorts because she is gone?  It's a mystery, that's for sure.

This obsession with absurdity in the language began in earnest when Big Cuter was an infant. His pediatrician had just opened his practice, leaving hospital medicine behind for the pleasures of becoming more involved with the families of the children he treated.  Our appointments lasted for an hour, back then.  He always had a story about one of his own four boys, he was never rushed, he always began by asking how the parents were doing, and he had a sense of humor.  

Big Cuter's first high fever sent me rushing to the office, droopy baby in my arms.  He lay on the examining table, warm to the touch and uninterested in the world around him.  This was not my boy; "He's so listless," I lamented.

Pausing in his exam, the doctor looked over at me and nodded sagely.  "Yes, indeed.  There is an absence of list."  He went back to the patient, and I was left to wonder if one can be listful.  It was better than worrying about my baby.

Merle Reagle, crossword creator extraordinaire,  calls phrases that can't be literally deconstructed Bang Bang Words.  Take the traitorous  turn coat.  It's the coat that is turning, isn't it?  Coat turn would be more correct.  

This, denizens, is what happens to the human brain when the temperatures are over one hundred degrees day after day after week after week.  When the clouds form and then disappear, dropping nary a trickle on the overheated land, it's all I can do not to cry.  My mind cries out for relief.  It is melting.
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I told you my brain was melted... I never pushed "publish"..... forgive me for posting late today ??

9 comments:

  1. LOL, I came in as my morning ritual and no post. I was worried at first.

    It's raining here in DC today. Hopefully, it will keep the temps down. It's been in the 90s.

    Love the analyzing of the phrases and you've now given me a term for it. Have to go do more research on Bang Bang Words.

    Happy Tuesday.


    Megan xxx

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    1. You and LIttle Cuter were both worried :) It's nice to know that people care <3

      High temps in your neck of the woods are so much more uncomfortable than ours - it's the humidity that wears me out when I go back east.

      You could always come for a visit and dry out!
      a/b

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  2. I have to confess a/b: I'm tired of Tucson summers. June is worst of all as it is when people's brains melt. I was thinking about not going to BlogHer, but I want to go to Chicago and feel the lake breezes, even with the humidity!

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    1. I am a little hotter than usual this year, too, Nerthus.... and June is the worst. Those teasing clouds... the fact that the east side got a few drops... I am bitter!

      COME to BlogHer... Chicago is a great town and the lake... oh, yes, the lake <3
      a/b

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    2. So let me get this straight: your son was a Big Cuter, and you are a Little Hotter? Hmm. Lucky TBG!

      (Sorry -- your fault for getting me into wordplay mode!)

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  3. Long ago, when my 2nd born was about 4, he heard the washing machine making that awful noise when the load is unevenly distributed. He came running to tell me, 'Mama, you need to go put some balance in the washer!'
    I, too, have been feeling out of sorts, out of balance and out of list lately. I've felt generally dull and stupid and the worst of it is, I feel as if I have completely forgotten how to paint and have been very mad at myself about it...like that will help.

    I got rain. Sorry to gloat. ;)

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    1. EXACTLY! Sharon you and I are in the same place. I hope your malaise passes... or that you figure out how to kick it to the curb. I'm working on it :) B

      Besides, you got rain. What are YOU complaining about?!?!?
      a/b

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  4. It's *only* in the 90s in Prescott - guess we are more listful than Tucson!

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    1. Here in Tucson we roll down the windows and comment on the balmy nature of things when it's *only* in the 90's :)

      Enjoy your list <3
      a/b

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