Credit Card Shenanigans

While on holiday recently, my wife and I decided to go out and play some mini-golf.  Yes, we’re hardcore.  So we flipped open the Yellow Pages and while flicking through I noticed something inside.

We turned to the section and discovered someone’s Amex credit card.  Presumably a previous hotel guest had left his card in there and forgotten to take it.

The section where he left his card?  Escort Services.

(No, this post was not just an excuse to use the word ’shenanigans’.)

Balloon popping dog

Etiquette of Thank-you notes

Consider this scenario:

1. You give someone a gift.
2. That person sends you a thank-you note.

So far, so good.

But should you now thank the person who sent you the thank-you note?  I don’t mean with your own thank-you note, but rather an appreciative acknowledgment that you received their thank-you note.

This was the conundrum I was faced with earlier.  I erred on the side of thanking.

Evolution of ‘Gay’

In the natural course of a “living” language, new words are introduced, some words disappear from use, and other words change their meaning over time.

While many words have changed their meaning, it occurred to me that the English word ‘gay’ has now had three very distinct and different meanings.

1. Cheerfulness, merry, lively. E.g. Flintstones cartoon “have a gay old time”.

2. A homosexual person [noun]; acting in a homosexual manner [adverb]; related to homosexual interests [adjective].

3. Stupid, dumb. E.g. “that’s so gay” [in a derogative sense]. This usage is not pervasive, but is definitely used among kids, teenagers and twenty-somethings.