The Tuesday morning after a three-day weekend is just a Tuesday hiding in Monday’s clothing. I don’t know about you, but all week long I’ll be confused about what day it is. I will be inconsistently incorrect—sometimes a day late, sometimes a day early. If you see me on Thursday, I will swear to you it is Friday. Thursday will feel like Friday when it should feel like Wednesday.
I’m losing a friend to France this week. Well, she is French, so they had her first. She’s moving back, and though we will keep in touch via e-mail it won’t be the same. Not only am I saying au revoir et bon chance, I’m picking her up from Redondo Beach, having ‘the last lunch’ with her and taking her to LAX. Yeah, I’m going whole-hog with the saying good-bye business.
My friend N and l’objet de nature she found on the plage.
Sooo—my word for today is verklempt. It’s a lovely word, put to good use by Linda Richman on Saturday Night Live (that link is to Barbra Streisand’s surprise appearance on SNL). Linda would become verklempt on the show and need a moment to recover. She would then toss out a topic and say “Talk amongst yourselves.”
Here are some examples (thanks Wikipedia):
“The radical reconstruction of the South after the Civil War was neither radical nor a reconstruction. Discuss.”
“The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy nor Roman nor an empire. Discuss.”
“Ralph Fiennes is spelled neither rafe nor fines. Discuss.”
“Rhode Island is neither a road nor is it an island. Discuss.”
“The Progressive Era was neither progressive nor an era. Discuss.”
“Did Truman drop the bomb on the Japanese to end the war or to scare the hell out of the Russians? Discuss.”
I love you, Linda, but verklempt has a life of its own and must not rest with you in the annals of SNL history. Women the world over need this word. Lassen sie mein Wort! (That’s just German, not Yiddish.)
In the meantime, talk amongst yourselves about AP’s term limits idea.
Oh, and while I’m on about things Yiddish: Did you hear Jon Stewart say (Linda Richman-style), “So who do you want? The schwarze oder shiksa?”
Finally, a Yiddish proverb: Besser ain alter freint vi a nei’eh svai. “One old friend is better than two new ones.”
West Coast Grrlie Blather 