Mmm, carnage.
My friend Sarah is in town from England. There are a great many fabulous things about Sarah — she's one of those people who changes the vibe of a room when she enters it and, sadly, when she leaves it — and one of the great many fabulous things about Sarah is how she words things.
This morning, I got a twofer.
She was telling me a story about how her boyfriend, Ben, is extremely adept at fixing things. He's very handy around the house. So she had a shelf in her bedroom that had sort of fallen off the wall, and she replaced it herself right before she went on vacation. When she returned, she walked into her room to find that one side of the shelf had given way again, swung down and then, with great force, swung back up again, and then back down.
"There was carnage all over my room," she said.
Excellent use of the word carnage.
Then she was talking about the renovations Ben was making to his own apartment. He decided to take a two-day plastering course and planned to strip part of some such thing and do something or other and some other handy bits. I have no idea what any of this means; when I renovated my bathroom myself (which was more of a pathetic paint job than an actual renovation), I looked at a small pot of something and said, "So that's spackle, eh?" In any case, the translation is that he was planning on doing some extensive work, but she thought his enthusiasm and architectural vision carried him way further than what was required of the project. So she looked all concerned and said, "I told him, 'Lovey, that's like taking a sledgehammer to a walnut.' "
I may use that phrase in everyday conversation. I invite you to do the same.
This morning, I got a twofer.
She was telling me a story about how her boyfriend, Ben, is extremely adept at fixing things. He's very handy around the house. So she had a shelf in her bedroom that had sort of fallen off the wall, and she replaced it herself right before she went on vacation. When she returned, she walked into her room to find that one side of the shelf had given way again, swung down and then, with great force, swung back up again, and then back down.
"There was carnage all over my room," she said.
Excellent use of the word carnage.
Then she was talking about the renovations Ben was making to his own apartment. He decided to take a two-day plastering course and planned to strip part of some such thing and do something or other and some other handy bits. I have no idea what any of this means; when I renovated my bathroom myself (which was more of a pathetic paint job than an actual renovation), I looked at a small pot of something and said, "So that's spackle, eh?" In any case, the translation is that he was planning on doing some extensive work, but she thought his enthusiasm and architectural vision carried him way further than what was required of the project. So she looked all concerned and said, "I told him, 'Lovey, that's like taking a sledgehammer to a walnut.' "
I may use that phrase in everyday conversation. I invite you to do the same.
posted by Marla at 2:04 PM
3 Comments:
maybe the word lovey reduces the greatness just a little?
Oh, no, not at all. You should hear the way she says it. With love and concern and tons of whimsy. It's amazing. Nothing Thurston Howell III about it at all.
okay...i'll defer to you, oh marlagarlagreatness. but, frankly, i remain somewhat skeptical.
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