Happy 108th!
Folks, I’d like to take a minute to congratulate the clubhouse on this - its one-hundred-and-eight posting. That’s right, this marks our Cento-octenial! Granted, it would have made some sense to celebrate the 100th posting, but I figured, why buck the trend and start making sense now? Plus, I figured that one of my faithful clubhousers might write Willard Scott to congratulate us on the Today show. Clearly, we take a back seat to 106 year old Birdie “Ma” Miller and 102 year old Fanny Chaffee. Whatever.
I was hanging out with a friend of mine the other night when I mentioned that I had a blog. She called me that next afternoon from work to tell me that she hadn’t gotten anything done all morning, because she was too busy reading my blog… back to May! And I thought, wow, someone can read some 3 hours of my writing? Now, that’s a compliment. Then she wrote me today to let me know that she had gotten all the way back to my first post in Dec! I’m flattered. I even tried to go back to the beginning and read it for myself, but I, admittedly, got bored and quit after 2 posts. Now I understand why actors refuse to watch their own movies – they already know what’s going to happen.
I figured I’d take this opportunity to give back to you, my dear reader. So, here it is, a very special gift from me to you: a quiz. Get out your number 2 pencil and follow along at home. Let’s see how closely you’ve been paying attention.
(1) In a post about the trouble with language, i wrote that if someone said "I love you!" I might reply "I want a ___ ________, too."
(2) I wrote a list of random things which was supposedly placed into a briefcase that was cuffed to a man in the back of a taxi. To which mid-western town did he take it?
(3) True or False. I once wrote a post claiming that I was the sexiest man alive.
(4) I once had lunch "with" (a) John Edwards, (b) Bill Maher, (c) Coach k, (d) Dean Smith, or (e) Hillary Clinton.
(5) If I ruled the world, which of the following would be banned: (a) speaking Japanese, (b) lemons, (c) napkin origami, or (d) having more than 2 children.
(6) How many times have I fallen in love: (a) never, (b) once, (c) twice, (d) five times, or (e) every time you walk into the room, baby.
(7) When I broke into Snakeman's house, I did which of the following: (a) reset his tivo to record the Golden Girls, (b) accidentally killed his snake, (c) ate all of his home made chocolate chip cookies, or (d) built a pillow fortress?
(8) I had to have elective cosmetic surgery due to an accident involving: (a) skateboarding, (b) archery lessons, (c) a dog fight, or (d) a battle to the death between a pirate and a ninja?
(9) According to the first principle, I am: (a) a Christian, (b) left handed, (c) a keeper, or (d) better at basketball than bowling.
Answers (highlight to reveal):
(1) ham sandwich; (2) St John, Kansas; (3) True; (4) John Edwards; (5) Lemons; (6) Twice (7) reset his TIVO to record the Golden Girls; (8) a dog fight; (9) a keeper.
**
I wanted to comment upon what I’d written, but, as I’ve already mentioned, I was unable to re-read my blog. Instead, I just cut and pasted it into a word document and yielded the following information.
Total Number of Pages I’ve written (including photos, excluding comments): 170. (Holy Crap!)
Total Number of Paragraphs written: 1119
Total Number of Lines: 5,043
Total Number of Words: 54,466
Time required to transcribe my blog, typing 50 words a minute: 15 hours and 8 minutes
According to this nifty applet, I've compiled a list of the most popular words in the English language and noted how many times I've used them. If you use the applet, just know that they're watching you!
Top Ten Words in the English Language:
(1) the - 2,495
(2) of - 1,157
(3) and – 1,163
(4) to – 1,732
(5) a – 1,240
(6) in - 815
(7) that – 1,105
(8) it - 770
(9) is - 969
(10) was – 384
(11) I – 1,847
(12) for - 474
(13) on - 290
(14) you - 589
(15) he – 316
Clearly, I use the pronoun "I" way, way, way more than most people. Although, I've read that it's healthy to use "I/we" statements as opposed to "you" statements, particularly when yelling at someone. Apparently, I dont use the words "in" and "of" nearly enough.
Other notable Words (with rank in parenthesis):
(15) he - 316
(30) she - 75
(36) her - 102
(54) more - 131
(60) him - 105
(154) life - 146
(235) less - 25
(308) full - 29
(318) probably- 31
(357) book: 56
(376) God - 60
(384) Love - 187
(406) read: 87
(480) human - 57
(484) Happy - 20
(543) hope: 34
(572) friend: 93
(616) girl: 51
(675) knowledge: 18
(731) success: 0
(974) maybe: 100
(1075) understanding - 13
(1,789) empty: 3
(1,941) faith: 7
(2,381) Beauty - 36
(2,389) Angry - 2
(3043) definitely: 2
(3,107) Hate - 28
(5,145) wisdom: 13
(6,471) Sacrifice - 5
(10,666) Donkey - 125
(13,815) Sartre - 10
(15,446) Plato - 4
(35,307) dude - 8
(54,660) Serendipity - 1
(n/a) don’t believe: 5
I find it very interesting that the subject pronoun "he" (#15) is more common than "she," (#30) BUT! the possessive/object "her" (#36) is more common than "him." (#60) What's that all about? Freud once wrote that men act and women are acted upon. Does our very use of language reflect this Freudian bias? You'll note that I use him (105) more often than her (103), further cemeting my allegiance to the Feminist movement.
I use these words more than you would expect: more, God, book, read, human, friend, beauty, girl, and hate. These words popped up way more than expected: love, friend, maybe, wisdom, dude and donkey.
Most rare word used:
(86,562) gigabytes - 1
Most Common word unused:
(233) British - 0
(312) report - 0
Phrases:
“I don’t know”- 6
“I know”- 18
“I'm a hot, sweaty St. Bernard”- 1
**
Speaking of words, I came across this great NPR podcast called A Way with Words. Two language experts talk about etymology, grammar, and word usage. Sounds thrilling, I know. But really, it’s fascinating. You should check it out.
Martha Barnette ended the last show I listened to talking about the New York Times article that discussed one of the hottest new baby names – Nevaeh. Apparently, only 6 years ago, there were only 8 babies with that name. Since then, the name has had an unprecedented meteoric rise to the 70th most popular name for a girl. Indeed, if you were born in 2005, you are more likely to be named Nevaeh than to be named Sara, Vanessa, or Amanda! What caused the trend? Apparently, it all began when Christian Rock star Sonny Sandoval announced that he had named his girl Nevaeh, which is “heaven” spelled backwards. Since then, according to the article, blacks and Evangelical Christians have been running with it. Is this really happening?
This baby naming business is getting out of control. Every girl I know already has 5 or 6 names picked out for their hypothetical children. It seems to me that a great deal of thought and effort is put into this. For my part, I’m simply going to name them Donk and Donkette and be done with it. If I have more than one, then I simply add a subscript number. Thus, my 3rd girl would be Donkette3. Who’s with me? For the rest of you, you may enjoy this interactive baby names wizard.
**
For those of you that don't want to go back and read all my past postings, here are some highlights:
(1) My first post
(2) The things I want
(3) Legend of Snakeman
(4) Fame
(5) Laundry List
**
It's been fun.
I was hanging out with a friend of mine the other night when I mentioned that I had a blog. She called me that next afternoon from work to tell me that she hadn’t gotten anything done all morning, because she was too busy reading my blog… back to May! And I thought, wow, someone can read some 3 hours of my writing? Now, that’s a compliment. Then she wrote me today to let me know that she had gotten all the way back to my first post in Dec! I’m flattered. I even tried to go back to the beginning and read it for myself, but I, admittedly, got bored and quit after 2 posts. Now I understand why actors refuse to watch their own movies – they already know what’s going to happen.
I figured I’d take this opportunity to give back to you, my dear reader. So, here it is, a very special gift from me to you: a quiz. Get out your number 2 pencil and follow along at home. Let’s see how closely you’ve been paying attention.
(1) In a post about the trouble with language, i wrote that if someone said "I love you!" I might reply "I want a ___ ________, too."
(2) I wrote a list of random things which was supposedly placed into a briefcase that was cuffed to a man in the back of a taxi. To which mid-western town did he take it?
(3) True or False. I once wrote a post claiming that I was the sexiest man alive.
(4) I once had lunch "with" (a) John Edwards, (b) Bill Maher, (c) Coach k, (d) Dean Smith, or (e) Hillary Clinton.
(5) If I ruled the world, which of the following would be banned: (a) speaking Japanese, (b) lemons, (c) napkin origami, or (d) having more than 2 children.
(6) How many times have I fallen in love: (a) never, (b) once, (c) twice, (d) five times, or (e) every time you walk into the room, baby.
(7) When I broke into Snakeman's house, I did which of the following: (a) reset his tivo to record the Golden Girls, (b) accidentally killed his snake, (c) ate all of his home made chocolate chip cookies, or (d) built a pillow fortress?
(8) I had to have elective cosmetic surgery due to an accident involving: (a) skateboarding, (b) archery lessons, (c) a dog fight, or (d) a battle to the death between a pirate and a ninja?
(9) According to the first principle, I am: (a) a Christian, (b) left handed, (c) a keeper, or (d) better at basketball than bowling.
Answers (highlight to reveal):
(1) ham sandwich; (2) St John, Kansas; (3) True; (4) John Edwards; (5) Lemons; (6) Twice (7) reset his TIVO to record the Golden Girls; (8) a dog fight; (9) a keeper.
**
I wanted to comment upon what I’d written, but, as I’ve already mentioned, I was unable to re-read my blog. Instead, I just cut and pasted it into a word document and yielded the following information.
Total Number of Pages I’ve written (including photos, excluding comments): 170. (Holy Crap!)
Total Number of Paragraphs written: 1119
Total Number of Lines: 5,043
Total Number of Words: 54,466
Time required to transcribe my blog, typing 50 words a minute: 15 hours and 8 minutes
According to this nifty applet, I've compiled a list of the most popular words in the English language and noted how many times I've used them. If you use the applet, just know that they're watching you!
Top Ten Words in the English Language:
(1) the - 2,495
(2) of - 1,157
(3) and – 1,163
(4) to – 1,732
(5) a – 1,240
(6) in - 815
(7) that – 1,105
(8) it - 770
(9) is - 969
(10) was – 384
(11) I – 1,847
(12) for - 474
(13) on - 290
(14) you - 589
(15) he – 316
Clearly, I use the pronoun "I" way, way, way more than most people. Although, I've read that it's healthy to use "I/we" statements as opposed to "you" statements, particularly when yelling at someone. Apparently, I dont use the words "in" and "of" nearly enough.
Other notable Words (with rank in parenthesis):
(15) he - 316
(30) she - 75
(36) her - 102
(54) more - 131
(60) him - 105
(154) life - 146
(235) less - 25
(308) full - 29
(318) probably- 31
(357) book: 56
(376) God - 60
(384) Love - 187
(406) read: 87
(480) human - 57
(484) Happy - 20
(543) hope: 34
(572) friend: 93
(616) girl: 51
(675) knowledge: 18
(731) success: 0
(974) maybe: 100
(1075) understanding - 13
(1,789) empty: 3
(1,941) faith: 7
(2,381) Beauty - 36
(2,389) Angry - 2
(3043) definitely: 2
(3,107) Hate - 28
(5,145) wisdom: 13
(6,471) Sacrifice - 5
(10,666) Donkey - 125
(13,815) Sartre - 10
(15,446) Plato - 4
(35,307) dude - 8
(54,660) Serendipity - 1
(n/a) don’t believe: 5
I find it very interesting that the subject pronoun "he" (#15) is more common than "she," (#30) BUT! the possessive/object "her" (#36) is more common than "him." (#60) What's that all about? Freud once wrote that men act and women are acted upon. Does our very use of language reflect this Freudian bias? You'll note that I use him (105) more often than her (103), further cemeting my allegiance to the Feminist movement.
I use these words more than you would expect: more, God, book, read, human, friend, beauty, girl, and hate. These words popped up way more than expected: love, friend, maybe, wisdom, dude and donkey.
Most rare word used:
(86,562) gigabytes - 1
Most Common word unused:
(233) British - 0
(312) report - 0
Phrases:
“I don’t know”- 6
“I know”- 18
“I'm a hot, sweaty St. Bernard”- 1
**
Speaking of words, I came across this great NPR podcast called A Way with Words. Two language experts talk about etymology, grammar, and word usage. Sounds thrilling, I know. But really, it’s fascinating. You should check it out.
Martha Barnette ended the last show I listened to talking about the New York Times article that discussed one of the hottest new baby names – Nevaeh. Apparently, only 6 years ago, there were only 8 babies with that name. Since then, the name has had an unprecedented meteoric rise to the 70th most popular name for a girl. Indeed, if you were born in 2005, you are more likely to be named Nevaeh than to be named Sara, Vanessa, or Amanda! What caused the trend? Apparently, it all began when Christian Rock star Sonny Sandoval announced that he had named his girl Nevaeh, which is “heaven” spelled backwards. Since then, according to the article, blacks and Evangelical Christians have been running with it. Is this really happening?
This baby naming business is getting out of control. Every girl I know already has 5 or 6 names picked out for their hypothetical children. It seems to me that a great deal of thought and effort is put into this. For my part, I’m simply going to name them Donk and Donkette and be done with it. If I have more than one, then I simply add a subscript number. Thus, my 3rd girl would be Donkette3. Who’s with me? For the rest of you, you may enjoy this interactive baby names wizard.
**
For those of you that don't want to go back and read all my past postings, here are some highlights:
(1) My first post
(2) The things I want
(3) Legend of Snakeman
(4) Fame
(5) Laundry List
**
It's been fun.
posted by Donkey Boy at Wednesday, August 30, 2006
3 Comments:
Cool idea. I wonder what my most used words are. I can almost guarantee "butt" is one of them.
"I've read that it's healthy to use "I/we" statements as opposed to "you" statements, particularly when yelling at someone."
Did you read that in the book Getting To Yes?
as a matter of fact, yes.
Post a Comment
<< Home