On the F-word

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Perhaps more than anything else, the way we react to language says something about what generation we belong to. I belong to the generation that didn’t grow up using “like” in every other sentence, but rapidly picked up the habit as young adults. A generation that didn’t up-talk, though I find myself doing that more often than I’d like now. A generation in which the f-word was still a serious curse word. Or as Ralphie says in A Christmas Story, “the queen-mother of dirty words”–though Ralphie was an earlier generation.

My parents made some effort not to curse too freely in front of us kids, but they certainly exclaimed “D—!”, “H—!”, or “S—!” when feeling seriously provoked (Oddly enough, my mom sometimes says “Pardon my French” when she’s just sworn in English, and “Pardon my English” when she’s just said, “M—-!”) But “Fudge!” is as close as they generally got to the f-word.

I realize that things have changed. I have a daughter. I read YA. But I can’t get used to the f-word as an all-purpose filler. How did this even happen? Of all words to popularize, why the swear word that combines sex and (threat of) violence? Weren’t we supposed to be fighting that combination?

My daughter tells me the f-word doesn’t carry that same sense of threat now, though I’m pretty sure people still say “F— you!” and tell others to “F— off!” And I suppose there are other words that also combined sex and threat that don’t strike me as forcefully, perhaps because they exist in other, innocent contexts as well. The word “screw” has a legitimate place in construction and engineering.

Language does change, whether we like it or not, and exposure has its effects. The f-word does pop into my mind when everything goes to hell in a handbasket*, though I prefer not to actually say it. I may say, like, a lot of other words that irritate me? And, like, find myself up-talking when I don’t mean to? But maybe I can stand firm on this one.

Though the euphemistic “fudge” has given way to “freak” and “frick”, so who knows?

Till next post.

*Why a handbasket? Just because it’s alliterative??

The Mini-backpack, Round Three–quilting

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It’s my third post about mini-backpacks (though maybe my fifth actual bag)! that I made in imitation of my favorite purse. One of the difficulties is adding enough stiffness so the bag doesn’t turn into a limp pool of fabric that is hard to open and manipulate.

This is what happens without enough stiffness.

Since my current bag is showing wear at the bottom corners (a design flaw–I shouldn’t have had corners there), I decided to make a new bag. I used some material from an old pair of pants, plus scraps of interesting prints, and lined it with a jungle map print. And this time, I quilted the exterior of the bag.

I didn’t do a fancy design, or fancy quilting. I wanted to see if quilting the bag gave it enough stiffness that it wouldn’t need piping on the edges or some other sort of structural support. It did! It also feels pleasantly soft to hold.

Another change was an exterior pocket with a zipper, something none of my previous mini-backpacks had. I like the pocket very much. However, I think I should use a different procedure for it next time. It would also be nice if the zipper pull for the pocket was on the left, matching the main zipper. Oops.

I experimented with the interior as well, and learned a few other lessons. First, while I like the fun map-print, I discovered that a busy print makes it harder to find items in the bag. In the future, I intend to use more subtle prints for lining my bags.

Second, I added an extra-large pocket on one side, gathering the top with elastic. I thought it might serve as a sort of divider in the purse, but I forgot to interface the lining of the bag, let alone the pockets, and the interior came out soft and formless. When the bag is turned right-side out, the pocket gapes even more than it appears in this picture of the bag inside-out.

The bag inside out, showing the fun lining and large pocket.

I used white fabric for the smaller phone pocket, which does make it easier to locate. White on off-white wasn’t the best choice, but I was in a hurry. I will remember in the future that yes, I should always make the phone pocket stand out slightly from the rest of the lining, whether by using a different color or perhaps by trimming the upper edge with something colorful.

Still inside out, but showing the other pocket.

I’m delighted with my bag, despite its shortcomings. However, I really need to write up my pattern notes before I forget what I learned.

Till next post.

It’s all in here somewhere!

“This Music Is a Bit Repetitive”–that’s why I like it

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Hadestown, George Thorogood, Linda Book, John Denver, Styx, The Saw Doctors, The Blues Brothers, Juan Luis Guerra, The Persuasions, The Little Mermaid, Odetta, Mumbo Gumbo, Pan Jive Steel Band, Abba, Kudana, Tom Waits, Doc Watson, Billy Joel, Five O'Clock Shadow
A small selection of music I like

The other day I was driving somewhere with my mom and I had some music playing. It was Taylor Swift, as it happens–I know only a few of her songs and wanted to hear some more of them. When we arrived at our destination and I turned it off, my mother said thoughtfully, “It’s a bit repetitive.”

It isn’t the first time she’s said that about music I was listening to, and I tend to react as though she’s criticizing my music–after all, doesn’t “repetitive” imply “boring” and maybe even “unoriginal?” This time I tried to take the comment at face value, and observed that yes, this kind of music has verses and choruses and generally repeats the chorus multiple times at the end, with more or less variation, before closing.

My mother and I have different tastes in music. She loves classical, and I grew up complaining that her music was “boring”. (Yes, that was bratty of me. I didn’t fully realize that till I had a kid of my own.) I like–well, I like music with words, as well as music that is danceable. We overlap a bit on traditional folk music. (Which does have repetition in the form of choruses, but doesn’t repeat them multiple times at the end, unless the musician playing chooses to do so.)

The more I thought about her comment, though, the more I realized that repetition in this kind of music is a feature, not a bug. If the chorus is catchy or somehow pleasing, hearing it again and again is a pleasure. It’s something I can sing along to, even if I haven’t learned all the verses to the song. It’s like listening to the song over and over–it’s repetition, sure, but it’s fun.

Thinking about this led me to think some more about my aforementioned reaction to classical music. While I can pick out some repeated bits, for the most part I can’t follow the structure of the pieces. I’m sure it exists, but I don’t hear it. So for me, listening to classical is a bit like listening to a lecture on economics or accounting–first I’m lost, then I’m bored, and finally my mind drifts off to something else.

It’s possible that had I taken piano as a kid, I might have learned to appreciate classical music. But I don’t regret the time I spent instead drawing, writing, and messing around with plants. And there is plenty of music out there with wonderful lyrics and/or a danceable rhythm. I’m not going to run out of things to listen to.

And I’m not going to deny that some of the music I listen to is “repetitive.” It is–and that’s part of why I like it.