9 May 2004 | In Passing...

9 May 2004

Submitted by eve on Sun, 05/09/2004 - 8:14am. Um...

"Mom, I need to go to the bathroom."
"God, sweetie, what have I told you about TMI? I didn't need to know that, and neither did anyone else here."
--A girl who looked to be about 4, and her mother, in line for checkout at Andronico's.

» add new comment

I'm a flat-lister

Posted by marinerd on Fri, 05/28/2004 - 3:08pm.

An appropriate Friday song. I get a 3-day weekend! Yay!

Traveling in a fried-out combie
On a hippie trail, head full of zombie
I met a strange lady, she made me nervous
She took me in and gave me breakfast
And she said,

"Do you come from a land down under?
Where women glow and men plunder?
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover."

Buying bread from a man in Brussels
He was six foot four and full of muscles
I said, "Do you speak-a my language?"
He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich
And he said,

"I come from a land down under
Where beer does flow and men chunder
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover."

Lying in a den in Bombay
With a slack jaw, and not much to say
I said to the man, "Are you trying to tempt me
Because I come from the land of plenty?"
And he said,

"Oh! Do you come from a land down under? (oh yeah yeah)
Where women glow and men plunder?
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover."

» reply to this comment

So...

Posted by Mike on Fri, 05/28/2004 - 7:10am.

She did let the kid go to the bathroom, right?

» reply to this comment

Posted by Intelligirly on Fri, 05/28/2004 - 6:57am.

Come out here and see, smart mouth.

I love Mike!

» reply to this comment

Posted by Matt on Fri, 05/28/2004 - 11:01am.

Ah. I see. Igirly is responding to me, but not using the "Threaded list--expanded" option.

I get the feeling tornadoes involve wind or something.

Now hurricanes, those I know. I was biking home from rowing practice about 10 years ago when I found myself on the edge of a hurricane. Fairly unpleasant, that.

» reply to this comment

Posted by Intelligirly on Thu, 05/27/2004 - 2:02pm.

AZTEC!!!

That's it! I knew I wasn't thinking of quite the right one, but I knew it wasn't Incan and I thought, "But that's all there are, right?" Aztec, it is. Thank you, thank you. My brain feels better now.

Hey, anybody want tornado weather? We've got plenty to spare out here!

I love Mike!

» reply to this comment

Getting enough of our own down here, thanks anyway

Posted by umrguy on Fri, 05/28/2004 - 8:28am.

And they either need to fix or replace the tornado sirens out here, we can't hear them inside the house with the windows closed (we used to be able to, I'm pretty sure, and anyways I think we should be able to - how else do we know something's going on, when the sky's nice and grey, but not necessarily nasty looking?)

-There's someone in my head, but it's not me.-

» reply to this comment

Oddly enough,

Posted by marinerd on Fri, 05/28/2004 - 8:45am.

We've had 5 tornadoes here in Western Washington in the past month. Talk about climate change!

» reply to this comment

Posted by Matt on Thu, 05/27/2004 - 8:45pm.

What's a tornado?

» reply to this comment

Tornado

Posted by ParU on Fri, 05/28/2004 - 1:08pm.

I always thought a Tornado was an aircraft (see link below). Specifically a: Two-seat supersonic attack aircraft
Flies at low-level
'Swing Wings' move in flight
Carries Cruise Missiles and
Laser- and GPS-guided bombs
http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/tornado_at.html
It's Amino world without Chemists

» reply to this comment

Names and the people who give them

Posted by Intelligirly on Wed, 05/26/2004 - 10:51am.

Hee! "Ginger" pronunciation makes so much more sense. I was saying "Jinger" like "Jingle," and thinking what a horrible choice that was.

Yesterday I typed a birth announcement for a Keona born to a Kiayah Maxine. The baby's older sister's name is Xarijana.

Does the name Saint shared look Mayan to anyone else?

I love Mike!

» reply to this comment

Aztec

Posted by S_Kat on Thu, 05/27/2004 - 12:58pm.

According to a friend in high school with the name (and the back of the Silk(tm) container), Xochtil means flower in Aztec. Oh yeah, her sister's name was Euphemia and their nicknames were Soshi and Feem. Native pride can be cruel in a parent.

» reply to this comment

Quite so

Posted by Jon on Wed, 05/26/2004 - 1:18pm.

Mayan, that was the very thing I was thinking of! Great minds, and all that.

» reply to this comment

Posted by Matt on Wed, 05/26/2004 - 9:48pm.

I was thinking more Aztec, but that's because I'm pretty sure the Aztecs were the farthest north of the Mayan, Incan, and Aztec empires.
There's a place in Mexico where they made (may still make) flat-woven carpets, loosely similar to Navajo weavings. The pieces are called Oaxacan which, when I heard it pronounced whoa-HOCK-an, I about flipped my lid.

» reply to this comment

This just in...

Posted by paul on Wed, 05/26/2004 - 6:33am.

I would say that it's a good thing the mother in the quote wasn't this woman...

(And whatthehell kind of name is "Jinger", anyway?!?)

It is good we cannot hear the screams
we make in other peoples' dreams.
--Edward Gorey

» reply to this comment

...

Posted by Saint on Wed, 05/26/2004 - 10:00am.

They were probably running out of ideas for "J" names, so they went with the traditional Ginger and just subbed in the J. Jana, Jessa, and Joy-Anna didn't exactly win the lottery either. (I've seen worse names, though. Yesterday, I had to write Xochitle on a cake. Now there's a name that little girl is going to be slowly and patiently spelling out for people for the rest of her life.)

» reply to this comment

Posted by Matt on Wed, 05/26/2004 - 8:55am.

My god. That's wrong on so many levels. The only positive thing I can say is at least the father can support them.

» reply to this comment

That's

Posted by paul on Wed, 05/26/2004 - 2:26pm.

one step backward in the process of improving the image of the South. At least the father and mother are not siblings...

BTW, credit where it's due- daen sent me that link.

It is good we cannot hear the screams
we make in other peoples' dreams.
--Edward Gorey

» reply to this comment

Reminds me of a story my moth

Posted by dave on Sat, 05/22/2004 - 7:28pm.

Reminds me of a story my mother told me. She worked as an aide in a Kindergarten and one of the parents related a story about their child. They'd been in some store or other and the child was at that point where they had to go RIGHT NOW and the mother was frantically trying to find a shop assistant to ask where they might find the facilities. When she finally found one, she looked around, found her child and was about to drag him in that direction only to be told that he didn't need to go now, because he'd found the toilet.

With a panicked look she asked which toilet .. to have him point to the display toilet in the middle of the showroom ... and no, it wasn't number ones.

"Million to one chances happen nine times out of ten"

» reply to this comment

This kid's future:

Posted by Mike on Thu, 05/20/2004 - 8:19am.

Body shame, bladder infections... let's not even contemplate puberty.

I suppose it's too late to find the kid a good foster home?

[Edit: Kids already have enough to worry about.]

» reply to this comment

Posted by hypoxic on Wed, 05/19/2004 - 4:32pm.

Man that kid should just go in the car then. The poor kid. Just what should the kid have done? Left and found the bathroom herself?

» reply to this comment

Idiot.

Posted by paul on Wed, 05/19/2004 - 12:44pm.

That so-called mother needs to be given a clue transplant.

Sadly, she's far from alone in that...

paul is a past master at floating progressive.
paul is that man.

» reply to this comment

Oh yes you do need to know that

Posted by miss liss on Wed, 05/19/2004 - 10:24am.

This kid's four and the mom thinks she doesn't need to know that??? I think that's just about exactly the right amount of information!

God, poor kid.

» reply to this comment

Uh

Posted by marinerd on Wed, 05/19/2004 - 9:57am.

Unfortunately there's no school to teach people how to be a good parent. Also no minimum intelligence requirement in order to have kids.

Probably a good thing.

» reply to this comment

Amazing...

Posted by Social Neanderthal on Thu, 05/20/2004 - 12:00pm.

Just ask anyone brave enough to work in one of our public schools these days and they will tell you, without a doubt, that 98% of the problem with so called 'problem children' can be traced right back to the parents.

Just thinking about what that poor child will be going through over the next several years makes this one of the saddest comments I've ever seen on this site.

» reply to this comment

Doesn't even have to be public schools

Posted by umrguy on Thu, 05/20/2004 - 10:19pm.

My mom teaches at a private one, and I swear, she's teaching what will turn into a generation of spoiled, "victim" idiots, pampered by their parents.

-There's someone in my head, but it's not me.-

» reply to this comment

It's a cryin' shame I tell ya...

Posted by Social Neanderthal on Fri, 05/21/2004 - 12:46pm.

It's too bad everyone can't be as good a parent as I am...

But then again, most folks just don't have the DNA for it. There are times I have to remind myself that others just aren't able to pass along the superior genetics my wife and I have managed to put together.

» reply to this comment

Parenthood

Posted by ParU on Sat, 05/22/2004 - 10:44am.

It's a good thing I never brag about my daughter or I'd be tempted to say how good a parent I've been.
But truth be told, it's only when your kids reach their 20's (or later!) that I think you know what kind of job you've done. Are they: kind, polite, caring, self-supporting, supportive to others (including you!) and (y'all fill in the blanks here)?
Then you know you've done a good job.
It's Amino world without Chemists

» reply to this comment

-

Posted by Lu775 on Wed, 05/19/2004 - 9:05am.

Also, I would kinda think when it comes to your kids there's no such thing as TMI...wait this this kid is a teenager!

» reply to this comment

Inappropriateness

Posted by Intelligirly on Wed, 05/19/2004 - 8:17am.

Are you KIDDING me?!

I mean, I'm not a kid person, but come on. When a four-year old has to go, they have to go. And she put it far more politely than many adults I've known.

Oy. Tragic.

I love Mike!

» reply to this comment

Absolutely...

Posted by ParU on Wed, 05/19/2004 - 12:10pm.

correct Igirly (and Cebu too!). Most 4 year olds tend to dance around and it takes that special parental intuition to figure out they have to go.
I do remember training my kids to 'go now', before we got into the car for long trips, which is an important skill, else you get into the middle of the desert or downtown SF and the kid demands to go, right now.
It's Amino world without Chemists

» reply to this comment

.

Posted by Cebu on Wed, 05/19/2004 - 8:40am.

Yes, absolutely. I mean, a 4 year old hasn't been using a toilet for very long (comparatively), would you rather she peed herself? Stupid woman.

» reply to this comment