For starters, a couple of questions that occurred to me over the weekend…I should probably send them into “The Straight Dope”, if Cecil hasn’t already answered them.
1. Why is soda sold in 2 liters, but milk in gallons?
2. What is the origin of the term “sucker”, when it refers to a gullible person? It’s been around for awhile…I saw it in an old Looney Tunes cartoon this weekend, circa WWII. On what, pray tell, are the fools in question sucking?
If you have answers for either, or just theories, feel free to write in. I’m curious.
In other news, Debbie and I went to a sheepdog trial outside of Charlottesville on Saturday. Talk about gorgeous…is there any more beautiful place than Appalachia (or near-Appalachia) in the fall? We stayed for about 3 hours, watching the dogs run (it was exactly like the trials in “Babe”, if you’ve seen that movie), talking to the local experts, and sampling the local cuisine. For the record, the vendors at country animal shows make the best BLT’s and barbeque in history.
We were fascinated by the control shown by the dogs and handlers. With a whistle, a handler could make a dog lie down and stay at a 400-yard distance. And the dogs loved it! You’ve never seen so many wagging tails in your whole life, not even on MTV. (Sorry, that gag was probably unnecessary.)
We went to this trial because Debbie is thinking about getting a Border Collie puppy. She’s heard many good things about the breed from various owners, and got in touch with a breeder through a friend. The breeder ran several of her dogs in the trial on Saturday, to good results. Happy, healthy dogs all round!
The only other newsworthy event of the weekend occurred on Sunday
morning, when one of the more curious and intelligent kids in my J2A class (after a long discussion in which we all agreed that we don’t believe in a vengeful God) said, “Yes, ok, but what is love?” Since it was 10:45 at that point, we wriggled out by saying, “Let’s talk about that next week.” Whew. Any ideas on what we should say?
Hope y’all have a great week. Be well and question everything!