Saturday, February 11, 2006

Saturday stuff and nonsense

Did you know that ChapStick comes in vanilla mint? It smells and tastes wonderful, which is a problem because all this wintertime lip-licking is what made me buy ChapStick in the first place. Do you think they know that? Are they trying to make a repeat customer out of me?

Why is fuchsia (that purpley-pink color and also a very lovely flowering plant) spelled that way? (If you don't know the answer, feel free to make something up.)

And check out these cool optical illusions I just found via Clicked. Several rooms have been painted so that when viewed from a particular angle, some very startling visual effects are produced. If you don't have a popup killer, be patient. This page is well worth seeing, and I'm sending the link to my architect-husband. (I like the concentric circles best.)

That's gonna be it for me this week. I'm planning to finish my taxes and do some heavy writing today. Have a great weekend, everyone. Be sure to look both ways before you cross the street.

7 comments:

Mirtika said...

This is one of those words I constantly misspell. Being a "Schultz", I want to spell it "fuschia." :) It looks better that way to me. Hah.

But yes, it's FUCHSIA, as you've written it. And here's why:

****The color's name comes from a flowering shrub discovered by German botanist Leornard Fuchs.****

Oh, why couldn't his name have been FUSCH. :)

Mir

Bonnie S. Calhoun said...

thos optical illusions are amazing. I'm going to use this link in a post for Monday, I'll give you a shout out for the link!

pacatrue said...

Assuming that Mirtika is right that the word is German, then the the ch represents that sound which sounds like you are clearing your throat (voiceless velar fricative for you linguists ;) ). Since English doesn't have that sound, we simplified it to the closest sound we do have, namely "sh". So there you go. A completely made up explanation. Plausible. Correct? No idea.

ParkAvePirate said...

Holy cow! I have found another ChapStick taster!!! The Vanilla-Mint variety is my "grown-up" ChapStick of choice. Otherwise I am a sucker for Bonnie Bell Dr. Pepper LipSmacker. Pointless entry? Yes.

Jen

I will allow you the argument that maybe strawberry ice-cream isn't the *best* flavor.

Brenda Coulter said...

Like you, Mir, I keep trying to spell it "fuschia." With all due respect to Herr Fuchs, I propose that we just go ahead and alter the spelling. Tell all your friends.

Here's a photo I blogged last summer. It shows part of a FUSCHIA plant.

Bonnie, I agree that those illusions are amazing. My Number One Son was a bit skeptical at first, but we studied the photos and camera angles and figured they were the real thing. I imagine they projected the images they wanted onto the walls and then traced the patterns and painted them.

Voiceless velar fricative, Pacatrue? You mean like, uh, expectoratus interruptus? (Oh, I crack myself up! Somebody write this down and send it to Dave Barry.)

Pirate, you're new around here, so I'll tell you that pointless entries are par for the course on Saturdays.

Brenda Coulter said...

And Loyd, I'm sorry you had to see all of that garbage earlier. You have a good weekend, too.

Anonymous said...

Those optical illusions are awesome!!! I wish I had some sort of knack for geometry; I would totally do that to my apartment!