Inconsistencies

Mondays typically suck. Am I right? But greyish Mondays following spectacularly sunny weekends suck even more. Don't even try to debate me on this one.

So I returned to my gym yesterday after a nearly 5-week hiatus. I'm not to lift weights for another week or two, but I hopped right back on that treadmill and I must share the following: I have officially escaped from the living hell that is JOGGING WITH BOOBS. You men (and you lucky women without enormous chests) cannot possibly conceive of the joy and relief of physical movement unfettered by bouncing all over creation. It's truly miraculous.

Lots of curiosities to report on these days, which I will get to eventually. First, my obsessive nature makes me throw up a little every time I'm faced with some sort of inconsistency, especially of the unexplained variety. The same word spelled differently in different parts of a publication, conflicting practices at various airports (must I remove my shoes or mustn't I?), nearly identical products described in completely different ways, differing weather forecasts for the same region made by the same forecaster... it's enough to turn a generally sweet fanatic like myself into a raving pedant.

Today's annoying inconsistency: the way various media outlets can't seem to agree upon a uniform way of referring to the "rebels" in Iraq. Are we fighting an insurgence? Or an insurgency?

The two words mean the same freaking thing, of course, as do many words in the most absurdly overpopulated language on Earth. But for the love of sanity, can't we all just settle on one? My vote is for insurgence, as there's simply no need for that extra syllable, especially when our leader has enough trouble with polysyllabic words to begin with.

Broadcasters, take note. For fuck's sake, leave off that useless 'y' and give us obsessive types back a shred of our diminishing sanity.

Posted by ayelet at October 10, 2005 02:27 PM