The seven deadly

I used the phrase "cardinal sin" in a story I wrote today, and wanted to check to make sure I was using it properly. A Google search led me here on Wikipedia. Which made me very happy.

Yiddish curses

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, was this weekend, and part of the rabbi's sermon today had most of the congregation doubled over in their seats laughing.

He began by lamenting the cursing of recent times -- not the fact that there is cursing, mind you, but the fact that we aren't more creative about it. Yiddish curses, he said, start off sounding like a blessing -- but then there's a twist. My favorite, which I've used more than once, is this: May you grow like an onion, with your head in the ground and your feet in the air.

Others include: May you lose all your teeth but one, and may you get a toothache in the one you have left; May you have a sweet death, may you be run over by a sugar truck; May you be like a chandelier, hanging all day and burning all night. You get the picture.

So now I'm contemplating good curses. (Some others are here -- enjoy!)

I hope a rhyming dictionary was involved

Because otherwise, why would the Black Eyed Peas rhyme "mazel tov" with "take it off" in the song "I Gotta Feeling"?

They did add a "l'chaim" in for good measure, though.

Church bells

I managed to time the drive home to be outside a church at 6, when the bells began to toll. It's a lovely sound. Wind blowing through windows, music in the air. I like it.

Find me a find

Someone I interviewed last week called and asked if she could give my name to a yenta.

I laughed and said sure. After all, it can't hurt anything.

I am beautiful!

I listen to college radio in the mornings, and one of the features of this particular station is commentary from God Squad member Father Harry, who is somehow affiliated with the Catholic college this station comes out of.

Father Harry usually pairs a pithy piece of advice with some pop music, to make it relevant to us young'uns. The other day, I burst out laughing as he started talking about self worth over Christina Aguilera's "I'm Beautiful."

"I know I'm not fat. I know I'm not stupid. I know I'm not ugly. I'm Father Harry," he said.

I just had to giggle at the thought of the priest going all Stewart Smalley with Christina in the background.