Tuesday, 12/1

 How stupid is it that I can't even spell the word in English anymore?

I tell you; it's not easy being me sometimes. As those of you who read this on a regular basis know my mind sometimes does stuff that defies logic and/or reality. There are days or times when I don't seem to have any control over it (my mind, that is), and that once again became apparent when I was writing yesterday's blog, the one about our Thanksgiving dinner. As I was typing it, I noticed I spelled one of the ingredients like--

Pistache

Now, I know what it means. It's a certain kind of nut that I gobble by the handful, and a certain kind of nut that resides in my favorite French & Belgian chocolate bars. And that probably explains why I wrote it in the blog in French; after all, when I see it written down it's usually in that language. I can understand that. What I can't understand is why, after realizing I wrote it in French and then went to change it to English, that I had absolutely NO idea how to spell the word “pistachio” in my native language.

Sometimes I amaze even myself. And usually not in a good way.

I stared at the word when I tried to write it in English, but it still resembled the French version more than it did the English (well, technically, Italian, right?) way of writing it. For whatever reason, my brain couldn't comprehend the translation of the word from my second language to my first. It just didn't work. So I did what any reasonable person did—I pulled out my phone, went to Google, and typed in “p-i-s-t” where, within a matter of nanoseconds, the English version of the word popped up on my screen. It still didn't look right, but I figured that if anyone knew how to spell it Google would know how to spell it.

After all, everything we find on the Internet is correct all the time, right?

Anyway, “pistachio” is now immortalized on the blog, even though it still looks a little too strange for my tastes. And that reminds me—I need to buy more. The dinner depleted my supply. So the next time we're at the store I'll have to pick another package up. However, given my track record of late, it wouldn't surprise me if I spent a big chuck of the day wandering around the grocery store in search of “pistaches”.

I just hope there's someone there who speaks French and can point me in the right direction. If not, well...it's not easy being me. Really, it isn't.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com), lost cause, from the sounds of it.