Toddled Dredge

54 responses so far ↓

• 1 Happy Geek // Jun 24, 2008 at 8:41 pm

  So great.
  Loved it all.
  Can’t wait to see the comments on this one! You must love to live on the edge.

• 2 Melanie // Jun 24, 2008 at 9:03 pm

  They are, however, highly entertaining. Some days that alone is accomplishment enough.

  How goes the growing of baby #4?

• 3 Mad // Jun 24, 2008 at 9:05 pm

  I agree with everything except the bit about the Harvard comma.

  Nice dig at the Esperanto people. Way to keep it alive.

• 4 Sherri E. // Jun 24, 2008 at 9:08 pm

  That is great! My hubs is right there with you on the white chocolate.

  With respect to homeopathy, I must say: arnica, arnica, arnica! To quote my friend Rachel, “It’s what convinced me that homeopathy wasn’t just pretend.”

  I’ll be popping some popcorn now, to munch on when the Esperantists start showing up.

• 5 Sherri E. // Jun 24, 2008 at 9:09 pm

  Oh, and was this entire thing a subtle dig at Os Guinness?

• 6 Sherri E. // Jun 24, 2008 at 9:16 pm

  Okay, I am totally your comment stalker today.

  I had to look up the Oxford comma to see what you meant, and I’m sad to report that my husband and I have discovered a deep philosophical difference where before we experienced only perfect agreement in all matters grammatical. He is a staunch advocate of the Oxford comma, while I most certainly am not. Why on earth was this topic not broached by our premarital counselors?

• 7 chickadee // Jun 24, 2008 at 9:17 pm

  oh i love it!
  do people really claim wool stays warm when wet?

• 8 Veronica Mitchell // Jun 24, 2008 at 9:24 pm

  Sherri, once again you have credited me with far more awareness of popular authors than I really possess. I had to look up who Os Guinness is.

• 9 Jill // Jun 24, 2008 at 9:27 pm

  Really, no Tupac?

• 10 Minnesotamom // Jun 24, 2008 at 10:10 pm

  Sherri - too funny. I think we’re all waiting until they pop out of the woodwork. Popcorn sounds good…

  The government is incapable of most things (except stealing my money), but it sure is fun to watch movies where it seems like they’re smarter than they are (Bourne anything).

  In certain cases, I think the oxford comma helps relieve a little ambiguity (for instance, if it leaves a dangling participle). I don’t make a practice of using it unless I think it gives clarity.

  And I have PROVEN that cocoa butter doesn’t prevent stretch marks.

• 11 Julie // Jun 24, 2008 at 10:12 pm

  You don’t believe in the Oxford comma??? Oh Veronica. I’m crushed.

• 12 chilihead // Jun 24, 2008 at 10:31 pm

  No Oxford comma? M’dear, I do love you, but them’s fightin’ words.

• 13 Heidi // Jun 24, 2008 at 11:14 pm

  What? You don’t believe that crocodiles inhabit your city’s sewer system.

  You clearly need to rewatch ALLIGATOR! It will make a believer out of you.

  Or maybe that only works if you are four when you watch it. Maybe.

• 14 JulieC // Jun 24, 2008 at 11:16 pm

  White chocolate is just wrong. Call it candy, fine. Chocolate? Not so much.

  Just when I was wondering what to do with myself the next couple of days, you post the E-word again. I can see that some blog comment observation will be happening. Pop the popcorn, indeed! Woo hoo!

• 15 Jeana // Jun 24, 2008 at 11:22 pm

  AHA! You do not mention Elvis at all.

  I wonder how many people like Sherri and me had to Google the Oxford comma. I play both sides of the fence. I was glad there was not a third person who Googled it, or I would have had to commit.

• 16 Jeana // Jun 24, 2008 at 11:22 pm

  Does that make me a bioxual?

• 17 paul baker // Jun 24, 2008 at 11:36 pm

  Veronica,
  #3 I never thought the word NASCAR would show up on your blog. What next, are you going to suddenly reveal a secret crush on Dale Jr.?

  #5 Frame that for Mom.

  brother

• 18 Sue // Jun 25, 2008 at 1:47 am

  I don’t know what an Oxford comma is. I would google it, but if I have to learn even one more thing today, my brain will explode all over your blog, and I know you don’t want to be responsible for that.

  Is the plural of manifesto really manifestoes? It looks so this little piggy went to market.

• 19 poppy fields // Jun 25, 2008 at 4:54 am

  I do believe that I like Veronica’s sense of humor very much.

• 20 Chantelle // Jun 25, 2008 at 5:16 am

  I agree with all but the last one because this manifesto accomplished a big smile on my face.
  Also, white chocolate - call it what you want, but is darn tasty.

• 21 gretchen from lifenut // Jun 25, 2008 at 7:55 am

  Google should pay you to blog. I had to look up NASCAR to see what each letter represents. It’s true. Car AND Auto.

  I also found “Non-Athletic Sport Centered Around Rednecks”

• 22 Kimberly // Jun 25, 2008 at 8:12 am

  I just love how you have funny things interspersed with serious things.

  I totally agree with you on the divorce thing. (Speaking as a former divorce lawyer). I used to tell my clients, “if your marriage is terrible, the divorce will be worse.” I think in all the years that I practiced there were only about 5 cases where I thought that the divorce was really the Right solution.

  Anyway.

  Funny list.

• 23 Erin // Jun 25, 2008 at 9:34 am

  I was with you right up to the bit about the comma.

• 24 Adventures In Babywearing // Jun 25, 2008 at 9:51 am

  Ha- this one is really good. Aside from the fairies and homeopathy part- I might believe.

  Steph

• 25 Sandy D. // Jun 25, 2008 at 10:05 am

  I do believe in the Oxford (or Harvard) comma, I do! You’re just a big, mean, and misguided non-believer.

• 26 andrea_jennine // Jun 25, 2008 at 11:53 am

  Amen on the issue of white “chocolate.” But sadly, we do not see eye-to-eye on the Oxford comma.

• 27 zoom // Jun 25, 2008 at 12:26 pm

  This made me cackle out loud. I think that any good non- manifesto should make reference to Barbie, Tupac, white chocolate and the Oxford comma.

  As a history buff, I could not concur more in that we are no different than generations past.

• 28 LeeAnn (AKA Frazzmom) // Jun 25, 2008 at 12:36 pm

  Lets see… Aliens, esperanto, Tupac, and maifestoes- all in one post. This one is going to generate some weird search engine hits!

  Not to mention the comma… You are really putting yourself out there today!

• 29 Tonggu Momma // Jun 25, 2008 at 1:31 pm

  Everyone seems to be googling the Oxford comma. I, on the other hand, googled NASCAR. (Just kidding. But - if not for my BIL - I would have needed to google. Can you believe I live in the U.S.?)

• 30 Miscellaneous From Missy // Jun 25, 2008 at 2:34 pm

  I don’t either! (Except the comma.)

• 31 chaotic joy // Jun 25, 2008 at 2:38 pm

  I LOVED THIS Veronica. Except the Oxford comma thing. Don’t even know what that is. But really, my grammar and punctuation is too abysmal to take a stand on any punctuation mark.

• 32 sarah // Jun 25, 2008 at 2:59 pm

  awesome! i agree with you on things i never even thought about before! except homeopathy…i totally thought it was bunk too. until i’ve actually had to use and rely on a few things when modern medicine failed me and my boys. and by golly they worked!! yes. i was shocked too. now i always have a tube of tea tree oil and calendula on hand.

• 33 sarah // Jun 25, 2008 at 3:04 pm

  oh anger! i just had to look up the oxford comma. that’s exactly what i was told to use through grade school and highschool. then, as a freshman in college, one of my professors scribbled all over an essay and gave me a B simply b/c of that darned oxford comma! he gave me a B on a perfectly good essay for THAT?!? and all this time, i thought i was wrong and he was right. oh dean samet, if only i had known you were just being arrogant, opinionated, and a pain in my butt!

• 34 bea // Jun 25, 2008 at 4:23 pm

  The Esperanto - hahahaha!

  The Oxford comma - (shaking my head sadly).

  The divorce thing - oooh, so cryptic! Do you mean that people jump blithely into divorce thinking it’s going to be so much easier than it turns out to be? Or are you debunking the widely held myth that divorce happens to people who are too lazy to bother working on their marriage?

  White chocolate - What????

• 35 Beth // Jun 25, 2008 at 4:46 pm

  Turns out I’m pro Oxford Comma.

  Wikipedia was my friend today.

• 36 Elle // Jun 25, 2008 at 4:57 pm

  Great—now I must contend with the Oxford comma issue. Does it ever end?

• 37 Veronica Mitchell // Jun 25, 2008 at 6:06 pm

  Bea, mostly the second one. Everyone I’ve ever known who got divorced found the experience painful and awful, and they knew it was going to be painful and awful before it started. Hearing the occasional demagogue speak as though people blithely choose divorce like choosing a flavor of ice cream has always irked me.

• 38 Veronica Mitchell // Jun 25, 2008 at 6:10 pm

  Sarah, since the Oxford comma is optional, he was definitely just being pompous.

• 39 PJ // Jun 25, 2008 at 10:08 pm

  Homeopathy AND alien cover-up conspiracy vanquished in one fell swoop?? I was with you on homeopathy until I discovered Turmeric…now I’m a convert. And aliens??? If the cover-up is gone what will I listen to instead of Coast-to-Coast at 2 am? I suppose you’ll vanquish Eckankar and Soul Travel next!!!

• 40 Antique Mommy // Jun 25, 2008 at 11:04 pm

  Yeah, especially that part about white chocolate.

• 41 Jennifer // Jun 25, 2008 at 11:28 pm

  YOU ROCK!!!
  I love your non-manifesto!
  Brilliant and inspired, that’s what it is - and now I don’t feel so weird. You should meme this.

• 42 Minnesotamom // Jun 26, 2008 at 12:05 am

  I think your blog change threw the Es off track…no sign of ‘em still! My popcorn’s getting stale, as is my social life…

• 43 Beck // Jun 26, 2008 at 7:37 am

  The Oxford Comma: How I Hate It.
  And white chocolate is just freaking gross.
  I may have to write my own non-manifesto, this was so awesome.

• 44 Kit // Jun 26, 2008 at 9:56 am

  I was relieved to find (with the help of Wikipedia) that I’m with you on the oxford comma and most of the other things, but I have to disagree on homeopathy. It works for our family and every time we resort to a quick fix of conventional medicine, we end up back at the homeopath’s anyway to help us get over the antibiotics. Arnica is definitely one of the best remedies to have on hand with the kids!

• 45 sis // Jun 26, 2008 at 10:34 am

  May I add the more controversial

  I don’t believe in fairies, leprechauns, homeopathy or chiropracty.

  When friends tell me how their chiropractor cured their child’s ear infection/tonsilitis/common cold , I just never know quite what to say. Who needs immunology, when you have a good chiropractor?

  As always, you’re a hoot.

• 46 Kelly @ Love Well // Jun 26, 2008 at 4:19 pm

  I feel a little annoyed that a comma that is so obviously WRONG has such a dignified name.

  The Completely-Unnecessary-English-Majors-Only Comma would be better.

• 47 lyrl // Jun 26, 2008 at 7:27 pm

  Wool - it’s not that it’s warm when wet; rather, it takes a lot of fluid before it is wet to the touch. Dump a gallon of water over someone in a cotton or synthetic T-shirt, they will be soaking wet. Dump a gallon of water over someone in a wool sweater, they’ll have a few droplets of water on the surface of their sweater, that’s it.

  I had to look the comma up, also. I knew what it was, but had only seen it called the serial comma.

• 48 What About Mom // Jun 26, 2008 at 10:13 pm

  Ok, I’ll be your fall guy.

  AMERICAN IDOL IS MUCH BETTER THAN STAR SEARCH, you manifesto-crazy person!

  Have finally succumbed to your blog after seeing you recommended here, there, and everywhere, and glad I did. Also enjoyed the “I hate nature” post on Hadleyesque that you “shared.” What a great linky idea.

• 49 Karen // Jun 27, 2008 at 1:53 pm

  Wow, this is so fun - and I’m 99.9% with you - but homeopathy, crazy thought it sounds even to me - just might work. I found something that cures croup and it is not a steroid that makes my 2 year old run around crazy - it is spongia tosta (why can’t homeopaths just name things that sound more reliable. I hate buying it, I feel like a quack at the store, but it works, I promise you.)

• 50 magpie // Jun 27, 2008 at 10:50 pm

  I love this, though I have no idea what the “Oxford comma” is.

• 51 edj // Jun 28, 2008 at 1:54 am

  I agree with you on EVERYTHING. But I’m really disappointed that the Esperanto supporters did not arrive in droves this time…even though I realize they could still show up and flame me for my flip and insensitive comment here.
  (I also had to google NASCAR–who knew? That’s worse, I think, then the dread pre-Boy Scout class Webelos, which is short for We’ll Be Loyal Scouts.)

• 52 LeeAnn // Jun 29, 2008 at 5:20 pm

  I’m with the Arnica poster above. Also Hypericum. My two standards: 1) the victim loves them and therefore feels better, and 2) they really have worked for us.

  As a child, I would have died for white chocolate. The brown stuff? Not so much. Now I’m convinced I was sugar deprived.

  As for the Oxford comma? After I googled it, I prefer it. It seems more clear to me, but it is not used in journalism because of the extra space.

• 53 Miĥaelo // Jul 1, 2008 at 3:49 pm

  Almost all Esperantists, myself included, would heartily concur: Esperanto will not save the world. Just like safe drinking water or an education, it has the potential to solve or alleviate certain problems; saving the world requires much more. Nothing here to draw out hordes of torch-and-pitchfork-brandishing Esperantists - hope nobody’s popcorn went stale.

  I also agree on almost every other point. I have my doubts about homeopathy, though; it hasn’t worked on me, but I’ve seen it work on others. And Swiss white chocolate is so scrumptious that it deserves at least an honorary title.

  I enjoy your blog, Veronica. Please continue to inspire and entertain in your incomparable thought-provoking style.

• 54 Miĥaelo // Jul 4, 2008 at 9:10 pm

  Manifestos typically explain too little to be effective tools of persuasion. In that respect, I agree they accomplish little. Nevertheless, I believe they have two very useful and potentially catalytic functions:

  1. As a rallying point for people who share the intentions, motives or views enumerated in the manifesto - or for people who do not share them.

  2. As a starting point for informative, enriching discussions around the points of the manifesto.

  Veronica, judging from the quantity and quality of the comments you generated, I would say your non-manifesto has succeeded admirably as a… manifesto.

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