be the bee

i stop into starbucks this morning to pick myself up a mocha and get a latte for my wife, and for some time now, starbucks has been doing some kind of promo thing with a new indie film coming out called akeelah and the bee.

this movie is about national spelling bees, i gather, and is sure to be riveting stuff, especially for the large fan base that spelling bees have. it's sure to be a regular chariots of fire for those who just can't get enough of the nonstop, edge-of-your-seat action that is a national spelling bee. i'm becoming a bit of a convert myself, and am hoping to get tickets to the spelling bee olympics. i hear the us team has a very good chance at the gold.

anyways, as part of the whole big promo thing, they have words that were the winning word from various spelling bees throughout the years printed on damn near everyFUCKINGthing, which means you can hardly enter the place without being bombarded by words like antediluvian (which i am now quite sure i have misspelled) and euonym (again, don't ask me if i actually got that one right--last time i was in a spelling bee, i didn't have acne or pubes and i lost on the word "awkward").

so, here's my problem then. as a person who is fascinated by language in its many forms, i find myself thinking occasionally, "hey, i should know what that word means. furthermore, i should attempt to occasionally use it in my daily, if for no other reason than to amuse myself. and yet i cannot remember what its definition, or even how to use it in a sentence."

now, you would think that if they were going to drop all these big words on you, they would give you a clue as to their meaning. but i have looked everywhere for definitions. i have even flipped my cup upside down thinking they might have done some kind of kids' magazine style the-answers-are-upside-down-at-the-bottom-of-the-page thing, only to cover myself in hot brown fluid. (no, not really, fuck's sake, gimme some kinda credit, jesus. but i bet you're still laughing, eh?)

so i get aggravated, cause i want to know what the word means. and i have, and know how to use, a dictionary, but everytime i say to myself, "i should look that up when i get home." by the time i reach home, it has completely left my mind until the next time i pick up a mocha and get pulchritude again. and that particular word i know i should know, and i know it is a cool word that i could totally use on a daily basis just to annoy people. like detritus. but anyways.

darth sardonic