MaeveEnRoute's blog

It's all in the semicolon.

"She's a little sharp; I need another beer." - girl at karaoke, Cambridge, MA

Getting an education early

Woman to child: You like drag queens, though, right, honey?
Child of about 6: I don't know that many, but I like them.

(Diesel Cafe, Somerville, MA)

Mother Hen

"Here, you take the chicken, it's your baby!"
- one girl to another in the cereal aisle at Albertson's Woodland Hills

Killer Gramma

"Take him down, Gramma! Take him down!"
- girl, very loudly, in Follow Your Heart, Woodland Hills, CA

Noise? Allergies?

"I'm sorry, girl, but I'm not staying in any apartment where I need three Benadryl and a shot of tequila just to get to sleep!"
- woman on cell phone, Corner Bakery, Woodland Hills CA

My sainted mother, five minutes ago

"I feel crappy, yes I do, yes I do,
I feel crappy, yes I do, yes I do,
I feel crappy, yes I do, yes I do,
(pause)
I'm trying to think of a song, and I can't, that's how crappy I feel. I need a crap song."

[I suppose I should offer to get her some tea or something instead of laughing at her and running off to InPassing ... but that's just the kind of vile spawn I am. *shrug*]

What happens when you live with classicists

These are from The Archives (a loose collection of napkin-noted remarks from my sophomore year, when I lived with a Latin major and a Sanskrit major). I came across them again and thought they deserved to come back, especially since Jon's around. :c)

"Was Plato impotent or something?"

"Hoo boy, get me some o' that Petrarch!"

"Have you got any togae virilae?"

Ouch? Ew? What does one say?

"Go get in bed and chew your feet!"
- at a Christmas party in North Hollywood, CA

Oh ... now you tell me!

Woman to waiter: Is there something going on tonight?
Waiter to woman: I think there's going to be a DJ here later.
Woman to waiter: Oh, do you know who?
Waiter to woman: [missed this]
Woman to waiter: Cool - when does he get here?
Waiter to woman: (pause) I'm sorry, ma'am, I don't speak English. (turns abruptly, walks away)

For Steff :c)

"I love linguistics gatherings. Normally, people talk about beer, sports, and women. Here, you've got people talking in Portuguese about pro-drop languages. So cool."

-overheard at reception for linguistics conference; Ann Arbor, MI

Blueberries for Sal? Anyone?

"The word, ‘blueberries,’ it speaks of a fruit, but it speaks of much more, of the Lac St-Jean, of the summer cottage, of liberty and dripping juice, and also of the bears who from time to time come into the forest!"
- professor at the Université de Montréal

::blink::

(Translated from:

"Le mot, ‘bleuets,’ça parle d’un fruit, mais ça parle aussi de beaucoup plus, du Lac St-Jean, du chalet, de la liberté et du jus qui coule, et aussi des ours qui viennent de temps en temps dans la forêt!" - in other words, no, it doesn't make any more sense in French.)

Open to interpretation?

"I prefer to keep my vagina out *here* when I'm interpreting." - Harvard undergrad

(There was context, but it's long and mostly highly-technical and ultimately not very interesting.)

All common nouns, I guess?

"A mouse is not really different from a fork, or a TV."
- in a Harvard dining hall

Orange juice and the subjunctive mood

"[My TA] brings orange juice to section; otherwise I'd wish he was dead."
- Harvard student

"Put down 'were' so I don't look stupid."
- same Harvard student, upon noticing that I was writing down her quote

Moral relativism, or total point-missing?

"That's not a reason to say Brutus was morally flawed, just because he killed his friend."
- student in Harvard University Shakespeare seminar