I keep stacking things on my desk with the intention of commenting on them, but as is everything in life I get side-tracked and the pile just gets bigger and bigger and… Anyway, here are a couple of things off the top.
I was watching an episode of “Big Wolf on Campus” and they had this witch the three heroes were trying to vanquish. But when the wolfboy recited the vanquishing spell it didn’t work until he said, “So mote it be.”
I’ve always felt this to be a pretentious thing do to, especially when spouted by Wannabe Witches (okay, I really have one particular Wannabe Witch in mind), but they all seem to do it. Curiosity getting the better of me, I looked it up in the dictionary. Or tried to, since the Concise Oxford Dictionary, what I consider to be my authority for spelling and other lexicographical arbitration, didn’t have it.
Well, I finally found it. According to the Merriam-Webster Online…
Main Entry: mote
Pronunciation: ‘mOt
Function: verbal auxiliary
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English mOtan to be allowed to — more at MUST
Date: before 12th century
archaic : MAY, MIGHT
Okay, so THAT makes sense.
The following humorous episode is brought to you courtesy the sample box of Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts, topped with REAL Chocolate Chips:
HEATING INSTRUCTIONS
REMOVE pastry from pouch. MAKE SURE MOM OR DAD is with you when you use the microwave or toaster. MICROWAVE on high for a maximum of 3 seconds OR HEAT IN TOASTER with setting as LOW as it can go. Place toaster in a safe, open spot and make sure it’s clean inside (possible fire risk). WAIT 2 TO 3 MINUTES to cool pastry, then carefully remove from appliance (can cause burns).
(Emphasis and colour changes are as they appear on the box!)
A few things come to mind. Do **I**, being a fully-constituted adult in the eyes of the law, still have to have my Mom or Dad present when I use the microwave or toaster? What about poor, unfortunately orphans? Do they get to eat Pop-Tarts at all? And finally, if you have to wait 2 to 3 minutes to cool the pastry before you can take it out of the appliance, what’s the point of heating it in the first place? Those things go from 3rd-degree burn temperature to practically ice cold in about 17 seconds flat!
