50+ Lifestyles

PUBLISHER’S CORNER

Random Thoughts and Comments

By Eloise Graham

The other day I heard someone mention she had the common cold. Is there an uncommon cold? Just wondering. So I looked up common cold. Johns Hopkins medicine says that the common cold may include a stuffy, runny nose, scratchy, tickly throat, watery eyes, sweating and a low-grade fever. Because colds are caused by viruses, antibiotics should not be used as a treatment. The common cold now has a new name, viral rhinitis.

Then I looked up uncommon cold. I found that it is the title of a book by Thomas P. Seager PhD.

Here is a thought that you have probably also wondered about. How come we drive on a parkway but park in a driveway? I still have not heard a good explanation for that, other than that the English language is very confusing.

Do you need other examples of our confusing language? How about the names we give cakes? Chocolate cake contains chocolate, vanilla cake contains vanilla, carrot cake contains carrots and so on. But coffee cake does not contain coffee. I was privy to a conversation between some ladies in a bakery. A lady living here in the USA but from England wanted to get something to serve with tea when her Mum from England would be visiting. Coffee cake was suggested. But she and her mom didn’t like coffee, she protested. The other ladies in the group had to explain that, yes, chocolate cake had chocolate; vanilla cake, vanilla and such – BUT coffee cake did not have coffee. The English lady did purchase a coffee cake, but she was still skeptical.

Along the same naming process of our foods would be oyster crackers. I have a friend that was afraid to have oyster crackers. She has a severe allergic reaction to shell fish and was afraid that maybe a little bit of oysters were somehow added to the crackers bearing their name.

Airports have runways. But I would not advise anyone to try to run on one. That is not allowed. Taxis cannot taxi on them. But planes can taxi on them. Are you confused yet?

These are just a few of the random things that flood my mind when I try to go to sleep after too much caffeine.