Also, it's Random Tuesday Facts once again and I have a couple for you.
1) For those in the U.S.: Unless it's high travel season and you're on a tight schedule with no wiggle space, don't book a hotel in advance. Pick up one of those Travel Coupon booklets, such as this one
and save yourself a ton of money. A nice young man at the Comfort Inn in Fruita, CO, told us that it's way better than the AAA discount of 10%. He said that our coupon saved us $30 for that particular motel.2) A friend remarked about something being "ironic" and it reminded me that many people misuse the word "irony" when they mean "coincidence". Irony is defined as (and I'll use the Dictionary.com definitions since they're very similar to the ones in my American Heritage Dictionary definitions): 1) the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning: the irony of her reply, "How nice!" when I said I had to work all weekend; 2) an outcome of events contrary [emphasis mine] to what was, or might have been, expected, as well as the incongruity of this.
Coincidence, on the other hand, is defined as: 1) a striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance: Our meeting in Venice was pure coincidence; 2) the condition or fact of coinciding.
My favorite memory of learning the meaning of irony was in grade 8: the English teacher showed us a cartoon with the headline, "Olympic swimmer drowns in bathtub" - morbid but a great way to demonstrate irony!
"He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home." ~ Johann von Goethe
20 comments:
Ah, irony. Your posting of the definition of it reminds me of the part in "Becoming Jane" where she schools her beau's uncle on the meaning of the word. LOL
Welcome home Teresa!!! Missed your blogging but glad you had a great time. Great facts on the hotel coupons and I actually did nkow about ironic and coincidence...thank God I've been them correctly. :)
Ok, you two are going to laugh, but I am so tickled that you know the difference between the two words! I am SUCH a nerd.
I worked in an office for 2 years eons ago where the people there used irony wrong all the time; it drove me batty. ;)
Irony is when you can hardly wait for some days of to breath with full lungs, not being so busy and then they come and and ...
your nose is stuffed - with cold!
Right?
welcome back! can't wait to hear all your stories!
LOL, Minka! My nose is actually pretty stuffed; my allergies have been acting up a lot lately. ;)
Thanks, Heather! I hope to get it posted by the weekend...it takes so long to upload photos.
Yah...she's home! Not that you & your family shouldn't go away (smile)--but darn I have missed your blog entries.
Hope all is well, you're rested-- didn't get any bug bites (did you?) and have some stories to share.
Hugs
Don't you like how I slap that change together like that? That's Random, much like your facts. I love you!!!
For the last two years, we have booked our beach vacation only days in advance. We got a huge discount on a spectacular condo that way. We are now big fans of last minute booking.
Re: the irony - I learned a lot about that while studying Socrates (via Plato) these last couple of years. Love that stuff!
Carrie, thank you for your sweet comment! :) You always know the right thing to say.
Julie, you're such a clever doll, you know that?
Teri, great tip on last minute booking! I can't wait to study Socrates/Plato with my boys. :)
What's that movie where the guy goes on and on about irony? Hmmm. I've got to think about this. It'll come to me.
Welcome Home! I've missed you in the blog world...but then again, I haven't exactly been a faithful blogger this past month....you should find pictures of my new granddaughter on my blog. :) I'm hoping to get a ton more this weekend...crossing fingers it works out for her to visit us.
Looking forward to hearing about your trip, and thanks for the coupon tip. What a COINKYDINK that I was just thinking about the difference between irony and coincidence just teh other day. Too funny.
there's no iron in irons, how ironic!
Even better than picking up the coupon books while you travel, is accessing them on the web before you leave. I like Roomsaver.com myself.
WAAAY too often I'll stop to get a book only to discover that it's out of date and I've made the stop for nothing.
It is nice to hear your "voice" again. I have never seen those coupon books, but will be on the look out for them. I am always nervous to travel w/o reservations, because when we moved cross country when I was a kid, my mom did not make reservations. When we got to Yuma, AZ there were no openings except one room at a very disgusting hotel. She had just driven us out of CA as they closed the roads behind us for flooding and was too exhausted to drive further. As is, we were very happy to find the one room. Well, she made sure she had reservations for the rest of the trip and I have always made reservations for my road trips. Yuma is a bigger city now, but at the time, we kept asking ourselves, "Who in his right mind wants to go to Yuma?" The answer, of course, is snowbirds.
I'm glad you're back and happy that you guys had a good time. I can't wait to read the posts and see the pix (once you get done doing all of that post-vacation laundry ;)
Blonde Duck, hope you remember soon...that kind of memory lapse drives me crazy!
Spotted Cow, YAY!! Congrats!!! She's beautiful!
Tutta, Meg has a further good tip on the coupons a few comments down. Glad it made you laugh, the irony thing. ;)
Poemhome, *giggle*! You know just how to make me laugh.
Meg, thank you!! I've seen the website URL but completely forgot.
Maureen, LOL! Interesting story. Yuma...hm...makes me think of Limon, CO (as in "who in their right mind goes to Limon?").
Firefly Mom, thanks, dear! I put one pic on FB, but have just not had the time to do anything else yet.
Teresa you should come checkout my post about your boy Quincy. :) Whether it's legitimate or not is another question...but it's exciting to think about!
great random tuesday fact. i too hate when it is misused, but don't know that i had the distinction so clear in my mine...until now!
Post a Comment