Random
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Random
A person, a pet, a situation, a photograph or an idea that is both awkward and awesome.
"Did you see that TV clip about a donkey parasailing at a beach in Mexico? Awkwardsome!"
overheard at a watercooler on Madison Avenue in Manhattan on March 31, 2011
(n.) -- A method of parenting which is similar to the way a child holds a balloon, in which parents allow their children to rise like a helium-filled balloon and float on their own, while at the same time making sure that their growing sons and daughters have a strong grasp on the string so that they do not float away to unknown parts.
"My parents were good to me, and they raised me with helium parenting ideas. They gave me a lot of freedom when I was a child but they were always there for me, too. I loved being a balloon and yet I was glad they made sure I was holding on to the string."
overheard at a watercooler in the hallway at Temple Beth Shalom in
Toronto, Janary 31, 2012
(n.) - a mistake made while driving or bicycling along rural roads and a wrong turn turns out to be a great find, leading to a beautiful new place you had never been to before
"Wow, I took the wrong road last night but I ended up at an amazing waterfall in the mountains. It was what I like to call a 'beautiful mistake'."
A portmanteau word combining flattered and insulted; when you are both flattered and insulted by someone's remarks or actions
"Hey, I got a note today from a guy who fished my bestselling novel out of a garbage can in New York and told me he enjoyed reading it. Flattering? Insulting? I'm experiencing some mixed emotions. Maybe I've been flattersulted."
-- overheard at a watercooler outside a publisher's office in Manhattan, March 30, 2010
(v.) -- to gaze stupidly or in open-mouthed surprise or wonder at someone from another generation for doing or saying something completely surprising or incomprehensible due to the generation gap.
"Whenever I say something old-fashioned to my teenage sons, they just look at me in a totally befuddled way and then generation gape at me in wide-eyed wonder. 'Oh Dad, please!' is what they are thinking, I'm sure!"
(n.) -- The constant din of modern life, where our
tech gadgets are always on and always bringing us closer to ''the constant din" of 21st Century life.
"Man, if there's one thing about life in the big city that I can't stand, it's the CD, the constant constant din! I mean, this city never sleeps! It's crazy!"
-- overheard at a watercooler in Manhattan, December 21, 2011
(n.) -- the sighing sound one hears on both sides of the generation gap when one side says something the other side just doesn't quite agree with
"You know, every time I talk to my dad, he says a few things that just bother the heck out of me, and I know it's just the generation gap rearing its proverbial head again. It happens so often now, but of course always in a friendly way between younger daughter and older father, that it's more like a generation gasp these days, than a generation gap!"