Mind MEAN-anderings, Easter 2019, Part 2 April 22nd 2019

I’ve heard from lots of folks about words that they like or don’t like today. Words are a great way to start a conversation.

One such word is the word, “mean”. You can act mean, be mean, or have a mean streak.

Some of us in my generation will remember Mean Joe Greene wasn’t so mean when that little boy gave him a Coca Cola after the football game in that famous commercial—he gave the boy his jersey and got a Coke—wonder what became of that boy and his Man Cave Jersey?

I think University of North Texas just says they are the Mean Green—so colors can be ‘mean’?… and, really, now, is that being good sportsman? To say you plan to ‘be mean’.

Words mean different things.

You can say, “I mean it”… or as a close friend says, “I love you and I mean it!”

Years ago, I was the new kid. It was my first day at Cooper, Texas Junior (8th grade ... ugh) High School, I wore a blue shirt with blue jean shorts—the kind Mom Goddard would cut off and then cut little ‘flaps’ about a half inch all the way around the short legged pants… the inseam was about 5 inches and the frayed by design cut outs added about another inch.

Well, this friend was mean.

She hollered… “Oh, Yoo Hoo… BLUE BOY!!!”… then she invited me to Miller’s Drug and we ordered Red Hots which were a drink.

She’s never been mean since they day and she loves me and she means it now. She named her son, "Larry" and loves him more than life itself.

And, I dress better, too, thanks to her. No more blue monochromantic 'outfits'.

OK, onward with scatter brain thoughts…

Sentences I like but have never had opportunity to say:

--Over my dead body, cookie…
--Thank you to the Academy for these 18 Academy Awards in one night….
--Dress in style; go hog wild (which is wilder than any other ‘wild’, and I mean it…Hog Wild!)
--My only exercise is ‘retching’ and ‘dry heaving’. (Just sounds funny…)… and being aggravated is the only excitement I get in retirement.
--You smell like a plumber’s rag.
--You know, all that sounds like a ‘you’ problem.
--What the devil is WRONG with YOU?
--I have a fine voice… for dancing…
--I anticipate having what ‘they’ call “a Biblical life span”.
--Hey, pal, I’m old enough to say what I MEAN!
--No, you weren’t born yesterday but probably the day before.
--Well, thank you. No one has ever called me ‘happy go lucky’… more like ‘cranky stay unlucky’…
--Oh, you get mad about the least little dust up. So, it’s time for you to shut up…. (The ‘s’ words in our house were shut up and/or stupid…)
--If the scab is shallow, then you have no reason to be sore. (It’s a metaphor…)
--No cats were harmed in the making of this movie… (I just think that is probably not true in a bunch of old movies… poor cats…)
--So what if you are mad! You can get glad in the same britches you got mad in... (I really want to say that sometime!)

And my ultimate dream sentence...

--Get out! And don’t let the door hit you where the Good Lord SPLIT YOU!

Some of those sentences sound very mean. I guess that is why I have never said them. I don’t have a mean streak—seriously… I don’t have a mean personality—but guess I can have a mean attitude.

That all depends on you.

I mean that.