Made-up words make little sense to readers
Over the decades readers have asked how I come up with the stories to tell in a weekly column. My response is always whatever amuses, inspires or annoys me in any given week. Thankfully, there’s not very much that annoys me, but this week is an exception.
While online, I read a post from someone wanting to “re-home” a dog. Geesh. Made-up words annoy me. Where did this word “re-home” come from? Why do people who want to sell a dog say they are re-homing them? Every post I’ve seen about re-homing is in fact someone selling the animal. Why not just say the dog is for sale and state a price? The term is rather disingenuous.
As is often the case, my village of Facebook friends weighed in by the dozens, although the conversation went off in a couple of different directions. What I did learn is that Craigslist and Facebook prohibit the sale of animals on their sites. That’s why the made-up word came to become part of the lexicon. People could circumvent the rule by not using the words “for sale,” but instead saying they had an animal to re-home. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s an animal for sale. A re-homing fee is a sale price. Simple as that.
I took a visual stroll through the Press classifieds, and under the pets section the word re-home does not appear even a single time. Same with the Nickel’s Worth. Kudos to print media!
Wouldn’t things be simple if we just said what we mean and mean what we say? Have I mentioned how annoying it is to have a price sticker affixed to the glass of a picture frame?
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In March I shared a number of stories of how local couples met. The story of Lisa Carlson and Allan Aitken is a great one, made even more special by a celebration they shared yesterday. Lisa and Allan met in Mendoza, Argentina, at a tango restaurant. I’m not sure what a tango restaurant is but it sounds festive.
Allan, from Kirkintilloch, Scotland, was on a business trip, Lisa was on vacation. The two fell in love, and Lisa still seems awed that Allan left everything to come to America to be with her. Mr. and Mrs. Aitken will celebrate 12 years of marriage in 2018. On Tuesday, Allan officially became a U.S. citizen at a ceremony at the Federal Courthouse in Spokane. What a star-spangled love story!
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Things to Do: On Thursday, take the family to a spaghetti dinner from 6-8 p.m. in the Post Falls High School commons to support the Trojan baseball program. $5 per person or $20 for a family of five.
There’s great fun in store on Friday night with the seventh annual Cowboy Ball, 5 p.m. at the fairgrounds, to benefit the North Idaho Fair & Rodeo Foundation.
On Saturday, in conjunction with American Indian Heritage Week, a round dance at North Idaho College’s Christiansen Gymnasium. 5-9 p.m., free and open to public.
Another of those “I Love Where I Live” events celebrates Arbor Day with the annual Free Tree Day at Q’emiln Park in Post Falls on Saturday. The event is coordinated by the Post Falls Parks and Urban Forestry departments and made possible by generous sponsors and community volunteers. Several varieties of trees and shrubs will be available, first come, starting at 9 a.m.
Sunday is the annual Icebreaker 5k/10k Run around Hauser Lake. Same-day registration 8 a.m. at the Hauser Fire Station, race starts at 10 a.m. The 10k course is a Bloomsday Second Seed Qualifier and USA Track & Field Certified. Proceeds benefit Double J Dog Ranch.
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Happy birthday today to Kathryn Eachon (90!), Marshall Meeks, Nancy Gurno, Keith Hanlon, Duffy Taylor, Ann Fox, Nicholas Kane, Pappy Butler and Toni Hackwith. Tomorrow Sharon Stevenson, Terri McTavish, Sharon Wagner, Kelli Hawkins, John Negaard, Jamie Dallas and Gail Osterson blow out the candles. Bruce Hough, Jeff Cox, Caitlin Hodl and Tyler Bush take another trip around the sun on Friday. Carrie Gridley, Katie Keane, Mary Epstein, James George, Melaine Spalding and Eli Gonzales have their cake and eat it, too, on Saturday. Sunday celebrants are Amy Bartoo, Wilma Higgins, Greg Prado, Kevin Kram, Patrick Hughes, Veldon Lee and Shanna Riske. On Monday Nicole Medlock, Jodi McKenzie, John Hays, Caleb Peck, Carol Graham, Marvin Erickson, Joan Nowoj-Phelps, Cynthia Taggart and Tom Messina mark the anniversary of their birth. Dianna Scott, Sandra Borg, Jim Hightower, Darin McEvers, Sharon Finnerty, Kathryn Rosia and Nancy Benjamin put on their party hats on Tuesday.
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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.