Mondrianyone

You probably did read it. That period has a way of coming and going. What the pages I linked say is that both grandfathers' names started with S, so in a sense Truman's S is still an abbreviation, but it's just an abbreviation for both names--or either. It was all before my time (thank God something was!), but I wish presidential controversies these days were as innocent as that one.

The business about his middle initial not using a period apparently started as a joke Truman made that was taken seriously. I worked on one of his daughter's books, and her father's name appeared in it, so I asked her whether the period should come out, and she said to leave it in. I just looked it up, and aside from that extremely good original source (Margaret Truman Daniel), there's some other strong support for the no-period myth being just a myth. (The Truman Library page linked in the article is the first place I checked.) It's fun because it's quirky, but it doesn't seem to be true.

Or performing in a strip club--that's what first occurred to me. Asshole. Good for the show, though, for being low-key about it.

My husband, who's from Pennsylvania, said New York, and I, from New York, said Philadelphia. Not sure exactly what, if anything, that says about us. I was hoping there'd be something more topical in the Locker Room Talk category, but the closest they came was Debussy Cat.

You're welcome. Marge--love the name. If you go to the link I posted, you can even catch it online today. (Unless your local station has some devious way of blocking it!)

In case anyone's interested, Ina was the special guest today on NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!, where she was quizzed on the subject of shoes. Because she's barefoot.

I just remembered the response that cracked me up. In the Fowl category, the clue was something about a breeder in the 1950s making a chicken with a particular British place-name "rock." And Jamie said "Gibraltar." Made me very hungry for that old favorite, Rock of Gibraltar hen.

When Alex did that southern accent, I thought for a moment that Elvis had been president and I'd somehow slept through his whole term. Which would've been so sad I can barely contemplate the possibility. So thanks, Alex. One of Jamie's guesses made me laugh out loud, and now I can't remember what it was. I really need to put a pen and pad by my TV. By the time I stand up and leave the room, I've forgotten anything worth remembering. Sorry about your head, Carpe. Hope you're feeling all better now.

I suspect that none of tonight's players are crossword solvers--esp. the British version. FJ would've been a pretty easy clue in one of those. Deborah has it going on in the necklace department. I loved the one she wore yesterday, but I wouldn't turn down tonight's either. I looked up "hedgecock" to see if it's actually a word. The dictionary didn't list it, so I Googled. The first hit was the name of a former San Diego mayor named Roger Hedgecock who's suing the city because his wife fell on a wonky sidewalk and ruptured her breast implants. Ah, SoCal. I didn't get "America first" either--not because I forgot but because I skipped the inauguration. Maybe they all did, too.

What really drives me nuts is when someone continues to board-hop after the one DD has been exposed. At that juncture it's pointless, unless your point is just to disorient your opponents. And in that case you'd better be damn sure that you (not you personally, you the board-hopper) are good enough not to get disoriented yourself. We've seen more cases where the board-hopper ends up not knowing the answers to all those random clues than we've seen people who are successful at it. I'll take Cutting Off Your Own Nose to Spite Your Face for $800, Alex.

If that's true, my guess is it's too little too late for the franchise. I'm not watching after this reunion, and from the looks of the lack of activity on the RHOA board, I'm not the only one deserting a sinking ship. And if NeNe's back next year, I'd have to be drugged and strapped into a chair to watch. But maybe the bitch-face attitude will be good for Erika. Maybe it's just hard for her to make normal human facial expressions with all that work and Botox. What do I know?

Aside from the fact that it was really unflattering, as already mentioned? When you wear something with fine stripes on TV, they strobe or make moiré patterns or whatever the technical term is. I think the OP was referring to the fact that with all her time in front of the camera, Kyle should've known not to wear a dress with that kind of pattern. On my TV at least, it was very hard to look at. I was very impressed with LVP's stealth in asking that question. I think Erika's eyes hardened for an instant (if it were possible for them to get any harder), but it was really Andy who cut off that line of discussion. I don't know if it was intentional on his part, but he gave Erika a door to scoot through, and she used it. Speaking of Erika (and who wasn't, ad nauseam?), she obviously took the NeNe Leakes approach to reunion attitude tonight, didn't she? Never making eye contact, never smiling, looking as if she'd rather be getting a root canal. That didn't work out so well for NeNe in the end, so maybe rethink that next year. And get a new glam squad. A wardrobe person who knows something about bras.

Me, too! I was sad for Joyce Kilmer that he got left out of that group of names. Although he's probably fine with it. You write the most famous poem in the English language about trees, and then people remember you as a convenient place to pee. Kind of humbling. They also left out Molly Pitcher and Clara Barton, of course. Women. If I were hypnotized, I could probably recite all of them in order, like the stops on my line of the LIRR.

That alone is a pretty daunting task. Aside from the fact that she's just a terrible person, everything we've seen of Phaedra's lawyering skills leads me to suspect she's also a pretty terrible lawyer. Which makes going into the funeral business seem like a very wise idea. At least those clients can't complain.

Hey, wait, I thought I was the kiss of death! When Pat biffed that DD (now I can't remember what it was, but it seemed easy), I knew we were saying good-bye. Oh, well. To me there was practically a neon sign over FJ, blinking MOBY-DICK! I guess you know what you know. I, for instance, didn't know a single answer in the sports category, so I won't judge.

Fox dreadlocks are the kind that sexually hair-ass you. ;o) Sorry, I'm overwhelmed with work and getting punchy. Can't wait to see that case!

I'll keep an open mind, but somehow I think corn blasted at 550 degrees for forty minutes (!) wouldn't be my recipe for the Big O. I used to devour those Nero Wolfes like buttered popcorn--I've read maybe fifty-plus of them--but I wonder if I'd feel the same about them now. Nero did have his issues with women, didn't he? "American women should themselves be boiled in water." Ah, well, it was a simpler time!

Please tell Pat that I was cheering her along every step of the way, Dishin. (Don't tell her that I can be the kiss of death, though.) I thought she was delightful, and I yelled, "Good for you, girl!" when she got FJ right.

Well, maybe you should do something bold with all that patience--like go to criminology school and become a detective! Just don't put Patricia Bean's photo on your ID badge when you go around solving crimes. Even criminals shouldn't have to look at that face. (Let's make an exception for Egg Tooth, though--if he can look in the mirror every day, he can look at P. Bean.) ;o)

I think PC is princess cut, which is a square diamond. If I remember correctly, the chips in the band were square. RD is definitely round--that might refer to the center stone that needed to be set in the empty prongs. Semi Mt means by definition that it's a ring lacking a center stone--so that term alone pretty much proved the plaintiff's case, that he bought the setting and she provided the main diamond. Very patient of you to write all that down!

Me, too. Maybe we're eating it wrong.

Maybe he can open beer bottles with it. Or cans of evaporated milk. The kinds of tasks you need done when you're a woman of a certain age and can't handle them yourself. Also, since the centerpiece of this case was a diamond, perhaps we oughta call that tooth a solitaire. Jeezo Pete, I really don't get how you can spend money on engagement rings and computers and TVs and fail to designate some part of your budget for choppers.

I FF'ed past Nora's intro last night, so I didn't catch her job description. Tonight I had to turn on closed captions so I could read what Johnny was saying, because I rewound three times and I was sure I was hearing "snoring detector." Which should be a real job if it isn't.

And don't forget to bring your drumsticks. ;o)

Boy, I can really pick 'em. Rule of thumb: Bet against anyone whose train I jump onto. Why did they all seem so unwilling to deduce what they didn't know? A vegetable with a white head and curds . . . hmm, what could that be? Andy Warhol would've been a better guess for that clue than for FJ! Abigail should pop into MOMA, and then she'd know about Hockney. You move to NYC for a reason.