H.O.P.E.

Good Morning!

We may wander into adult territory today so if you are reading this at work or with a baby on your lap you may want to wait.  But don't wait too long - there is scintillating stuff here!

I know I mentioned this before but it's been awhile.  Did you know that H.O.P.E.  is an acronym?  That would certainly explain the periods between each letter now wouldn't it?  H.O.P.E. stands for Honor Opportunity Purpose and an End to breast cancer.   I won't tell you how Jeannie reacted when she found out there other HOPE teams here in Arizona. . . . but it wasn't pretty!   

Speaking of acronyms, did you know that the world famous USA PATRIOT ACT is an acronym?  Yes indeedy.  Every time I mention this I have to look it up since it is sooooo long.  Here it is:

Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and ObstructTerrorism Act of 2001

Now you know we NEVER EVER engage in political discussion here.  Simply not the place.  Would it be too inappropriate though, to perhaps wish that they had spent as much time and effort getting the constitutionality part right as they did making the nifty acronym?

Speaking of acronyms. . . . .Acronyms are a fairly new language use.  They were not used in the 1600's.  

Which means if you have heard the story of people being put into the stocks and the official charge reading

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

- that is simply not true.  Nor was there ever an acronym of:

Fornication Under Consent of the King

posted above the door of legal brothels.  I hope that clears things up. 

 If you wonder where that word came from there seems to be a consensus among serious linguists that it is derived from a middle English word that meant to strike, move quickly, or penetrate.  Or maybe  from the German word ficken ~  meaning approximately the same thing.  Or maybe even  the Middle Dutch fokken ~ to strike, copulate with.   I'm thinking the word linguist comes from the Italian word Linguine, meaning straight and narrow yet incredibly floppy.

Yeah, I got a 'D' in languages as well as womens's studies!  What's your point?

My point here for even bringing up that word is that, as you may or may not know, Team H.O.P.E. and Simply the Breast sell buttons at our fundraising events.  Many of these buttons have cute sayings related to Breast Cancer.  I like one that has the obligatory pink ribbon and the phrase "Yes Mam."   When my 10 year old saw that button he politely informed me that I had misspelled Ma'am.  So I had to explain the whole mammary, mammogram, mammal thing.  He knew what mammals were,  and he wasn't thrilled with the idea of always thinking about breasts when discussing wildlife.  I didn't have the heart to tell him that in a few years he'll be thinking about breasts all the time anyway.  

So as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by myself - we have a variety of buttons.  One of the more popular ones reads "If you are going to stare at my breasts, donate a dollar to save them"  Here is another popular design:

Now I hate that particular word with a passion.  I find it simultaneously crude and juvenile.  But I'm just the button maker - not the language use arbitrator that I would love to be.  If it were a perfect world this button would not have sold as well as it did:

Of course, if it were a perfect world women would not DIE from breast cancer.  And if it were a perfect world we would not be so obsessed with the aesthetics of  breasts that having a mastectomy is considered by some women a fate worse than death!  

Which brings us to another button.  I had several requests for a button featuring the word that is not an acronym for for unlawful carnal knowledge.  

Pause a moment while y'all figure out what I just said.  Yep - we had requests for buttons that used that word.  My initial inclination was to say no.  That's not a word I think should be let out to mingle with civilized people.  

Then I remembered something.  When the Susan G Komen campaign first started in the very early eighties there were newspapers that would not cover the subject because they would not use the word "breast" in their papers.  Yes, women were dying, but the word breast might offend someone so. . . . 

That angers me.  If I were not the lady I try to be, I might even say it p*sses me off.  It's a breast for goodness sake!  This wasn't an editorial decision made in the 50's when married couples on TV were always sleeping in separate twin beds - this was a decision made after the success of TV shows like Charlies Angels and Three's Company.  

And do you think the TV networks that made millions of dollars on these jiggly breast fests were allowing the word Breast Cancer to be used in PSA's?  No because it might have offended someone.  Well that offends me!

 I'm not saying I want that word to become as acceptable as the word breast has become.  Uh un, no way.  But I do get that there is anger and frustration related to this cause.  And I get that people express themselves differently.  So I made the objectionable buttons.  And most of them sold. 

I mentioned before that Team H.O.P.E. and Simply the Breast have one more fund raising event we will be attending.  We will be selling our famous Tie Dye t-shirts at the local elementary school Fall Festival.  Of course we will NOT be selling our buttons there.  Which means we have a few left over.  I'm including a picture here.  

If you would like to buy one or more of these buttons just click the pay pal donate button on the right side of the blog and donate.  We're asking 3.00 per button and an extra dollar for postage - the one dollar covering however many buttons you want.  After you donate just drop an email to threedaywalkaz @ yahoo . com and tell us which buttons you want.  And include your address!

Speaking of that word, I learned something interesting last week.  Apparently one of our Team H.O.P.E. members has never ever ever used that word out loud.  Ever.   I wish I could say that.  On one hand I was impressed - on the other hand I have this overwhelming urge to trick her into using it.  I won't of course, that would be rude and tacky.  And I never want to be rude.

And speaking of things our ladies have never done before - one of us has lived here in the southwest for almost 30 years and has never rolled a tortilla into a burrito.  She has eaten burritos and has made quesadillas; but has never rolled her own.    

And speaking of rolling your own. . . . 

Ooops!  Out of time for today.  We'll have to continue this later.

Have a civilized day!

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