Wordwizard

Think Vicky Lawrence in the infamous Carol Burnet sketches about Eunice and "Mama"! As Tim Conway's character (can't recall his name) once said, "LOVE YOUR BLUE HAIR, MOTHER HARPER!"

But, Erik, if the pine tree air freshener in my car loses its string, I'll have to affix it to the mirror with tape. Then it will truly be a "Scotch pine"! GROAN!

Here in Illinois, the Comptroller is an elected official who is responsible for paying all the State's bills. In the 21 years I've worked for the great State of Illinois, I have NEVER heard anyone pronounce the official's title "controller." Here, it is always pronounced "COMP-troller." I never knew...

dale, your "browser" is Internet Explorer (or IE), assuming you're using that program to access the internet. When Hans Joerg says to open it "the same way you did before," he means to minimize your current window (click on the "minus sign" at the top), then click again on your IE icon on the deskto...

I don't know about "Down Under," WOZ, but "Up Over" (at least in the good old USA), our rain falls in inches. (But I don't know if the inches or the rain is/are falling! *G*) According to my dictionary, however, there actually is a linear measure known as "mil": it's equal to .001 inches or .0254 mi...

I ALMOST agree with you, Ken. But, I have decided to withdraw my former vote and vote instead for 2/9: .222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222 . . . . Doesn't that look like the string of Zs that is used in cartoons to indicate snoring? How much more nondescript can you get than a number t...

I vote for 1/3. When written in decimal format, it becomes .333333333333333333 . . . . Keep writing the 3s long enough, and it becomes very boring/nondescript. Another contender might be "e," which is used in logarithms and is so nondescript I can't even remember what it stands for! *G*

Perhaps the "another part of the island" expression has recently sprung up on one of the many websites devoted to analyzing the convoluted plot twists on ABC's "Lost"! Now that my daughter has me completely hooked on that TV show, I can easily understand how such an expression would become over-used...

I doubt you'll find a definitive answer to the "certain" origin of this phrase, Jeanette, because I suspect it has been used in a number of bad novels over the years. I have never actually heard the version you mention; I've always heard, "Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . . ." That version has alway...

Actually, Ken, Sylvester's exclamation was "Thufferin' thuccotash"! Both Sylvester and Elmer Fudd had serious speech impediments. In today's more enlightened/sensitive age, Warner Brothers would never get by with making fun of lisping felines and "wascally wabbits"! *G*