Mooing Near Philadelphia

 

It's your local COW* here, mooing about a couple of words that seem to have gotten too big for their pastures britches.

This morning a bulk email from a fabric source shared a nice little pattern saying that the designer "has gifted me" with it. Huh? What the heck is wrong with "gave"? It just sounds pretentious to me. As though if she gave it to her, she just handed it over saying, "Here, you can have it"; but since it was gifted to her, it had to have been wrapped in expensive paper and finished off with a frivolous bow. 

And while I'm mooing, what ever happened to medicine? It's a perfectly good word and everyone knows what it is. Is medication different from medicine? Perhaps medication, too, is in a fancy little gift bag?

Oy.

And since I've gone this route, here's one that's bothered me for decades, literally: Back when abortions were first legal, no one ever had an abortion; instead, she had a procedure. I actually could understand that one. But now, no one ever has any kind of an operation anymore. No, people have procedures and it sounds SO much more serious, as though the release of an ingrown toenail could be life-threatening.

Okay, I feel better now.

*Cranky Old Woman