Whatever happens, if I haven't posted an article on this blog in a given week come Wednesday, I will write anything whatsoever on the Wednesday, whether it be of interest or not, whether I have outstanding articles that need finishing and posting before anything else or not, or even if my computer doesn't work and I have to trawl through four miles of knee-high snow to the nearest village to use theirs (not very likely with this gorgeous Fedora Core-flavoured Linux), you will always find something to read here at least once a week. Also, our old friend the 'Word of the Week' will return to fill his slot every Wednesday. No excuses now. I will not abandon you.
Aah, I was pondering something before, and I wonder if someone might have an answer for me. I've never been very comfortable with this concept - however nice, and generous it is - and I have never been able to understand it. The fact is, I just don't know what the etiquette is as regards greeting cards. I mean, how long ought one keep a greeting card on display before throwing it out; ought a greeting card always be positioned in the traditional upright stance, as opposed to simply lying carefully on a stray Amazon.co.uk box on the floor of a bedroom; or indeed, is it bad manners to chuck a greeting card in the bin at all? I have always felt slightly worried about this, and whenever I have thrown out a greeting card in the past - for I regret to say I have done such a thing - I have always felt a pang of guilt, and begged for my victim's forgiveness, and hoped that I haven't injured them too much. But the other argument is: how would one find space for all these greeting cards, if they weren't got rid of? Especially in this country. I have heared that it's very much different in other countries, especially in Germany, where it isn't necessary to send a Christmas card to every household in your address book, every house in your street, as well as a card for the postman (from everyone in the country, it would seem) to commend him on being alive for another one of those dreaded festivals. So what should we do? What is the right thing? Should we in England keep all our received greeting cards, however trivial, in sturdily constructed boxes in the attic; should we ask permission from every sender before throwing out their carefully written and thoughtfully sent card; or are we entitled to bin our cards, without feeling any sort of remorse at all? After all, they're not going to know, are they? Unless they start coming around, checking that their cards have arrived safely, and have pride of place on top of the television.
So now, finally, after many a month in the shade, our favourite running gag makes his return. Please give a warm hand for...
Word of the Week
Necropolis
necropolis n. an ancient cemetery or burial place.
Definition courtesy of the Concise Oxford Dictionary
Not very exciting, and not too amusing I suppose we think. Nevertheless, the word was stumbled upon yesterday in the thersaurus while working on an assignment for my Open University course, struck a strong chord in the heart, and here it stands as our first Word of the Week (WoW) for many months, with many many more to come.
