September 19, 2019-
I don’t know about you, but I am alternately amused and flummoxed by colloquialisms and popular beliefs, that don’t hold up in the court of scrutiny. Bear with me; this is a potpourri.
- “Leprosy is returning to California, via the homeless population!” FACT: There have been no cases of leprosy reported among the homeless, in California or anywhere else. There IS a hygiene issue, due to several cities decriminalizing toileting in public. While this is disgusting, it has nothing to do with leprosy.
- “California is forcing children to experiment with sexuality!” FACT: California’s guidelines on public sex education are a lot less age appropriate than many would like. Parents, and school districts, can, however, opt out of adopting these guidelines. (DISCLOSURE: I believe sex education is primarily the duty of the parent(s).)
- “MYSELF should be used, instead of ME, and mentioned first,when speaking or writing in the first person, or when mentioning self along with others.” I still am more comfortable using ‘me’ or ‘I’, after referring to others in my company.
- “________ Year Anniversary” is ‘shorthand’ for ____________st(th) Anniversary. How is being redundant shorthand for anything? An anniversary IS the passage of one year. There is no such thing as a ____ month anniversary, or a _____week anniversary. It just SEEMS like time is dragging.
- “If a Democrat is elected President, the stock markets will slam shut!” FACT: The stock markets, under Presidents Clinton and Obama, made fair gains-albeit not as much as has been the case under President Trump. Markets don’t move lock step with whoever is President. China, and other countries, actually have more influence on the markets than does a U.S. president.
- Lastly, and my favourite: “Everybody else can do this. What is wrong with you?” “Everybody else” refers to either 7.7 billion people, or to everyone else known to the speaker. There is no way for him(her) to know what even everyone he or she knows can do or not do. Those are just some things that passed through my consciousness today.
A Sagittarian Seeker 
Myself should only be used when I or me has previously been referred to in the sentence.
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True story. Thanks, Carrie.
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This is a great list of myths, Gary! Just a couple of comments:
#1 — I’ve not heard the myth about Leprosy in California, but in LA there have recently been several cases of Typhus due to the rats on skid row — including a couple of cases within the police department offices under which there is a homeless encampment.
#2 — California is NOT forcing sex experimentation on children, and, as you say, the opt-out options are very strong. Many students are excused from sex-ed classes.
#3 — The misuse of “me” is one of my pet peeves. It is not, however, resolved by substitution of “myself”. “I” is the subject in a sentence, and “me” is the object — “me and my friend did ~ ~ ~” is simply incorrect as is “it was done to him and I.” Unfortunately, both are in common use due to a lack of adequate grammar training!
#5 — You are correct — the market moves up and down depending on many things, none of which are the President. Governmental policies may play into this movement, but such things as Iran bombing Syrian oil plants, or Chinese economics, or Brexit, or many other factors have far more effect that which party is in the White House
End of rant 🙂 !!!
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The one about leprosy in LA has been making the rounds here in the AZ backwoods. Anything derogatory, that has to do with California spreads rapidly here. I have family, as well as friends, in SoCal, so I want to correct the misconceptions, as they happen.
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For a long time, there were signs in Oregon telling Californians to “go home.” Perhaps that attitude has spread to AZ.
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There is a sizable, and very loud group, here in Prescott, who are like that. Ironically, several of them are also from SoCal.
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