So I was watching Jeopardy the other night.
The contestant offers a response to the question on the board.
Alex Trebeck is, like, “Yes, select.”
Gasps and disorder come from the peanut gallery.
Another contestant buzzes in to answer.
The other contestant pronounces the response correctly.
Alex directs his eyes to Other Contestant, “Yes, the judges have pointed out that the correct pronunciation is…” and he repeats the correct response Other Contestant has just provided.
“My bad,” he adds as he looks over apologetically at the Dejected Contestant who said “toe-may-toe” instead of “toe-mah-toe.”
Yes, Alex, I understand.
Like you: My bad.
My bad because I realize that I have been remiss in keeping up with this blog. Haven’t written a Monthly Meter since July. But just so you know, there is nothing to report there but bad news: a buncha rejections that one day I’m gonna record for the sheer kookiness of the language: “Thank you for letting us read your work. It just doesn’t fit what we need right now. Good luck placing it elsewhere.”
Um, word? Come, come now kind editors. I too have worked on literary editing boards. And I know how those discussions can go. We are not thanking some of those entrants but cursing them for wasting our time with their pathetic verse. So as I think about that, yes, kind editors please continue to send me your curt, corny, and evasive rejections.
I know that right now is really never. That if there were a specific time for you to print it, you’d save it for printing at that time, in that issue. But with my ego being bruised from being rejected and all, anyway, I guess I’m not so interested in being kicked while I’m down. No, save the straight-no-chasers for the bar. Not for me.
So like I was saying my bad ain’t always good.
Wasn’t trying to leave y’all hanging.
Sigh. Gonna get back on track now.
Well, after I get a snack and a nap.
Um, next week.
Okay, sometime soon.
darlene anita scott 