It's not about the house.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

CF

I'm not sick, it just wasn't really 90. Not where I live, anyway.

See, all day I was looking at the Weather Channel and they were telling me it was 90 degrees in Brockton -- which is the town they always say for me, even though it isn't where I live, and usually it's plenty good enough. Before I left to pick up Johnny, I went so far as to take my freaking temperature, just so I'd know what I was talking about before I bitched to him about my health (his answer is always the same: "See a doctor.") But my temperature was normal -- low, even: 98.

But when I got in the car, the lady on the radio (who I hadn't listened to all day) said the temperatures in the state were all over the map, so to speak. From 99 in North Adams to 66 at Logan airport -- and not in order, either. Weird.

So the 90 I was hearing about in Brockton had nothing to do with the 71 it actually was at my house, where I was spending the day checking my eyes for fever-glass and sucking on thermometers.

71's not freezing, certainly, but it's cool enough to explain why I didn't feel like the dog days I was expecting.

But by the time I figured all that out, it was too late to do anything around here.

Oh, and CONTEST ALERT: Explain the pun in the title and I'll write you a poem -- a limerick, this time, because tomorrow I've really got to get some work done...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Celcius and Farenheit? I'm imagining twisting a mercury thermometer in my fingers while trying to figure out how to read the dumb thing.

Hi Erin! Your house is looking so nice - it has been too long since I have visited with my brood. See you tomorrow I hope.

EGE said...

Hey, JE!

You're halfway there, but it's got another meaning too... If no one else gets it I'll give it to you.

Hey, that's almost a poem in itself!

Khurston said...

I cheated! "CF" from Wikipedia:
It is sometimes used (primarily in dictionaries) to offer insight into the preceding word's etymology — that is, to suggest how one term obtained its particular naming convention (perhaps from another phrase). For example, the phrase "Big Whack (cf. Big Bang)" suggests to the reader that the usage of the moniker Big Whack, though not directly related to the Big Bang theory, derives at least its name from the latter.
doesn't seem punnish though. i don't get it. I'm too busy having flashbacks to the Quitclaim Deed questions from the bar exam...

EGE said...

Well, not to disparage Wikipedia or anything, but they're wrong on this one. That's NOT what cf. means at all. If whoever wrote that entry actually looked it up in whatever dictionary they found it in, they might have gotten a better definition...

Keep trying!

Simplistic Mom said...

Cost and freight? I'm not really seeing the pun though. I have to admit the first thing I thought of was the element Californium (Cf) and I could imagine you wanting to be in the nice cool ocean breezes and low humidity.
BTW- your blog is very humorous!

Charlie said...

Cold front??
my first guess was crazy freak!
;)

EGE said...

Thanks for playing, ChemGirl (and for the compliments on the blog) and Charlie -- but you're both wrong. I'll leave it open one more day and then I'll give it to JE because she at least got half...

Wow, this is turning out harder than I thought. Here's a hint (which I actually already gave in another comment but it never hurts to be precise): look it up in the dictionary!

Charlie said...

cf: abbreviation from latin word for either "confer" meaning compare/consult or latin word(s) "coactus feci" meaning done under coercion
p.s. is it just me or does coactus feci sound bad?
Hmmm, usage:
I cf’d with EGE Head blog readers about whether coactus feci sounded like poo shoved up the bum, after having to waste my precious time looking cf up in the dictionary (cf of promise of a limerick about wonderful me – which p.s I BETTER win and better be good)!
:0)
maybe I will write my thesis on CF instead of ZF

EGE said...

Yay, Charlie! You win! Though I have to admit I never heard of "coactus feci" or that definition before. See what you learn when you look things up? (My dictionary doesn't mention that -- which one do you use?)

I've been thinking about this and realizing that a limerick might be harder than the silly things I usually do, but I'll give it a shot today...

PS ChemGirl, if you're stil out there -- I was so tired yesterday I didn't even get your Californium joke. (I just thought: "Californium? I never heard of that one, but she's chemgirl so she must know more than me" duh!) Good one!

Simplistic Mom said...

Yes, I'm still around. My mom (LadyScot) turned me on to your blog so it is now one I check regularly.
My Dictionary had 4 definitions for CF 1 Bookbinding - calf 2 Baseball - center field 3 compare 4 cost and freight (from Websters's New World College Dictionary 3rd edition)
Californium is actually a radioactive element with the symbol Cf, but whenever I hear it's name I obviously think of California!