Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Pet pigs, robot telescopes, and Dr. Phil

Today's word is "vengeance," in honor of the prepositional phrase "with a vengeance." 1995's Diehard: With a Vengeance must have boosted the stock of those three words (which get 321,000 Google web hits) quite a bit, but the Oxford English Dictionary has citations for the phrase going back to 1525. I guess I'm not surprised; vengeance is vengeful, and it's also pretty traditional.

You probably know the fun that can be had by adding "in bed" to the end of fortune cookie messages, like "Don't give a man a fish, but teach him how to fish in bed." This also works pretty well with headlines:

Nothing simple about Iraq in bed
Shaquille O'Neal should shut up in bed
Home Alone star Culkin charged with drug offense in bed
Methane on Mars causes controversy in bed
Mouse pregnancy goes down the tubes in bed
Kerry visits Letterman in bed
Gene-modified insects get closer look in bed
LucasArts: the magic continues in bed

Well, "with a vengeance" adds a little punch to important world affairs too:

Woman fights for pet pig with a vengeance
Pope addresses Pacific bishops with a vengeance
Robot telescopes comb the skies with a vengeance
Men do cry--all over the world with a vengeance
Was Jesus Christ a liberal with a vengeance?
Britney Spears is a stepmom with a vengeance
Breeding bunnies need a home with a vengeance
Your spouse could be a space alien with a vengeance
Dr. Phil's special explores his views on raising children with a vengeance

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go lay some brown eggs--with a vengeance.

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