For a number of years now, I have been going down to the Farmers’ Market two or three Saturdays out of every four. I’d buy fresh fruits, vegetables, and some deli meat, and pick up some flowers that would last me a week, ten days, or even two weeks at a time.

I’ve just come back from the Market. No flowers in hand. I, however, have caught myself eying some potted plants.

I burnt an egg, attempting to boil it!

I was glued to the TV for what seemed like an interval where time as well as natural logic were suspended; mesmerized by a Japanese television show (named Sushi-TV!) where people competed to put out candles with the sweat off their faces — They were of course sweating cause they had their faces inches away from burning candles!

The verb ‘argue’ should be used with care.

Followed by an appropriate preposition, it could mean standing on one side of an argument or the other — for example: ‘She argued for the existence of God,’ and ‘He argued against the existence of God’ respectively mean that she provided arguments for, and he provided arguments against the particular proposition at hand.

However, without a preposition, the verb ‘argue’ just implies the action of argument, without any implication of the direction of the argument — for example, in describing the above situation, an observer, O, might exclaim, “I heard them with my own ears. They argued the existence of God!”

So, unless it is absolutely clear from the context, I think the above should be respected — The verb should be used with an appropriate preposition if one of two opposing stances is to be implied, and without preposition only in the case where one is describing the act of arguing.

Imagine, if you will, that O had reported the above statement to a second observer, M, who piped in, “but we all know God exists!”

To which O replied, “Well, you can’t argue that.”

Now, to me, O couldn’t have been more ambiguous. Or could she?

Ignore for a moment my earlier proposition about the use of prepositions — by show of hands, who thinks O meant to say
a) “You (the general you, i.e. everyone) can’t provide an argument against that statement.”
b) “Silly you, You (the general you, i.e. everyone) can’t provide an argument for that statement.”
c) “But wait, You (the general you, i.e. everyone) can’t provide arguments neither for nor against this statement. That is to say, this statement is not one to be affirmed or falsified by arguments.”
d) something else. hmm but what?

Now, the second part of the question is thus: if you had taken my earlier proposition to heart, what would have been your answer? (is it different from before?)

At my place of “work,” we have a public outreach program where we frequently invite visitors to come in for laboratory tours, overview lectures, etc. A couple of days ago, there was a group of high-school teachers hanging about in our building on one of those tours, and one of them happened to wander into the open lounge area where I was sitting.

There I was, having a snack, flipping through a magazine, and throwing half an ear to the involved discussion –on the adjacent couch– between an older professor (let’s call him AL) and one of his students. I was of course throwing only half an ear because I am unable to do three things at the same time, not because the discussion was too technical and way above my head.

At any rate, thus was the scene when Mr Lost walked in and –shockingly– interrupted the discussion to ask Prof AL for directions to the men’s room. Prof AL then excused himself from the discussion, stepped out of the lounge area, and walked Mr Lost around the corner where he could easily point to the men’s room. He then walked back, excused himself again, and continued his discussion with the student.

This apparently mundane event is slightly less so in my mind due to the fact that Sir Prof AL is a British knight who also happens to be a Nobel Laureate.

Dear diary, I wonder how often he thinks of himself in those terms, and I wonder how that affects what he does.

Life is a lot like that game on wait wait don’t tell me where you hear a number of equally preposterous stories and your job is to tell truth from fiction.

The burger
I ate in Detriot
and left in Orlando:
Where did she graze?