Search Results: people changing

As a child, 10 years seems so long. Now at age 30, it seems like 10 years ago was like yesterday.

I just learned 3 people I used to volunteer with at the rescue squad are dead. 2 out of 3 of those people were key people/high-ranking officers at the organization. They all died within less than a year apart and all three were in their 50s! Some of them had kids around my age that used to volunteer too.

Then I was reflecting on how my hometown in Tennessee has changed so drastically in just this past decade. This place is not recognizable anymore! All these damn northerners and Californians are flooding in and warping the culture of the area and driving the cost of living up astronomically. The people that did grow up here are dispersing and leaving. I am thinking about leaving with my fiance when I have the money and means to do so. We'll of course be married by then.

The Vances oppose abortion for religious reasons, but tends not to mix that subject with the birthrate conversation except to say that with all the new restrictions on reproductive choice, it would make sense to do more for young mothers financially.

Rather than religious belief, Musks supporters are motivated by a fear that humanity will not replace itself. They dismiss immigration as a remedy, arguing that it can weaken the culture of the receiving country.

This Musk aligned group, which embraces assisted reproduction, is most visibly identified with Malcolm & Simone Collins, a media-friendly couple with 4 children born through IVF. They favor using genetic selection to pick embryos with desirable characteristics, an approach that Christian groups typically oppose. The Collinses said they recently composed a suite of suggested executive orders and sent them to allies in the White House. They include deregulating child care businesses to bring down the cost, and loosening car seat laws, which can now require buying larger vehicles to accommodate more than two children. Another would create an award for women who have six or more children, versions of which exist in a handful of countries, including France.

An agenda that prioritizes large families makes plenty of people queasy. Groups like Population Connection worry that the tactics required to raise birthrates can verge on authoritarianism, and believe that the consequences of population loss aren’t as catastrophic as pronatalists make them out to be. And increasing numbers of young people do not want to burden the planet by having children of their own.

Nevertheless, pro-natalists want the administration to establish a commission to elevate and study the subject, as well as to infuse their priorities across the federal government. The Biden administration screened many policies and grant applications for their impact on climate change and racial equity, they point out; the same could be done for procreation.

Obviously metaphors change over time. "Netflix & chill" has replaced "Hanky panky" and that's fine. Languages evolve (except the damn French & their purity council but that's for another question) but does the changing of metaphors represent that we are less widely read, historically knowledgeable or biblically literate? Or is it just natural evolution?

Do you make any assumptions about people if they don't know what a "Catch 22" or "manna from heaven" mean?

Other than the Bible & Shakespeare NO ONE has given us more words & phrases than the Lost Generation / Roaring 20s. They are simply delightful!

ace - a dollar bill

applesauce - nonsense

baby - term of endearment

baloney - nonsense

bank's closed - no kissing or hugging

balled up - confused, messed up

bee’s knees - the best

beef - problem

belly laugh - a loud laugh

berries - something excellent

bluenose - prude or killjoy

breezer - convertible car

bunk - nonsense

carry a torch - to have unrequited feelings

cat’s meow - stylish or cool

cat’s pajamas - really cool

cheaters - eyeglasses

clams - money; dollar bills

corn-shredder - a bad dancer

crush - to have romantic interest

dapper - neatly dressed; elegant

dough - money

duck soup - easy

flat tire - a bad date

flivver - a small car in bad condition

goofy - crazy or silly

grift - swindle

grill - question

hard-boiled - tough

heebie-jeebies - the creeps

hooey - nonsense

hotsy-totsy - perfect

jalopy - old car

know one’s onions - well-informed

mazuma - money

nailed - caught

neck - to kiss passionately

nicked - stolen

nifty - very good

noodle - brain

on the level - legitimate, honest

pinch - to arrest

rag-a-muffin - dirty or disheveled

ritzy - elegant

upchuck - vomit

swell - great; excellent

whoopee - to have a good time