Ask Aili
Q: Aili,
I go to my grandparent’s house every year for Thanksgiving. I really enjoy it, but my grandparents are avid smokers, and I don’t want my brand new coat to smell like cigarettes. What should I do?
Sincerely,
Cold and Coughing
A: It’s important to remember not to be rude to your family members, especially on a holiday. Try leaving your coat in the car to keep it away from the stench. If your grandma is very inquisitive and will scold you for not wearing a coat in the cold, wear an older coat over there that you wouldn’t mind getting dirty and washing.
Q: Aili,
I really want to spend Thanksgiving with my boyfriend’s family, but my parents said I need to spend holidays with them and my grandparents. What should I do?
Sincerely,
Torn Between Towns
A: Thanksgiving is typically seen as a family holiday, so be sure not to blow them off. If you really want to be with your boyfriend during this day see if your parents will let you spend the evening with him after your family dinner.
Q: Aili,
My aunt makes this really disgusting salmon pudding every single year for Thanksgiving. It’s disgusting and I hate it, but my aunt gets really upset when no one eats it. Help!
Sincerely,
Queasy and Guilty
A: Since you only have to eat this pudding (which sounds awful) once a year, I recommend scarfing it down anyways. You can chase it down with soda or water, and won’t the gagging be worth the huge smile on your aunt’s face?
-Aili Barbee ('16) is the Jr. Print Editor-In-Chief and a Staff Writer for The Viking Vault.
Q: Aili,
I go to my grandparent’s house every year for Thanksgiving. I really enjoy it, but my grandparents are avid smokers, and I don’t want my brand new coat to smell like cigarettes. What should I do?
Sincerely,
Cold and Coughing
A: It’s important to remember not to be rude to your family members, especially on a holiday. Try leaving your coat in the car to keep it away from the stench. If your grandma is very inquisitive and will scold you for not wearing a coat in the cold, wear an older coat over there that you wouldn’t mind getting dirty and washing.
Q: Aili,
I really want to spend Thanksgiving with my boyfriend’s family, but my parents said I need to spend holidays with them and my grandparents. What should I do?
Sincerely,
Torn Between Towns
A: Thanksgiving is typically seen as a family holiday, so be sure not to blow them off. If you really want to be with your boyfriend during this day see if your parents will let you spend the evening with him after your family dinner.
Q: Aili,
My aunt makes this really disgusting salmon pudding every single year for Thanksgiving. It’s disgusting and I hate it, but my aunt gets really upset when no one eats it. Help!
Sincerely,
Queasy and Guilty
A: Since you only have to eat this pudding (which sounds awful) once a year, I recommend scarfing it down anyways. You can chase it down with soda or water, and won’t the gagging be worth the huge smile on your aunt’s face?
-Aili Barbee ('16) is the Jr. Print Editor-In-Chief and a Staff Writer for The Viking Vault.
How to feast like kings and queens
By Megan Dalton
Thanksgiving is coming up soon and this is a time not only for being thankful, but to eat with those people you are thankful for. A time to put on your stretchy pants or unbutton your pants because you ate too much food. Here are my steps to have a feast like no other on this day of thanks.
Step one: Getting the goods, which is the meal.
Prepare ahead at least a few days by looking for a good looking turkey to devour on the coming holiday. Turkeys take about 2-3 days to thaw, so if you get a tukey the night before you might be having cold turkey pop because it most likely will not be thawed!
Don't attempt to capture a live turkey unless you are a trained turkey hunter and preparer because feathers and other odd things don't taste good. Make sure you have mashed potatoes and gravy because I just love that stuff.
Step two: Meal Prep!
Don't put children under 3 years old in charge of cooking the turkey or any items for that matter because they are unreliable and shouldn’t be around fire. Make sure the person in charge of the turkey doesn't sleep in until 1pm because that thing takes around 9 hours to make.
Step three: the feast!
Don't come late and make everyone wait on you because making people wait to eat can make them slightly insane; hunger has that effect. Also make sure you wear the right outfit to be able to dine to the best of your abilities. Don't wear jeans that are so tight you can't breathe because the moment you start eating your buttons are gonna burst and you don't want to miss out on the chance to eat. “I personally wear my largest pants so I can fit in as much food as I can and be the most comfortable,” Megan Trainer(18’) shares with a smirk.
Step four: the aftermath.
Usually we eat so much that we deserve a nice long nap. So lay down and look at some Black Friday ads and rest up before the night after, which is a long day of Black Friday shopping.
Step five: be thankful
Don't lose sight of the importance of this holiday though; look past the food to the people who prepared it and are eating it. Be thankful for the people around the table, and the food on the table.
-Megan Dalton ('16) is the Jr. Sports Editor and Staff Writer for The Viking Vault.
By Megan Dalton
Thanksgiving is coming up soon and this is a time not only for being thankful, but to eat with those people you are thankful for. A time to put on your stretchy pants or unbutton your pants because you ate too much food. Here are my steps to have a feast like no other on this day of thanks.
Step one: Getting the goods, which is the meal.
Prepare ahead at least a few days by looking for a good looking turkey to devour on the coming holiday. Turkeys take about 2-3 days to thaw, so if you get a tukey the night before you might be having cold turkey pop because it most likely will not be thawed!
Don't attempt to capture a live turkey unless you are a trained turkey hunter and preparer because feathers and other odd things don't taste good. Make sure you have mashed potatoes and gravy because I just love that stuff.
Step two: Meal Prep!
Don't put children under 3 years old in charge of cooking the turkey or any items for that matter because they are unreliable and shouldn’t be around fire. Make sure the person in charge of the turkey doesn't sleep in until 1pm because that thing takes around 9 hours to make.
Step three: the feast!
Don't come late and make everyone wait on you because making people wait to eat can make them slightly insane; hunger has that effect. Also make sure you wear the right outfit to be able to dine to the best of your abilities. Don't wear jeans that are so tight you can't breathe because the moment you start eating your buttons are gonna burst and you don't want to miss out on the chance to eat. “I personally wear my largest pants so I can fit in as much food as I can and be the most comfortable,” Megan Trainer(18’) shares with a smirk.
Step four: the aftermath.
Usually we eat so much that we deserve a nice long nap. So lay down and look at some Black Friday ads and rest up before the night after, which is a long day of Black Friday shopping.
Step five: be thankful
Don't lose sight of the importance of this holiday though; look past the food to the people who prepared it and are eating it. Be thankful for the people around the table, and the food on the table.
-Megan Dalton ('16) is the Jr. Sports Editor and Staff Writer for The Viking Vault.
Unusual Thanksgiving food traditions
By Jamie Swickard
While many families are beginning to plan their traditional Thanksgiving dinner for the holidays, others are planning their own special kind of Thanksgiving dinner.
Many families plan their Thanksgiving dinners to have turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and rolls as their main food. Following their large entree they eat desserts like pumpkin pie, sugar cookies, and pecan pie.
This kind of dinner may not be the case for some Northridge students this holiday break.
Katelynd Havice’s (’15) family celebrates Thanksgiving with a Korean twist on it. For dinner, Havice’s family has turkey dipped in teriyaki sauce along with “pots and pots of Kimchi”, which is an onion and potato soup that is very spicy. Along with Kimchi and their own form of turkey, the Havice’s cook a lot of rice and kim which is seaweed. Havice says she puts the rice in the seaweed to make sushi. With all of their traditional Korean food, Havice’s Thanksgiving dinner consists of platters of cheese and hawaiian rolls. Havice says, “It’s a fun and unique way to celebrate my culture”.
Aili Barbee (’16) says on her dad’s side of her family they don’t eat turkey either. Instead, they have hot dogs and cut them into shapes of octopuses. Barbee says, “It was very different from how my other side of my family celebrates the holiday”.
Former Northridge student, Jillian Choberka (’16) says the day before Thanksgiving they go to their favorite Chinese restaurant, Super Wok and pick up food. Her family also stops at the Mexican restaurant, Puerta Vallerta and picks up more food. Choberka says they stop at both restaurants the day before Thanksgiving since both are closed on the holiday. Choberka says, “No one in my family really likes the traditional Thanksgiving dinner so we combine our favorite types of food. Either way, I love how we celebrate Thanksgiving”.
No matter how you celebrate your Thanksgiving, make sure you have fun and enjoy all of the food!
-Jamie Swickard (’16) is the Jr. Web Editor-in-Chief and a Staff Writer for The Viking Vault.
By Jamie Swickard
While many families are beginning to plan their traditional Thanksgiving dinner for the holidays, others are planning their own special kind of Thanksgiving dinner.
Many families plan their Thanksgiving dinners to have turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and rolls as their main food. Following their large entree they eat desserts like pumpkin pie, sugar cookies, and pecan pie.
This kind of dinner may not be the case for some Northridge students this holiday break.
Katelynd Havice’s (’15) family celebrates Thanksgiving with a Korean twist on it. For dinner, Havice’s family has turkey dipped in teriyaki sauce along with “pots and pots of Kimchi”, which is an onion and potato soup that is very spicy. Along with Kimchi and their own form of turkey, the Havice’s cook a lot of rice and kim which is seaweed. Havice says she puts the rice in the seaweed to make sushi. With all of their traditional Korean food, Havice’s Thanksgiving dinner consists of platters of cheese and hawaiian rolls. Havice says, “It’s a fun and unique way to celebrate my culture”.
Aili Barbee (’16) says on her dad’s side of her family they don’t eat turkey either. Instead, they have hot dogs and cut them into shapes of octopuses. Barbee says, “It was very different from how my other side of my family celebrates the holiday”.
Former Northridge student, Jillian Choberka (’16) says the day before Thanksgiving they go to their favorite Chinese restaurant, Super Wok and pick up food. Her family also stops at the Mexican restaurant, Puerta Vallerta and picks up more food. Choberka says they stop at both restaurants the day before Thanksgiving since both are closed on the holiday. Choberka says, “No one in my family really likes the traditional Thanksgiving dinner so we combine our favorite types of food. Either way, I love how we celebrate Thanksgiving”.
No matter how you celebrate your Thanksgiving, make sure you have fun and enjoy all of the food!
-Jamie Swickard (’16) is the Jr. Web Editor-in-Chief and a Staff Writer for The Viking Vault.
The Ancient Art of Doodling
By Lilly Chesser
Doodling is one of few crafts that could be called a "pure expression of the mind". Unlike drawing, its stuffy counterpart, doodling cannot be advanced through knowledge on technique and does not require a dextrous hand. Doodling can be compared to journaling, but instead of looking introspectively at your life, you are letting your mind wander outward. Because it is such an accessible art form, it is practiced by almost everyone and recurring doodles often occur among a group of people. I'll be looking at some of the most popular doodles and examining the subconscious tendencies that bring them out (with one or two glaring exceptions, for obvious reasons.)
This doodle is so recurrent that it apparently has a name (The Super S). We all first learned of this in elementary school huddled around that one kid who knew about all the cool stuff before anyone else. And from that fateful onward we just never stopped drawing this thing. I can't be the only one who never really got the appeal. It's not a very cool looking S, certainly not cool enough to become the icon that it is, and it really is just a letter, a letter whose font cannot produce any other letters but that one. Not much can be done with it. But I think it's such a common doodle because drawing that Super S is technically a learned skill, and performing learned skills is very satisfying for people. It also reminds us all of elementary school, all the childish fun we had, all the rocks we swallowed on the playground.
Stick people are only very vaguely humanoid, but a doodler has no time to draw a correctly portioned human with clothing and facial features. We wanna get these things in action and quick, because unlike the Super S's these guys can actually do things and live out our desires. I have seen stick figures doing just about everything, people can get really creative with these scenes. For some reason it's also very common too have them interacting with heavy machinery and weaponry. About sixty percent of all stick figure scenarios involve one figure maiming or killing another in any number of ways. I'd rather not do any deeper psychoanalytic criticism on that.
Speaking of being uncomfortable about subconscious (or in this casse, probably conscious) implications, my last important doodle subject is depictions of teachers in funny or unflattering ways. When doodling in class, it's almost impossible not to have your teacher somewhere in your mind. After all, you are currently rejecting the education they're trying to provide for you. The teacher is like a model, standing in front of you and staring in your general direction for 45 odd minutes, baring their soul. Just from this interaction of appearance, speech, and mind you can tell so much about who they are; this naturally leads to revealing character depictions in the corner of your notes. Another path is spiteful depiction, in which case you draw them with a giant beak-nose.
-Lilly Chesser ('15) is Print Copy Editor and a Staff Writer for The Viking Vault.
By Lilly Chesser
Doodling is one of few crafts that could be called a "pure expression of the mind". Unlike drawing, its stuffy counterpart, doodling cannot be advanced through knowledge on technique and does not require a dextrous hand. Doodling can be compared to journaling, but instead of looking introspectively at your life, you are letting your mind wander outward. Because it is such an accessible art form, it is practiced by almost everyone and recurring doodles often occur among a group of people. I'll be looking at some of the most popular doodles and examining the subconscious tendencies that bring them out (with one or two glaring exceptions, for obvious reasons.)
This doodle is so recurrent that it apparently has a name (The Super S). We all first learned of this in elementary school huddled around that one kid who knew about all the cool stuff before anyone else. And from that fateful onward we just never stopped drawing this thing. I can't be the only one who never really got the appeal. It's not a very cool looking S, certainly not cool enough to become the icon that it is, and it really is just a letter, a letter whose font cannot produce any other letters but that one. Not much can be done with it. But I think it's such a common doodle because drawing that Super S is technically a learned skill, and performing learned skills is very satisfying for people. It also reminds us all of elementary school, all the childish fun we had, all the rocks we swallowed on the playground.
Stick people are only very vaguely humanoid, but a doodler has no time to draw a correctly portioned human with clothing and facial features. We wanna get these things in action and quick, because unlike the Super S's these guys can actually do things and live out our desires. I have seen stick figures doing just about everything, people can get really creative with these scenes. For some reason it's also very common too have them interacting with heavy machinery and weaponry. About sixty percent of all stick figure scenarios involve one figure maiming or killing another in any number of ways. I'd rather not do any deeper psychoanalytic criticism on that.
Speaking of being uncomfortable about subconscious (or in this casse, probably conscious) implications, my last important doodle subject is depictions of teachers in funny or unflattering ways. When doodling in class, it's almost impossible not to have your teacher somewhere in your mind. After all, you are currently rejecting the education they're trying to provide for you. The teacher is like a model, standing in front of you and staring in your general direction for 45 odd minutes, baring their soul. Just from this interaction of appearance, speech, and mind you can tell so much about who they are; this naturally leads to revealing character depictions in the corner of your notes. Another path is spiteful depiction, in which case you draw them with a giant beak-nose.
-Lilly Chesser ('15) is Print Copy Editor and a Staff Writer for The Viking Vault.
Under the Desk: Winter Activities
By McKenzie Messer
Winter can be a boring time for those who enjoy summer activities. This is the time of the year that Netflix is booming and stores are sold out of hot cocoa. Lucky for you, I’m an old woman (in my soul) who only does inside activities, so here is a list of some of my favorite indoor hobbies so you can stay toasty this winter!
Books are a great way to keep busy these chilly seasons. Since I work at a library I’m obviously pro-books and think they’re amazing, but they’re especially nice when it’s cold and you don’t want to move. Heat up a cup of your favorite drink, play some nice classical music, grab a good book, and you won’t budge for the rest of the day. Not going to lie, I also really enjoy eBooks (don’t tell my boss). There’s a huge selection, they’re usually cheaper than an actual copy of a book, and don’t take up any room! Plus, you can get any book sitting in bed.
Knitting is probably my favorite hobby. Well, it’s tied with painting and drawing. It’s super fun and easy, once you get the hang of it anyway. Knitting is a great way to keep your hands busy while watching movies. You also can make yourself or your loved ones fun things like mittens, scarves, and the such. You can buy a beginner’s knitting kit for $10-$13 and it includes everything you need minus the yarn.
Painting is a great way to relax and has a unique outcome that you can hang up and display. There are three main paints: oil, acrylic, and watercolor. I’ve never used oil, but I do enjoy acrylic and watercolor a lot. Watercolor has a much lighter appeal, whereas acrylic can be used to make your product look more realistic. If you’re just beginning, I’d start with watercolor because acrylic is much more expensive and time consuming.
Since you’ll have all this time on your hands, make your Christmas presents! Making Christmas presents are fun, and sometimes even cheaper than buying them. I like making all my gifts to people because it feels more heart-felt and personal because I made it with them specifically in mind. This year I’m actually making A LOT of knitted items for my family members to keep them warm. If you’re having a hard time trying to think of what to get someone and you’re about to dash to the store, stop and think about what they enjoy doing. If your dad likes baking, you could make dishcloths or an apron if you’re up to the challenge. If your mom likes candles, make a one instead of buying the usual “vanilla cookie.” Or give them coupons for something that you know they’d appreciate like one free cake or car wash whenever they’d like. It doesn’t have to be over the top, just something from the heart.
There are so many fun activities to do during the chillier months, you just have to find what interests you and enjoy it! If you’re having a hard time trying to figure out what you like, get on pinterest.com. They have tons of ideas that are fun, easy, and cheap! Hope you enjoy your new found hobbies this season!
-McKenzie Messer (‘15) is the Print Editor-in-Chief and a Staff Writer for The Viking Vault.
By McKenzie Messer
Winter can be a boring time for those who enjoy summer activities. This is the time of the year that Netflix is booming and stores are sold out of hot cocoa. Lucky for you, I’m an old woman (in my soul) who only does inside activities, so here is a list of some of my favorite indoor hobbies so you can stay toasty this winter!
Books are a great way to keep busy these chilly seasons. Since I work at a library I’m obviously pro-books and think they’re amazing, but they’re especially nice when it’s cold and you don’t want to move. Heat up a cup of your favorite drink, play some nice classical music, grab a good book, and you won’t budge for the rest of the day. Not going to lie, I also really enjoy eBooks (don’t tell my boss). There’s a huge selection, they’re usually cheaper than an actual copy of a book, and don’t take up any room! Plus, you can get any book sitting in bed.
Knitting is probably my favorite hobby. Well, it’s tied with painting and drawing. It’s super fun and easy, once you get the hang of it anyway. Knitting is a great way to keep your hands busy while watching movies. You also can make yourself or your loved ones fun things like mittens, scarves, and the such. You can buy a beginner’s knitting kit for $10-$13 and it includes everything you need minus the yarn.
Painting is a great way to relax and has a unique outcome that you can hang up and display. There are three main paints: oil, acrylic, and watercolor. I’ve never used oil, but I do enjoy acrylic and watercolor a lot. Watercolor has a much lighter appeal, whereas acrylic can be used to make your product look more realistic. If you’re just beginning, I’d start with watercolor because acrylic is much more expensive and time consuming.
Since you’ll have all this time on your hands, make your Christmas presents! Making Christmas presents are fun, and sometimes even cheaper than buying them. I like making all my gifts to people because it feels more heart-felt and personal because I made it with them specifically in mind. This year I’m actually making A LOT of knitted items for my family members to keep them warm. If you’re having a hard time trying to think of what to get someone and you’re about to dash to the store, stop and think about what they enjoy doing. If your dad likes baking, you could make dishcloths or an apron if you’re up to the challenge. If your mom likes candles, make a one instead of buying the usual “vanilla cookie.” Or give them coupons for something that you know they’d appreciate like one free cake or car wash whenever they’d like. It doesn’t have to be over the top, just something from the heart.
There are so many fun activities to do during the chillier months, you just have to find what interests you and enjoy it! If you’re having a hard time trying to figure out what you like, get on pinterest.com. They have tons of ideas that are fun, easy, and cheap! Hope you enjoy your new found hobbies this season!
-McKenzie Messer (‘15) is the Print Editor-in-Chief and a Staff Writer for The Viking Vault.
“Indie” – What it means and how it works
By Hugh Prentice
NORTHRIDGE: The word indie is something I use often to describe myself. It’s weird, and when I first heard it I had wondered what it was and what it really meant. It’s a shortened version of the word “independent.” If a person says that they are indie they mean that they don’t follow the norm of everybody else and just do their own thing in life. They’ll wear whatever clothes they like, not what everybody else is wearing, and they’ll just create their own path in what they do.
I first encountered indie music when I was listening to Pandora Radio, and I heard this song on the station that focused a lot more on the instruments than the vocals of the band. The song was “Roll Up Your Sleeves” by We Were Promised Jetpacks, and the band used their three guitarists at the time to build landscapes of sound while their drummer added hypnotizing beats to the background. The band formed when they were in high school in Scotland and won a battle of the bands contest which got them with their first independent label Fat Cat Records. Fat Cat Records is based in Brighton, England and is one of many labels that is considered independent or indie. It started out as a record store but later formed itself into a music label, and when I say independent it means that the label is run but the former owners of the store and doesn’t rely on outside sources.
Fat Cat Records is just one example of the large amount of independent companies around the world. Indie can be anything really, not solely music. There are many independent shops, bands, artists, book publishers, and almost anything you can think of probably around your home town. The student businesses I wrote a story about a while ago gave a few examples. The students fund, create, and publicize the goods they sell and, in my opinion, anything that is indie is always the best. Indie manufacturers put their heart and soul into their products or sounds because in a way they know that they have a very limited fan base, and the quality of the product determines how many of those fans will return.
-Hugh Prentice ('16) is the Interactive Editor and a Staff Writer for The Viking Vault.
By Hugh Prentice
NORTHRIDGE: The word indie is something I use often to describe myself. It’s weird, and when I first heard it I had wondered what it was and what it really meant. It’s a shortened version of the word “independent.” If a person says that they are indie they mean that they don’t follow the norm of everybody else and just do their own thing in life. They’ll wear whatever clothes they like, not what everybody else is wearing, and they’ll just create their own path in what they do.
I first encountered indie music when I was listening to Pandora Radio, and I heard this song on the station that focused a lot more on the instruments than the vocals of the band. The song was “Roll Up Your Sleeves” by We Were Promised Jetpacks, and the band used their three guitarists at the time to build landscapes of sound while their drummer added hypnotizing beats to the background. The band formed when they were in high school in Scotland and won a battle of the bands contest which got them with their first independent label Fat Cat Records. Fat Cat Records is based in Brighton, England and is one of many labels that is considered independent or indie. It started out as a record store but later formed itself into a music label, and when I say independent it means that the label is run but the former owners of the store and doesn’t rely on outside sources.
Fat Cat Records is just one example of the large amount of independent companies around the world. Indie can be anything really, not solely music. There are many independent shops, bands, artists, book publishers, and almost anything you can think of probably around your home town. The student businesses I wrote a story about a while ago gave a few examples. The students fund, create, and publicize the goods they sell and, in my opinion, anything that is indie is always the best. Indie manufacturers put their heart and soul into their products or sounds because in a way they know that they have a very limited fan base, and the quality of the product determines how many of those fans will return.
-Hugh Prentice ('16) is the Interactive Editor and a Staff Writer for The Viking Vault.
Rhetorical usage of expletives
Why we shouldn’t have to wash our mouths with soap
By Mat Scott
Okay, Northridge, there’s a bit of an issue running around here that stems from the rampant, unbridled use of swear words without regard for the situation. I mean, when people walk down the hallways and shout, “Tell [teacher] that I’m going to go take a [you know the word],” the pretentious, pedantic, nerdy kids like me just shake their heads and mutter under their breath about the lack of rhetorical usage of these words.
You see, when you use these words willy-nilly, they lose some (or most) of their impact. That s-word that I mentioned above goes from an expletive meaning that something’s very, very bad, to a generic term for poop with no rhetorical impact. So when someone shouts, “S***!” as a tree branch falls towards a kid’s head, nobody realizes that something is actually wrong and that kid gets struck in the head (true story, by the way).
So, for my two cents, I think we should just change the way all words are used. Let’s let the expletives become the normal thing and use the regular words for emphasis. Because, let’s face it, nobody just says “poop” anymore. When someone drops the word “poop” in a conversation, everyone knows right away that something’s seriously wrong. I mean, why else would someone use that vulgar, awful term? The same thing could be said for “Darn it!” or “Dang it!” Whenever someone says “darn” (Which, by the way, technically refers to repairing a hole in clothing—why would anyone ever use that word?) instead of that other d-word ending with an “n,” everybody jumps to the conclusion that said person is experiencing some tremendous life trauma that requires new socks.
Really, people, this is the obvious solution to a very common problem. We just need to start doing this right now, and that would solve everything. Nobody would hear swear words thrown about, because nobody says “poop” or “darn” anyway. The words that everyone uses would just be commonplace and go unnoticed, like they do today.
-Mat Scott (’15) is the Web Editor-in-Chief and a Staff Writer for The Viking Vault.
Why we shouldn’t have to wash our mouths with soap
By Mat Scott
Okay, Northridge, there’s a bit of an issue running around here that stems from the rampant, unbridled use of swear words without regard for the situation. I mean, when people walk down the hallways and shout, “Tell [teacher] that I’m going to go take a [you know the word],” the pretentious, pedantic, nerdy kids like me just shake their heads and mutter under their breath about the lack of rhetorical usage of these words.
You see, when you use these words willy-nilly, they lose some (or most) of their impact. That s-word that I mentioned above goes from an expletive meaning that something’s very, very bad, to a generic term for poop with no rhetorical impact. So when someone shouts, “S***!” as a tree branch falls towards a kid’s head, nobody realizes that something is actually wrong and that kid gets struck in the head (true story, by the way).
So, for my two cents, I think we should just change the way all words are used. Let’s let the expletives become the normal thing and use the regular words for emphasis. Because, let’s face it, nobody just says “poop” anymore. When someone drops the word “poop” in a conversation, everyone knows right away that something’s seriously wrong. I mean, why else would someone use that vulgar, awful term? The same thing could be said for “Darn it!” or “Dang it!” Whenever someone says “darn” (Which, by the way, technically refers to repairing a hole in clothing—why would anyone ever use that word?) instead of that other d-word ending with an “n,” everybody jumps to the conclusion that said person is experiencing some tremendous life trauma that requires new socks.
Really, people, this is the obvious solution to a very common problem. We just need to start doing this right now, and that would solve everything. Nobody would hear swear words thrown about, because nobody says “poop” or “darn” anyway. The words that everyone uses would just be commonplace and go unnoticed, like they do today.
-Mat Scott (’15) is the Web Editor-in-Chief and a Staff Writer for The Viking Vault.
Tips for Black Friday shopping
By Savannah Legg
With the holiday season sneaking up on us, one thing to be prepared for is the sales.... especially the biggest sale day of the year, Black Friday. Here are some things to consider before venturing out into the mayhem of chaotic stores.
-Savannah Legg ('16) is the Jr. Photos Editor and a Staff Writer for The Viking Vault.
By Savannah Legg
With the holiday season sneaking up on us, one thing to be prepared for is the sales.... especially the biggest sale day of the year, Black Friday. Here are some things to consider before venturing out into the mayhem of chaotic stores.
- Research ahead of time the stores that you want to go to and see what kinds of sales they’re having.
- Prioritize! Go to the stores that you want to buy stuff from the most first, because with items flying off the shelves and the long lines, you never know what will happen.
- Wear appropriate clothing. If you’re going for an all day shopping event, wear comfortable shoes. In addition, wearing a coat is a must. With some lines extending out the door you may find yourself waiting out in the cold for awhile.
- Think about who you’re bringing with you. Make sure the person tagging along want to shop, and go to the same stores you want to.
- Watch how much you spend. It’s easy to get caught up in the sales and blow all of your money on one day. Bringing a set amount of cash that you’re willing to spend is always a good idea.
- Get lots of sleep. Especially if you’re going out to the midnight sales you don’t want to miss a good sale just because you’re tired and want to go home.
- Be aggressive. Some of those moms that want the desired gift for their kid can get a little nasty so if you want somethings grip it tight, and hold onto it for dear life until you reach the register.
- Bring a purse that you can wear, not hold. You don’t want to accidentally leave it somewhere, or have to keep setting it down while you're looking at something.
- Have Fun! Although saving money is important it’s the holiday season, not a competition to see who can gets the most good deals.
-Savannah Legg ('16) is the Jr. Photos Editor and a Staff Writer for The Viking Vault.