Chuck vs. Chunk

As a member of a sport that involves a ball (volleyball) it  is nearly impossible for me to avoid the following southern habit:

It was recently discovered while at my volleyball team's practice that the term, "chuck", as in, "chuck the ball",  is mispronounced by Texans in that they tend to sneak an "n" in the middle of the word, pronouncing it like "chunk".  Now, I've gotten used to the odd pronunciations southerners have invented, but this one I will surely never get used to, the main reason being that every time some talks about "chunking a ball", i think of chunky salsa, chunky soup, or worse, vomit. 

To solve any confusion of the issue, see http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chuck for pronunciation tips.

Also, here's an excerpt from an English book for more guidance: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/chuck.html

This work by McKenzie Forbes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Crickets & Cockroaches

As walked to the Intramural Field to supervise an intramural flag football game last Monday night, I found myself dodging handfuls of huge cockroaches that skittered across the sidewalk right in front of my toes. They were the size of chapstick tubes and would not stop following me no matter how I tried to dodge them. Did I mention that they fly?  I arrived to work frustrated with creepy crawlers that made my journey unbearable and noticed a swarm of small insects surrounding the lamp post overlooking the field.  I ignored it for a while until my co-workers and I kept hearing taps against the lamp, then a smack on the ground.  hundreds of giant black crickets were flying straight into the light and landing on the cement bleachers along the field.  As the night went on, the dropping crickets multiplied and began falling on our heads, into our hoodies, on the score boards, and in people's bags.  Gross.

I was horrified by this southern display of discomfort, and kept thinking to myself: "This would never happen at home!" Until I came to Trinity, I had never been exposed to such nasty pests. Never before had I seen a cricket or cockroach as big as in San Antonio, and never had i known that both of them actually fly.  I know this crisis seems silly to the Texans at Trinity, but the only real summer bug I've been bothered by in the midwest was a mosquito or two.  So, Texas, I don't approve of this absurd night time wildlife, and I will contunue to wait impatiently until winter when all my flying enemies go back into hiding


This work by McKenzie Forbes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.