There was a wee toddler being pushed in a stroller. She was playing with the fabric of her skirt, and with great giggly glee suddenly pulled it up over her head.
Nevermind that it was the depths of Canadian winter, and the youngster was wearing arctic~rated thermal underwear and leg warmers in addition to diapers; the mother struck faster than a commando. She yanked the skirt back down & snapped, What did I tell you about showing your glory to the world?
* * *
In addition to thinking, now, how's that going to mess her up when she's older? and what's so wrong about showing your glory to the world, really? it got me thinking about the meaning & usage of the word; and I was reminded of it again when I came across this article on the glory ~~ an atmospheric optical phenomenon in which a round rainbow appears around the shadow of your head. It's because of all those poetic connotations that the word "glory" has to be one of my all time favourite euphemisms for the, well, you know, that, uh, thingy* we like to euphemize.**
~ ~ ~
* Hmph. "Thingy." Makes it sound like a dohicky, or a futzimawhatzit. "Hello, Thing~ma~jig? Meet Thingy~ma~bob!" Yup, we don't really know how they work; we just fool around with 'em...
** Incidentally, the best nickname I ever heard for the male euphemism was when a character on The Chris Isaak Show referred to his own as "The Ambassador".
Posted by edgar at May 6, 2004 10:52 AM