are you a working mom?

[sparkyfuego]

I write the "Doing Business" feature for TravelAge West and am
researching an upcoming feature on working moms. I'd like to talk to a
few travel professionals with kids about the challenge of balancing
work and family, tips for coping with competing interests and what
advice they have for expectant working moms. I'm particularly
interested in home-based agents. My deadline is Monday.

Please email me at if you're interested in
participating.

Thank you.

[[email protected]]

On 24 Sep 2003 17:04:30 -0700, (sparkyfuego)
wrote:

>I write the "Doing Business" feature for TravelAge West and am
>researching an upcoming feature on working moms. I'd like to talk to a
>few travel professionals with kids about the challenge of balancing
>work and family, tips for coping with competing interests and what
>advice they have for expectant working moms. I'm particularly
>interested in home-based agents. My deadline is Monday.
>
>Please email me at if you're interested in
>participating.
>

SFX: Grumble, grumble.

I am allergic to the current vogue for cutesy terms like "mom" and
"dad". Whatever happened to "mother" and "father"?

(Actually, we know what happened to "mother" -- it became a hyphenated
naughty word, and people started to avoid the original term for
subconscious reasons.)

I'm also allergic to calling a "house" a "home", but the realtors have
us by the shorts in that regard.

BTW: Wasn't there a book by a famous madam called "A House is Not a
Home"? I agree. A house is not a home until the inhabitants make it
so.

--

Traveler

..

[Not the Karl Orff]

In article >,
wrote:


> (Actually, we know what happened to "mother" -- it became a hyphenated
> naughty word, and people started to avoid the original term for
> subconscious reasons.)

explain more, pray tell,

> I'm also allergic to calling a "house" a "home", but the realtors have
> us by the shorts in that regard.
>
> BTW: Wasn't there a book by a famous madam called "A House is Not a
> Home"? I agree. A house is not a home until the inhabitants make it
> so.

yes, when someone does. A house is a house. A home is someone's house
that they've turned into their... home

[[email protected]]

On Thu, 25 Sep 2003 17:42:31 GMT, Not the Karl Orff >
wrote:

>In article >,
> wrote:
>
>
>> (Actually, we know what happened to "mother" -- it became a hyphenated
>> naughty word, and people started to avoid the original term for
>> subconscious reasons.)
>
>explain more, pray tell,
>
>> I'm also allergic to calling a "house" a "home", but the realtors have
>> us by the shorts in that regard.
>>
>> BTW: Wasn't there a book by a famous madam called "A House is Not a
>> Home"? I agree. A house is not a home until the inhabitants make it
>> so.
>
>yes, when someone does. A house is a house. A home is someone's house
>that they've turned into their... home

Over here in the UK the in word is property. People don't talk about
buying a house, or a flat. It's 'I'm buying a property'. Pretentious
gits.

MJ

[Jenn]

In article >,
wrote:

> On Thu, 25 Sep 2003 17:42:31 GMT, Not the Karl Orff >
> wrote:
>
> >In article >,
> > wrote:
> >
> >
> >> (Actually, we know what happened to "mother" -- it became a hyphenated
> >> naughty word, and people started to avoid the original term for
> >> subconscious reasons.)
> >
> >explain more, pray tell,
> >
> >> I'm also allergic to calling a "house" a "home", but the realtors have
> >> us by the shorts in that regard.
> >>
> >> BTW: Wasn't there a book by a famous madam called "A House is Not a
> >> Home"? I agree. A house is not a home until the inhabitants make it
> >> so.
> >
> >yes, when someone does. A house is a house. A home is someone's house
> >that they've turned into their... home
>
> Over here in the UK the in word is property. People don't talk about
> buying a house, or a flat. It's 'I'm buying a property'. Pretentious
> gits.
>
> MJ

we are having creeping pretentiousness as well -- and the use of
commercial terms in common parlance e.g. I live in the St. Louis
'market' -- the idea of thinking of commercial categories like 'markets'
rather than hometowns is part of this creepy creeping pretentiousness

my property is in a market which caters to my upscale demographic
how bout you?

[[email protected]]

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 12:58:53 -0500, Jenn > wrote:

>In article >,
>wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 25 Sep 2003 17:42:31 GMT, Not the Karl Orff >
>> wrote:
>>
>> >In article >,
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> >> (Actually, we know what happened to "mother" -- it became a hyphenated
>> >> naughty word, and people started to avoid the original term for
>> >> subconscious reasons.)
>> >
>> >explain more, pray tell,

Er...ummm....I don't want to write the whole thing, but one of the
most common -- and vulgar -- epithets is mother-f****er. In gang
lingo, it becomes "mu-fuh".

So people began avoiding the perfectly good and beautiful word
"mother", and substituting the icky, cutesey "mom". Followed quickly
by "dad". Some Psych 101 explanations I've heard say that the
cutesey names arose to "defuse" the power of the original "dominating"
paternal names. Not my .02, but worth a thought.

>> >> I'm also allergic to calling a "house" a "home", but the realtors have
>> >> us by the shorts in that regard.
>> >>
>> >> BTW: Wasn't there a book by a famous madam called "A House is Not a
>> >> Home"? I agree. A house is not a home until the inhabitants make it
>> >> so.
>> >
>> >yes, when someone does. A house is a house. A home is someone's house
>> >that they've turned into their... home
>>
>> Over here in the UK the in word is property. People don't talk about
>> buying a house, or a flat. It's 'I'm buying a property'. Pretentious
>> gits.
>>
>> MJ
>
>we are having creeping pretentiousness as well -- and the use of
>commercial terms in common parlance e.g. I live in the St. Louis
>'market' -- the idea of thinking of commercial categories like 'markets'
>rather than hometowns is part of this creepy creeping pretentiousness
>
>my property is in a market which caters to my upscale demographic
>how bout you?

Wah, sheet, man, I'm in a roaring "market" and torn between existing
comfort and (selling) profit.

--

Traveler

[Eric Toline]

Re: OT: Rant [was:Re: are you a working mom?]

Group: rec.travel.air Date: Fri, Sep 26, 2003, 8:40pm (EDT+4) From:

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 12:58:53 -0500, Jenn > wrote:
In article


Er...ummm....I don't want to write the whole thing, but one of the most
common -- and vulgar -- epithets is mother-f****er. In gang lingo, it
becomes "mu-fuh".

So people began avoiding the perfectly good and beautiful word "mother",
and substituting the icky, cutesey "mom". Followed quickly by "dad".
Some Psych 101 explanations I've heard say that the cutesey names arose
to "defuse" the power of the original "dominating" paternal
names<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Perhaps when referring to them in the third person but not when calling
them on the phone.

I just can't see anyone callng their parents and saying "Hello
Mother"-vs- "Hello Mom". YMMV.


Eric

[me]

wrote in message >...
[snip]
> So people began avoiding the perfectly good and beautiful word
> "mother", and substituting the icky, cutesey "mom". Followed quickly
> by "dad". Some Psych 101 explanations I've heard say that the
> cutesey names arose to "defuse" the power of the original "dominating"
> paternal names. Not my .02, but worth a thought.
[snip]

Never apply a complicated explanation where a simple one will suffice.

Familiar or casual terms exist is many languages. Formal manners
of address exist as well as informal. A small child is relatively
incapabable of uttering a multisylabic "mother", but can handle
a simple "Mom". That this stays/becomes an informal form of address
is not surprising. Formality is all but lost in US society, with
the continued latent confusion about what children are to call adults
to whom they are not related. That the term "mom" has become a
replacement for "mother" in the language is but an incredibly small
portion of this larger phenomenon.