Killing a Fly with a Ukulele: Bandaid Perbole

I am the Mum.
If life was a circus, I would be the plate-juggling lady with monkeys on her shoulders who stands on one leg on a horse's back as it canters around the ring.

I am the Writer.
I use too many commas, dashes and dot-dot-dots, and I often start sentences with conjunctions because I like my blog to look the way it sounds in my mind.

I am the Hero.
Life is a bit like a superhero action comic, except that the superheroes are tiny children dressed in super-suits who possess no actual powers, while I just get them food, break up fights and clean their super-suits.

27 April 2011

Bandaid Perbole

bandaid perbole (n) The request for a bandaid to cover a minor injury that doesn't need one.

It came about through a conversation where we were learning the meaning of 'hyperbole' - don't ask me why my children needed to know the meaning of 'hyperbole' - something to do with overstating the case in terms of injury, or screaming unnecessarily in the face of minor inconvenience - and when Jessie finally requested a bandaid to cover an invisible injury, I (perhaps slightly inaccurately) described it as another example of hyperbole.

"No, it's not," she chirped. "It's Bandaid Perbole."

Well, call the guys at the dictionary.

6 comments:

Tracy P. said...: Hilarious! So glad you wrote that down--it's such a keeper.; 27 April, 2011 15:11
Hippomanic Jen said...: That is too cute.

But please tell me you didn't pronounce it "hyper bowl" like our illustrious PM.; 27 April, 2011 16:15
Givinya De Elba said...: She did?!?!?! Nope, it's Bandaid Perbolly.; 27 April, 2011 17:20
Andi said...: Wow! Hyperbole is a word I know but have never in my life used in conversation...Jessie is a little genius!; 27 April, 2011 23:28
Unknown said...: Imaginary words for invisible injuries!; 28 April, 2011 12:22
Allegro ma non troppo said...: Classic!; 29 April, 2011 10:22

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This is the story of me, Givinya de Elba, and my adventures with Mr de Elba, my children Buzz, Jessie, and Woody and our dog, Bullseye. We have plenty of good times, some weird times and a huge dose of drama.

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Other people who are special to me feature here too, some of them being my Dad, my Mum, my Crazy Sister (her blog), my Wee Brother and my good friend Hippomanic Jen (her blog).

I am a part-time speech pathologist, and try to cook, keep a garden alive and take photos that don’t make us look like we are pharmaceutically affected or dangerously homicidal.

I often suffer from Mumfail but I keep hanging on to the One who picks me up when I fall. If you email me, I’ll answer.

And if all that is too much, just read my “Best Of."

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They called me Katherine.

I go by Kate.

I came up with the pseudonym Givinya de Elba in highschool and it was based on a joke from an episode of Dad's Army called 'A Soldier's Farewell.'

In the episode, after eating too much toasted cheese, Captain Mainwaring dreams he is Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. I don't remember much about the episode other than Mainwaring telling his loyal men (Jones, Pike and Godfrey) that he has been exiled to the island of Elba.

Jones quips, "Hence the expression - Givin' ya the Elber!" (giving you the elbow, i.e., pushing you around.) I thought that Givinya de Elba was a half-decent pseudonym for someone who likes to joke and push people around, and I stuck with that.

My sweet niece ...

27 April 2011

Bandaid Perbole

6 comments: