Dust bunnies—what’s the origin of that phrase? I know what they are  and this morning I “swiffered” many of them to a new home in the trash can—but why dust “bunnies”–bunnies are cute, as in Easter and flop-eared, but dust bunnies—help me out, here! Ah, I just used another pop cliche, didn’t I?

 Today’s New York Times Travel Magazine had an article dubbed “The Talk”, featuring three words: grass-roots, ur-, and tradical. I like “grass-roots”–it fits with the whole “local is better, more energy efficient, free from the craziness that dominates the world” movement. I like grass-roots—Queen King allows it to stay in her vernacular.

Next is “ur-”—some confusion there, I think. NYT claims it is a prefix that means original or prototypical…Points up the obsesssion in travel with finding the ultimate…” Ultimate, that I understand, for example “uber–”, kind of “super” on steroids. So the ur-baguette referred to in the article about France suggests (to moi) “uber” or epitome.

 Tradical will not be discussed because I don’t like the word, too trendy, and, besides, this is my blog. I can write what I want (she offers maturely!). So, there you have it, Barbara’s thoughts on words today. Your turn, Stephen Colbert!