Quirky thoughts from an old man.
Stifle
Verb: To prevent something from happening, being expressed, or continuing.
Example one: “She barely stifled a yawn as he droned on.”
Example two: “The parliament stifled dissent by jailing the opposition.”
I joined a school of fish in Palau for a photo opportunity.
Elide
Verb: To suppress or alter a sound, a word or other fact.
Example one: “in the word “ain’t” we elide the r and the o sounds from are not.”
Example two: “while singing the praise of government action the press elided the consequence of the new dependency.”
The photo is again from Palau in 2015. A large friendly fish the name of which I have forgotten. In this description I elided the fact that the fish was begging to be fed.
One of the Koi in my pond has a very large growth on its head.
It started small a few years ago and I thought it must be a disease. But none of the other fish got it so I let “Big Head” stay. Now he is so ugly and noticeable that Jason S who takes care of the house when we are gone was concerned enough to ask me about him. I explained that we accommodate him because he’s a “Special Needs Fish.” He seems to be able to feed himself and never gets lost in the pond. We are mainstreaming him and allowing him to stay in the school. No he doesn’t have an IEP yet. But perhaps one of the teachers in my audience could write him one.
PC notes (apologies):