This meme was started by Delores a long time ago. Computer issues led her to bow out for a while. The meme was too much fun to let go, and now Words for Wednesday is provided by a number of people and has become a movable feast.
Essentially the aim is to encourage us to write. Each week we are given a choice of prompts: which can be words, phrases, music or an image. What we do with those prompts is up to us: a short story, prose, a song, a poem, or treating them with ignore... We can use some or all of the prompts.
Some of us put our creation in comments on the post, and others post on their own blog. I would really like it if as many people as possible joined into this fun meme, which includes cheering on the other participants. If you are posting on your own blog - let me know so that I, and other participants, can come along and applaud.
The prompts will be here this month but are provided by Margaret Adamson, and her friend Sue Fulcher. They will also include photographs taken by Margaret's friend Danny McCaughan.
Without further ado.
This week's prompts are familiar phrases:
- Sun over the yardarm
And/ or
What if someone wants to go commando in the yardarm?
ReplyDeleteAlex J. Cavanaugh: That has put a vision in my head I don't want to think about.
DeleteI think that's a great idea...maybe. I still don't know what a yardarm is!
DeleteSandi; the yardarm is one of the posts a sail is attached to, just don't ask which one, because that is all I know.
DeleteHeh.
DeleteI think the person would have to hanging off the yardarm and I truly don't want to see whatever bits would be exposed, LOL
DeleteXO
WWW
I knew that Ninja would have something to say :)
DeleteBlue Grumpster: Of course he did. And I am still suffering the after effects from the eye worm he planted.
DeleteI can't stop laughing! LOL!
DeleteEvery morning it was the same. The old man waited for the sun over the yardarm before he had a drink. Then he drank all day and became meaner and uglier with each hour. Finally, in a stupor, he fell asleep, only to begin again. He made the lives of those around him miserable. I blamed the yardarm!
ReplyDeleteMarie Smith: Sigh. This triggers memories, though my mother didn't wait for the sun.
DeleteOh...uh...this one was not fun or funny. Just sad. Hugs to all.
DeletePeople who live that life are so miserable inside, it makes me sorry for them.
DeleteNo, not funny at all. I still hate the smell of people drinking - even if it's only one beer. I feel sorry for those drinking persons, but maybe even more for those loving them or depending on them.
DeleteYes drinking excessively is not good for both the person nor their families.
DeleteWell done.
DeleteIt's always good to have something to blame. Yardarm be damned.
DeleteGreat use of the words, but that guy sure lived a miserable existence. Sad thing is, he isn't the only one who "lives" like that, and without a yardarm to blame, they blame the people around them for driving" them to drink.
DeleteAn increasing problem with the elderly, I feel so sad for them.
DeleteXO
WWW
Well done!
DeleteDelia Wright! Is that gin you are drinking? Before ten in the morning?
ReplyDeleteTen, shmen. The sun is over the yardarm somewhere in the world. Who was it who said if I was bored I could make my life exciting by doing different things? Who told me to be bold?
Sound familiar now? It is all your fault. This morning I WAS bold. It is a bright sunny morning so when I headed down to the post office I was going commando. I thought that I could be bold from camouflage. I would know, and no-one else would. I was quite exciting.
And then a gust of wind caught my skirt...
So yes, I am drinking. Wanna join me?
Hahha...sounds like bad advice! :)
DeleteHmmm, plans have gone awry and perhaps a stiff drink will make her forget? Somehow i doubt it.
Deletemessymimi: No arguments from me.
DeleteUh, oh. it seems that going commando can lead to drinking.
DeleteSounds like Delia just wanted an excuse to drink before the sun was over the yardarm!!! The wind did the trick!
DeleteHa. Love it!
DeleteI will join you because that's happened to me. Not at the post office.
DeleteStrayer: Not nice at all.
DeleteIf I was wearing a skirt and the wind did that to me while I was "going commando," I'd probably have to have several drinks afterwards!
DeleteWhat a clever way to combine the two phrases! People who drink rarely need an excuse, but Della came up with a pretty good one. (But in "the end," it's still just an excuse...)
DeleteI was performing once and inadvertently went commando as my skirt slowly, very slowly descended to my ankles. And yes it was all filmed for posterity!!!
DeleteXO
WWW
Love this EC!
Delete"Sun over the yardarm"
ReplyDeleteFamiliar? I am going to have to google that one!
Ok...looked it up. Oh, I SEE!
DeleteSorry for the five million comments to say one thing. ;-)
Sandi: Not a problem. Perhaps the phrase is used less often on your side of the world. I certainly grew up with it here in Australia.
DeleteHave not heard this expression before!
Deletejenny_o: I find it fascinating how similar and how different our use of the English language is.
DeleteYes you are not alone as lots have had to look up the expression. How will it jog your mind into a story?
DeleteIt's not so common here, unless it's among boaters and we are not that. Oh, well.
ReplyDeleteThese phrases started a story, whether it continues will depend on the next words or cues. It will be up in a few hours.
messymimi: I look forward to reading your take on Margaret and her friend's prompt.
DeleteSun over the yardarm? I guess that means it's time to get out of bed and start thinking. There'll be none of this going commando stuff though, I tried it once and was very uncomfortable all day.
ReplyDeleteRiver: Commando is definitely NOT for everyone. I grew up with the phrase 'sun over the yardarm which meant that it is late enough in the day to have an alcoholic drink.
DeleteYes River, like others you need to look up the meanings. I do like challenging people. Now I actually find when I can and wearing a dress particularly in warm climates, going commando is very freeing!
DeleteI do know what over the yardarm means, always have, I just used it as a time to be getting up instead of lazing abed for my little effort.
DeleteMy story, with a different use for the words (again) is on my blog, river-driftingthroughlife, I don't know how to make a link in comments, but you can get there by clicking on my name.
DeleteNever heard of that 'Yardarm' so looked it up..
ReplyDeletePeople say the sun is over the yardarm to say that it is late enough in the day to have an alcoholic drink.
This expression is thought to come from the old practice on some ships of having an alcoholic drink when the sun had risen past a horizontal bar on the mast, usually around 11a.m.
Yes that is correct and you like most people had to kook it up. Now can you write a story around the phrase?
DeleteI have no idea what either phrase means, lol. There are some things I'd like to go commando about here in the USA but I don't think I am using the word correctly. Now if it were throwing away bras that would be easy.
ReplyDeleteLike others, you need to look up the phrases and then write the stories. Everyone must be challenges sometimes!
DeleteStrange expressions indeed. They're both quite new to me - as in "had to look them up-new". I'll have to let them simmer for a while.
ReplyDeleteYes you are not alone there. A lot had to look them up but isn't that how we all learn. Are you still simmering? Coming to the boil with a story or two?
DeleteStill simmering. What with Firefox-updates forcing me to re-think and re-tinker my browser situation and your new expressions, my brain feel owerworked. I'm very happy that you're providing the prompts. They're just a bit overwhelming - at least for a poor Dane.
DeleteOur talking here, and the meaning of the two phrases led me to write this small background piece. It's not happy or filled with magic, but it is a part of Susans life as well.
DeleteUglemor: I have been and read your piece. It is true for too many people and a really clever use of phrases which were alien to you.
DeleteYou did very well writing a story considering you did not know the phases although you were NOT alone in that fact as many had to look them up. I do like challenging people!
DeleteSun over the yardarm
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather would tell me stories about his father sailing the great square riggers round the world. His last trip was on an Australian rigger in 1948. He always bemoaned the fact that the rum that they issued to the sailors were always watered down and yet the officers’ tots were full strength.
Nevertheless, it looked forward daily with great anticipation for the when the SUN WAS OVER THE YARDARM. Life seems to get a bit easier on board and when he was not on board ship, he always waited to start drinking until “Sun over the yardarm” time.
Margaret Birding For Pleasure: I didn't know that officers got full strength rum - but am not surprised.
DeleteSailing great ships over the seas sounds so very romantic, but I bet it was hard work. I don't begrudge them their rum.
DeleteAs they say, with rank comes privileges. I reckon the officers had the "privilege" of getting sloshed faster.
DeleteDid not know about the differences in "tots".
DeleteWell done!
XO
WWW
Going Commando
ReplyDeleteI remember very well the first time I decided I was “GOING COMMANDO”. Well in a way it was forced upon me. My daughter and I went to Disney World and the temperature that day was 108 degrees. Fortunately I had a sun dress which did not need a bra and I decided doing without my pants was also a good idea. So to be able to stand in line in the sweltering sun and go on all the rides we developed a strategy. When we finished one ride, we went to the ladies, and douched our total clothing in water including our hair, then stood in line and by the time we had reached our next ride, we were bone dry again!
(True Story!)
Brilliant ... that I can relate to ... cheers Hilary
DeleteMargaret Birding For Pleasure: Smart thinking, though at 108 degrees the rides would have had no appeal for me.
DeleteOh, good story. Brings back memories of studying in a greenhouse in Egypt many years ago. We read until we were dry, the we went outside and used the garden hose to drench us, rinse and repeat. I do not any longer remember why we were studying in a greenhouse of all places. I do not remeber anything of going commando or not, I guess not.
DeleteThe sweltering heat in Orlando is a darned good excuse for going commando. (Wish I'd thought of it!)
DeleteI love this tho I hate hot sun and tropical vacations were always wasted on me. I am a spring and autumn type!
DeleteXO
WWW
On the bay front, just above the pier along a strip of tourist stores, eateries and bars, a young man stood, staring out across the water front where the boats were moored, some to the pier, some anchored just off shore.
ReplyDeleteHe was good looking with perfect teeth and hair and clothes that looked just bought from some high end name brand store. Or online. Without warning, Jake (the young man) flicked his hand through his blond hair once, adjusted his nose ring to the side a bit, extended an arm and snapped a selfie.
He waited for the cling of "likes" and approval he lived for. But heard only a handful of dings. He glanced briefly at the photo he'd posted with disgust. He had to take it a step higher. He spotted a schooner, white and gleaming, moored to the pier, and had an idea.
If he'd looked closer at the background of his selfie he would have seen a party going on behind him in one of the local bars. The celebration had spilled out onto the street by now, a rough gang, all long beyond the alcoholic intake limits of civil behavior.
Jake cautiously boarded the schooner. No one was aboard. He eyed the mast, shoved his phone in his back pocket and shimmied up. He was athletic and young, this shouldn't be that hard. And what a selfie he could take up there!
The drunks outside the bar were preparing to brawl, circling each other, working their fists and arms, hurling insults, when one of the waitresses, on a smoke break, yelled, "Someone is calling for help." The men stopped and listened. "Hey, look, it's that kid, on the yardarm down there." Sure enough. Jake was laid out on the yardarm, legs clutching wrapped around it, arms wrapped around the mast, screaming his head off.
Sloppy beer mugs in hand the drunken crowd lurched forward. "We got to help him, boys!" One drunk challenged. "Leave him to his fate," another crowed. "What if that was your son over that yardarm?" the other barked back. "Yar, let's go," bawled another. Like a swarm, the crowd descended to the pier and boarded the schooner. One man, off balance, toppled into the water. Two more went in after him. The rest stormed the ship intent on....well, they weren't sure. Immediately two headed down into the galley and found liquor and that could not go to waste. The rest surrounded the mast and stared up at Jake, who stared down at them. "What are you doing up there in them pretty clothes," one asked, then started laughing so hard he bent over. "Get me down!" Jake yelled.
"I found an ax!", one of the men yelled, proudly shoving forward, with the ax slung over his shoulder like a real lumberjack. "You ever actually swung one of those," another challenged. "Why sure! I chopped down my neighbors tree just last week," he chortled. "We got a lad to rescue, move aside." The chopping began and the mass swayed with each blow. "Push on it, boys, its got to fall water side." 20 minutes later a loud crack and the mast began a slow mo lean then fall, into the water. "Timber!" the crowd yelled as cheers and beer mugs were raised to the sky in celebration. "Hope you can swim, kid." Bedraggled and miserable Jake pulled himself out of the water onto the beach. The crowd now had turned the schooner into their own private party boat. The police had arrived. "Don't go commando on us, officer, join us! Have a beer, ya!"
Jake had pulled his phone from his pocket. It was wet but it still worked. He turned the camera of his phone on the drunken boat schooner party with the cops who may as well have been trying to herd cats. Instagram, facebook, the dings of likes and heart strings of approval came by the hundreds!
Great story ... fun to read - cheers Hilary
DeleteStrayer: In this selfie/likes obsessed world I can so see this happening. Great (and inventive) use of the prompts.
DeleteA great story to read
DeleteI'm wondering what the schooner owner said when he discovered the goings on.
DeleteHe sure would do anything for likes. Aww what a story.
DeleteGreat story! Today's obsession with taking selfies is beyond me, but in real life, all of those drunks would've been more focused on whipping out their cameras to catch the doofus clinging to the yardarm for dear life than they'd be in rescuing him.
DeleteI love how the action in this story moves so well. Excellent read!
DeleteXO
WWW
not sure I like the idea of peopel risking their lives to photos just for a few likes but fun story.
Deletehave a lovely day.
Going Commando:
ReplyDeleteWe always had fun times at home ... three little ones who with their leader – the robust me … would go commando … but we’d drive our parents loco …
… who got somewhat fed up of their three kids cycling or biking around the house singing at the top of our voices ‘three old ladies stuck in a lavatory’ … oh it was fun and now great memories … hooting with fun as we mozied around for hours on end …
Happy Memories! Cheers Hilary
Hilary Melton-Butcher: Love this (but am not grateful for the ear worm of three old ladies locked in the lavatory).
DeleteI can just imagine all this going on Hilary
DeleteFun memories, but now, I may have to see if I can find the words to that song. It sounds just "naughty" enough to teach to our grandchildren... :)
DeleteI see ... I've amended the going commando meaning to something slightly different - oh well ... kids wouldn't necessarily have much on ... just the two phrases went together somehow. Cheers H
ReplyDeleteHilary Melton-Butcher: Your use of the prompts worked.
DeleteThanks, EC ... cheers Hilary
DeleteWorked well Hilary
DeleteLove 'the take' from folks on these two.
ReplyDeleteI'm just enjoying a glass of white wine … well it almost 8pm the sun is well over the yardarm! LOL!
As for going commando … it's a no from me! LOL!
Well done to all.
All the best Jan
Lowcarb team member ~Jan: Enjoy your wine.
DeleteA few more glasses of wine and you never know!!!!
Delete"I have the highest IQ in command. I am the best at going commando," announced the POTUS.
ReplyDelete"We see no evidence of that," shouted the left.
The left was right.
Rawknrobyn: Sadly true.
DeleteWho would take the word of a Potus!
DeleteHA! Love it! Leave it to Robyn...
DeleteAnd we all know where the yardarm would fit here!
DeleteXO
WWW
These two left me feeling quite unintelligent...I had to look both up in my dictionary!! Lol
ReplyDeleteEven then, the definitions were rather unclear...so, rather than make myself appear a Dumbo, thought I'd sit this one out and amuse myself with reading everyone else's!😊
Have a fabulous day!
Lots of love and hugs xxx
Ygraine: Don't, don't, don't feel unintelligent. They are familiar phrases to me, but a lot of people struggled with them. There is nothing intuitive about their meanings either.
DeleteHuge hugs.
Hope you enjoyed all the stories. It is good to learn new things as for the look of the comments a lot of people had to look up at least one of the saying and then wrote a story.
DeleteI'm familiar with both terms, though I think "going commando" is relatively recent?
ReplyDeleteAn old Army friend of the family always scoffed at the yard arm 'yardstick.' To know whether it was time for a drink, he looked at his shoes...if he'd tied the laces, he could have a drinK.
dinahmow: I think you are right about going commando. Interesting that your old Army friend rejected the Navy term.
DeleteFrom all I have read about Going Commando, the word was definitely used in 1974 in the Vietnam war when soldiers went commando to avoid "Crotch rot".
DeleteAnd hopefully they were careful with their zippers...(*~*)
DeleteMany people are "going commando" these days under their sheets before they sleep for comfort and health after they've had their one or two drinks when they were barely able to see the "sun over the yardarm."
ReplyDeleteLon Anderson: It was called sleeping in the nuddy in our house when I was growing up. And there were no drinks involved.
DeleteWow, great words, I had fun with it!
ReplyDeletehref="http://wisewebwoman.blogspot.com/2019/05/words-for-wednesday-on-Friday-5819.html">WiseWebWoman
I hope the link works, I can never seem to get it right.
XO
WWW
Sorry EC, testing this link again:
ReplyDeleteWisewebwoman
XO
WWW
Oh yay me, finally finally got it right!!!
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
Wisewebwoman: You did. And I really loved your take on the prompts.
DeleteI had nooooooo clue about Sun over the Yardarm, but after reading the official, and perhaps unofficial explanations, I think it's so much better than saying my usual I'll start drinking now because it's 5 o'clock somewhere!!
ReplyDeleteGoing commando I knew about. But not until I was all grown up and the first time I heard about it, I was shocked... I never knew... (Somewhat of a sheltered life I led :)
Mark Koopmans: I am amazed that 'the sun over the yardarm' isn't as well known as I though. I learned about going commando later too. And thought to myself that it wouldn't be all that comfortable.
Deletefrom the first phrase, all I can think of is bars and taverns and so I wrote a piece taken place in one - the tavern at the end of the ocean.
ReplyDeletehave a lovely day.
lissa: I have been and enjoyed your piece. Thank you for joining us.
DeleteGreat reads!!! And, I learned some new sayings! Big Hugs!
ReplyDeleteMagic Low Crow: Any day where I learn something is a good day. Hugs.
DeleteI knew about "going commando" but never heard "sun of the yardarm". These were fun to read! Learned something new today too. :)
ReplyDelete~Jess
DMS ~Jess: 'Going commando' was a phase I learned long after the other. They were fun stories weren't they?
Delete