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4.22.2009

Addendum

Addendum (dum de dum dum): Lest you worry that I don't spend enough time obsessing about stupid things, chew on this: While sipping some iced tea this afternoon, post-lunch, I had a flash of unabashed panic.

(Allow me to interrupt myself for just one minute to say that I'm loving that internal rhyme: flash of unabashed...)

Panic is pretty common in my life. This time, the panic was over my use of the word sidenote as a single word rather than two. The spell-checker, diligent and well-meaning as it is, had flagged it as a misspelled word. And yet, in my fuzzy headed, head cold state, I had ignored the ominous red underline and PUBLISHED IT ANYWAY.

Ack! Rule breaker!

But as I savored my McD's sweet tea (delicious, by the way, but that's a whole other post) I got cold feet. What if the three people who read my blog were to notice my indiscretion! Oh, how my fingers ached to sneak back into my blog and add that space.

Luckily, I had a moment of rare clarity (more internal rhymes!) and calmly logged on to consult with my best friend, Merriam-Webster Unabridged. Yes, it's true. I spend money out of my own pocket to subscribe to the online unabridged dictionary. And it's some of the best money I've ever spent.

Much to my surprise, I discovered that the spell-checker was wrong. Alack and alas. So my so-called error was a nonexistent one. Whew! So now you know: sidenote is in fact one single, solid, unbroken word. No space. Not even a little bitty hyphen. Won't you sleep better tonight?

I know I will.

And now I have wasted far too much of my time and yours on an entry about stuffing Kleenex into one's orifices. Time you'll never have back. Bwahahahaha!

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