Wednesday, August 10, 2016

This post brought to you by the letter 'M'

I've been thinking about 'M' lately.

In James Bond, that character never meant much to me; not like Q and Moneypenny. or is it Moneypenney?  I'm not sure, because she didn't mean that much to me either; but more than that character M.  But the letter itself has been springing to mind.

We use letters every day and they are everywhere; or is that every where?  Just kidding; it's everywhere.

I've been thinking about the letter M for a long time.  (Not longtime- as in meloveyou...)

M is in the middle of the alphabet so it comes to mind when you're trying to plan how much drawer space you need for filing.  And there are a lot of M's- a lot of words that start with M, that is.  So it tends to be thought of as the middle of the alphabet, but actually the midpoint comes between M and N.  So that midpoint thing isn't exactly why it sticks out to me; since it's not quite true.  Of course maybe the impression that it is the midpoint is more important than the truth; since I'm writing about its impression on me.

There are many S's in filing as well, so that would lean things over to the end of the alphabet if it weren't for the underrepresented X, Y and Z.  So even though M isn't the very middle, it is special to me more than N and more than most and I wonder why.

There is the thought of whether one needs to file the Mc's and the Mac's separately or if they belong in the M's.  I've never lived somewhere where the Mc's and Mac's where so plentiful one might actually consider bringing them out of the M's. 

That's one thing.  Do people even consider putting the vans or Vans or the de's or the von's or the bin's or the ben's or beth's apart?

It's more than filing that is getting to me about M.

When I think of Marilyn Monroe in high school trying to speak but murmuring due to the peer pressure; trying to smile, which she hadn't perfected yet- and being called Mmm Mmmm because she couldn't talk- I think there was actually something M like about her.  It wasn't just a name chosen for her after adulthood had commenced and the marketing needed to begin.  She had some Mness.

McDonald's has some Mness these days.

And I love McDonald's.  Or is it McDonalds?  I've noticed some corporations have taken out the apostrophes.  If you own it, you can do that I suppose.  But what about all the Marilyns and Mc and MacDonalds you aren't associated with the famous brands who have their names?

Just the other day it hit me that Donald (the name) is inside McDonald's and chip is inside Chipotle.  These are two giants whose marketing has really worked on me yet I didn't see the obvious; and me- someone who thinks about individual words- how can this be?

With all this talk of Trump- the last name is used so much more than the first- I finally realized he and McDonald's share something huge- a name.  I had already recently realized the Donald connection in my own family to that company- and that's here at age 48.  Clearly there are word connections I think about and word connections that fly right under the radar but must have some marketing power in there.

But they call Hillary Hillary; much more than they call Trump Donald.  This is interesting to me and can't be happenstance.  The name Clinton is the only reason we're talking about Hillary; in spite of her accomplishments after she had the name.  She wouldn't have been Senator Clinton or Secretary Clinton if she hadn't become a Clinton.

But when she wins, it's going to be a Clitown or better, a Cliton for the first time in Washington.

She's going to climb up on Bill's back and a hundred years from now he's going to be famous for being the only president who was also married to a president.  He's going to slip down so far lower than her notableness that many people will remember her as the first woman president the way we think of O'Bama and Washington- without knowing that Obama's mom is white and Washington married a widow.  She will suddenly be assured a place in history and every year people will forget more and more about Bill.  Well, I don't think it will be every year.  The muckraking will include Bill but after she's out of office her star will start to rise and his will fade.

They both look really sick by the way; I wonder if he can hang on until she's in office- or maybe he'll pull a Jackson.

So we missed the cross (Cruz) and got the capital name change- Clitown unless someone else can sneakily win the game (Trump), but he is just a gameplayer not even a politician, while our country continued avoiding the name of socialism, seeing it as a gradual wearing down (of sanding, like Sanders whose time like the Colonel of KFC is riding high temporarily but not really in the game for the long hall) and not really considering our legacy of industrialism, that being a nod to Ford or Lincoln, not choosing the son of cars and other cities and industries not just Detroit (Carson) and putting the emphasis on international military might (Clinton means a high place- city on a hill again but this time we mean it) instead of rebuilding infrastructure or making America great again.  Clinton is going to be set up high to see- Oh say, can you? and we're not choosing another to hide under, or to hide the light under (not a Busch this time or a bushel).  The Bushes are hiding to re-emerge with the first Hispanic president later. 



Back to M- Madison, Monroe, Millard, Mrs and Madame President-

For some reason I've been wanting McDonald's.  What does this have to do with the fact that all over the world I can find an M heralding a cheap, fast, clean air-conditioned place to sit?  They have different interiors but the same menu.  They have a little different pricing but I guess there's a comfort there.  There is a comfort there.  The only other M I can think of with this affinity for me is Marilyn and both McDonald's and Marilyn have the nostalgia American thing going on.  And they both have slipped to meaning mediocre in some way.  Marilyn was revolutionary and now she's quaint.  McDonald's was the Ford of fast food and now Ford and McDonald's are quaint.  The assembly line is assumed but not valued.  People don't care who did that first.  It's time the 44 (Obama) gives way to the 45.  Instead of DD- Dunkin' Donuts which is riding high right now, it's time for DE- but what can that mean?  It surely can't be Denmark more than just a little.  Is it Deutschland?  Do we, who are so Deutsch it's unbelievable, even know that we're that?  We've used English for so long we've forgotten we're cousins.

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