And prior to his positive test, I would have told you

So would we all, we logical creatures. Which is why it's so boggling.

How does throwing someone under a bus work as a scapegoat/distraction?

I don't know. And, why not "in front of" the bus, so he can get walloped? It's very hard to throw a 200-lb. man under a moving bus, and a bus that is not moving, the guy could just crawl out the other side. It's a conundrum.

I will say, "throwing X to the wolves" does evoke that story from My Antonia, where the two Russian dudes threw the bride off the sleigh so that it would be lighter and they would escape. So, that does have a certain sacrificial lamb aspect to it as well.

Dear Hec, while Emmett is undoubtedly the best 9 near old evah, aren't you worried about spoiling him? Signed, didn't get a shuffle and a bike for MY birthday, damn it.

The only bike he currently has is a hand-me-down, and it's gotten too small for him. Hence the bike getting. As for the shuffle, it's sort of a practical consideration based on: his discman burns through batteries, it's bigger and heavier and his backpack is already insanely heavy and he's using up a lot of my blank discs to make burns. So it'll just be more portable for him and since he has to do a lot of commuting I'm just throwing some entertainment into that gap.

I wonder if there are cool podcasts for kids. Like...Dr. Demento or something.

My husband is a grandfather-abbreviated-for-business-purposes-formerly-a-ski.

Was it his-last-name-ski, or were there other syllables hacked off along the way? Because it strikes me that the -ski version makes more sense than the current name. Linguistically, and not in a "what a dork!" kind of way.

Kalshane, I'm also struck (and kind of charmed) by the literalness of "throwing in the towel". I sort of knew it came from boxing, but I'm always a little surprised to see it actually happen.

(Okay, so I'm a language dork.)

well, I always heard it in the sense of

Well, Mike was pissed at Joe that no one invited him to the party, so Joe totally threw Bob under the bus and said that Bob had done the invitations.

I'll probably have to wait until it goes to DVD to see it.

DH has offered to give me a whole night of Serenity when it gets to the theatre here--including a night by myself in a hotel and going to see the movie. But the bad thing is that it's premiering here next week and we have a wedding to attend, so I'm going to have to put that off.

And I'm not sure how I feel about staying out by myself (even though this is an attempt at giving me a break).

I knew what Nutty was talking about, but then I already knew the whole story of Palmeiro's narcing on his buddy. That probably cost him a few more HoF votes with the sportswriters. Bad enough to get tarred, but to try and drag your teammate under? Bad form.

Lastname-czewski. "czew" being pronounced "shef", god bless the Poles.

There are dogs in a couple of bars in my hood occasionally. Not often enough for me to feel comfortable bringing my own.

Although the expression probably began in the specific sense in which I used it -- offer up a sacrifical victim in your own stead --, it has been generalized to mean "wash your hands of so-and-so, usually for not a good enough reason."

I've heard it and used it, more in the first sense than the second. Or rather, I'd say it's always getting someone busted or exposing their part in a screw up, but whether your own ass was on the line or not is more variable.

I wonder if there are cool podcasts for kids. Like...Dr. Demento or something.

I'd be willing to bet that there is. If there isn't I think there should be.

I'm still trying to figure out why Jose Canseco was at the Serenity thing. So weird.