Friday, June 27, 2008

Vegetarian...an old Indian word for "Very poor hunter"

My cousin Beth called at 9:30 tonight to ask if she could come over for a visit. I said sure--I'm not feeling especially well and planned to go to bed around 11:30 or Midnight, but she was welcome to come anyway if that was ok with her. She said she'd find some clothes and be on her way. Beth lives over in Boring, which is about an hour away if you drive straight here, and a good bit longer if you miss the I-84 West exit, which she accidentally did. The good thing about missing exits and wandering all over Portland is that a person quickly learns which mistakes not to make. She'll probably never miss that exit again (I've only missed it once myself). Anyway, so a little after 11 she showed up, and we were snacking on fabulous Tillamook cheese when she informed me she's not a vegetarian anymore. "Really!" I said. I was quite taken aback. She's been a vegetarian for years! The only one in the family,in fact, but she's been quite consistent in it for all this time, and then suddenly, it seemed, out of nowhere she was renouncing it. "What made you decide to stop?" I asked her. "Hmmm," she said, reflecting as she took a bite of cheese. "It was mostly chicken pot pie." I could hardly believe that was her real reason. Vegetarians are usually a bit more ideology-driven than that! Sure enough, when pressed, she admitted that clam chowder had also been a factor.

6 comments:

  1. hey steph, you should really write a novel! It would turn out pretty entertaining and very funny, people would love it, I think!

    an old Indian word for "very poor hunter".... haha

    luk

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've known the more idealogical vegetarian's. They make a strong case! Thanks for sharing the story:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hilarious post title!

    I always suspected it to be more about poor cooking skills rather than bad hunting...

    I mean if you equal meat with greasy hamburgers I'd become a vegetarian too.

    "Vegetarians don't stay younger, they just die sooner." ;-p

    (unless you live in the stone age and have to hunt mammoths.)

    P.S.: Is that village reeaally Boring???

    ReplyDelete
  4. I should credit my dad with the post title. It's his joke I stole.

    Boring would be more boring, except my cousins live there. Actually, to be technically correct, I think they live in Damascus, which is on the way to Boring.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Damascus: We're Not Boring Yet!

    The sheer excess use of water and real estate to grow meat instead of veggies is, at least intellectually, a good argument for vegetarianism. But even good arguments can't prevail against a juicy steak...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hehe, Damascus is on the way to Boring...

    But how many Syrians live in Damascus?

    (I just googled it. Damascus Syria has a population of 1.7 million. There are 140'000 people of syrian origin and 7 Damascuses in the USA. The one you are talking about is the biggest and it lies in Oregon. It has a population of 13'000. But how many Syrians live there? And how many of those come from Damascus, Syria???...)

    All questions will be answered eventually, inch'allah.

    ReplyDelete