Definitions by bandcampgirl183
PEMDAS
The order of operations in math-- Parentheis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction
In 6th grade, we had a sign on the wall of our classroom that said PEMDAS, but when we asked what it meant, the teacher said it meant Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally, and she would tell us more later.... needless to say, four months into the school year when she finally DID tell us, it was a letdown.
PEMDAS by bandcampgirl183 October 10, 2005
plumber
One who fixes or repairs pipes. Plumber has a "b" in it because pipes were originally made of lead, (lead seemed a logical choice at the time, because of its resiliancy against rust... then people discovered what lead poisening was, and rust no longer seemed so bad!) and lead's abbreviation on the periodic table is pb (derived from its latin name).
plumber by bandcampgirl183 October 1, 2005
clear channel
Originally, a clear channel radio station was one that had somehow gotten the right to have a number on the dial with no other radio stations anywhere near it-- therefore, you could hear it for hundreds of miles, both because it had a very strong signal, and because there were no other radio stations with similar dial numbers competing with it.
35 years ago, you could hear WBZ (which was a clear channel radio station based in Boston) as far away as Ohio.
clear channel by bandcampgirl183 September 28, 2005
spelling bee
1. A spelling competition in which the participants have to spell the words orally, and sometimes (especially for the finalists) in front of an audience.
2. A character in Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth, which is a play as well as a book. The main character is a boy named Milo, who leads a boring, predictable life, until a magic tollbooth appears in his room, and he goes to the worlds of Dictionopolis and Digitopolis. The spelling bee is, literally, a spelling bee-- an actual bee who spells words as he speaks them. The Phantom Tollbooth is a fantastic "children's" book, though adults can enjoy it as well, as they will get more of its jokes.
Sidenote that has nothing to do with understanding the definition, but is cool: my name is Rachel, and The Phantom Tollbooth was the play my class did in 5th grade. I was the spelling bee. The only other person I have ever met who even knew there WAS a play, was also named Rachel, also did the play in 5th grade, and was also the spelling bee. We are the same age, so it is possible that we were rehearsing and learning our lines simultaneously, though we didn't meet until we were cabin-mates at camp a few years later.
2. A character in Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth, which is a play as well as a book. The main character is a boy named Milo, who leads a boring, predictable life, until a magic tollbooth appears in his room, and he goes to the worlds of Dictionopolis and Digitopolis. The spelling bee is, literally, a spelling bee-- an actual bee who spells words as he speaks them. The Phantom Tollbooth is a fantastic "children's" book, though adults can enjoy it as well, as they will get more of its jokes.
Sidenote that has nothing to do with understanding the definition, but is cool: my name is Rachel, and The Phantom Tollbooth was the play my class did in 5th grade. I was the spelling bee. The only other person I have ever met who even knew there WAS a play, was also named Rachel, also did the play in 5th grade, and was also the spelling bee. We are the same age, so it is possible that we were rehearsing and learning our lines simultaneously, though we didn't meet until we were cabin-mates at camp a few years later.
1. Person running the spelling be: Okay, the next word is "antidisestablishmentarianism."
Poor little 4th grader: Ummmmm..... come again?
(because most 4th graders don't say: WTF? How the hell am I supposed to spell that, I can't even pronounce it!)
2. The spelling bee is the best part in The Phantom Tollbooth, seeing as how the other leads were divided into 3 or 4 parts, including a sex change for Milo.
Poor little 4th grader: Ummmmm..... come again?
(because most 4th graders don't say: WTF? How the hell am I supposed to spell that, I can't even pronounce it!)
2. The spelling bee is the best part in The Phantom Tollbooth, seeing as how the other leads were divided into 3 or 4 parts, including a sex change for Milo.
spelling bee by bandcampgirl183 September 27, 2005
Tuck Everlasting
A fantastic, fantastic book by Natalie Babbitt. Not a children's book if your association with children's books includes pictures, but a book with some cool concepts that middle schoolers or elementry school kids can really understand. It's about a family who drank from a hidden spring, and it caused them to live forever, without aging (though when they drank from it they had no idea it wasn't just an ordinay spring.) It probably sounds like a stupid, simple book, but it's great to get discussions going (or just make people think) about if you would really WANT to live forever, if given the opportunity. Especially these days when we're not sure what the future of the planet is, would you really want to be committed to living forever, no matter what? FOREVER?
Miss Alabama in 1994, when asked if she would want to live forever if it were possible: "I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever."
Tuck Everlasting was also a movie, but I did not see it, so I cannot comment on it.
Tuck Everlasting was also a movie, but I did not see it, so I cannot comment on it.
Tuck Everlasting by bandcampgirl183 September 27, 2005
nose
If there is a group of people, and there is an unpleasant task to do, the last person to put their finger on their nose is the one who has to do it. Sometimes someone will say "nose" to instigate the onset of "nose," and again, the last person to put their finger on their nose, loses.
note: this has NOTHING to do with picking your nose. You put your finger on the OUTSIDE, not the INSIDE, of your nose. If you have trouble destinguishing between the two, there is probably a sesame street song that will help.
note: this has NOTHING to do with picking your nose. You put your finger on the OUTSIDE, not the INSIDE, of your nose. If you have trouble destinguishing between the two, there is probably a sesame street song that will help.
Person 1: The trash is overflowing!! Someone really should take it out.
Person 2: Nose!
(persons 1-8 put their finger on their nose, followed by person 9)
Person 3: hahaa, Person 9, you lose, you have to take out the trash, and boy does it stink!
(Person 9 tries to argue, then realizes that it's futile, and reluctantly takes the trash out.)
Person 2: Nose!
(persons 1-8 put their finger on their nose, followed by person 9)
Person 3: hahaa, Person 9, you lose, you have to take out the trash, and boy does it stink!
(Person 9 tries to argue, then realizes that it's futile, and reluctantly takes the trash out.)
nose by bandcampgirl183 September 27, 2005
punky brewster
A great TV show, especially for elementary school girls. Although it didn't talk about things like sex, drugs, etc. very much (though there was an episode where Punky and Cherrie are offered drugs, and they are actually at a loss for what to do, they don't just say "drugs are bad!" and make it a non-issue) it is more "real" than some other shows similar to it. While the premise is a little unrealistic (Punky's mom leaves her in the car at a shopping mall and never returns, and Henry, a slightly "old" man finds her in an empty apartment in his building and adopts her) at least Punky didn't wear designer clothing and her life was not all "peaches and cream." Punky's best friend Cherrie has been living with her grandmother ever since her parents died, and there was one episode where the loss of her parents was actually a big deal. Punky is played by Soleil Moon-Frye, and Mark Paul Gosselaar guest stars as Punky's tutor in one episode, which is kind of ironic considering he also played Zack Morris, the star of Saved By The Bell, who said "I love school. Too bad classes get in the way." And speaking of Saved By The Bell, Heather Hopper (who played Nikki from the "early" days of SBTB) also guest starred on Punky Brewster, in one of the more serious episodes. PB was similar to SBTB in that each episode was its own entity; except for the few "to be continued" ones, you could watch a random episode without having seen the one the week before, and not be at all confused, because they had NOTHING to do with each other.
punky brewster by bandcampgirl183 September 27, 2005