As I sat on my front porch
this evening, watching the golden orb turn black while the lights in the valley below me started to flicker, I reflected on my name. My initials, actually. For that matter, my sister's also, before she got married. My parents must have had a devious streak. I am actually Robert Bruce Settergren. My sister used to be Barbara Jean Settergren. Now if my parents had gone with Robert Settergren (me) and Jean Settergren (my sister) this BS stuff could have been avoided. But no. (My sister wisely dumped that Fernando Sousa guy -ninth grade, Mayfield Chr. School? or was it 10th grade GR Central Chr. High- and thus avoided a life of BS).

The sad part of the whole thing is, due to my religious upbringing, using the term that my initials represent has been off limits. (Except for a moment of weakness when my friend Dave baited me into a loud outburst when he incorrectly characterized us Presbyterian types as religiously cold and with out any of the Holy Spirit's warmth. At least I showed him that us Reformed folk could cuss when suitably provoked!)

So now what? Well, I have been on a mission, albeit not one that any sort of Christian would approve of, such as one that would bring relief to a sick and dying world. No. The mission I decided to accept was to find a suitable replacement for the BS term.

My folks have no quarrel with the term 'drivel' or 'nonsense' or 'mularkey' or 'hogwash' or many others. The problem is that, while all these terms sort of get the idea across, they lack something. And I am not sure what it is that they lack. Its not a matter of degree, for if it were, I could just say "That's extreme hogwash", or "That's complete drivel".

It's more a matter of quality. Or a matter of impact. Even though the term I am seeking to replace is used a lot, it is never overused. It has all the necessary ingredients to get the hearer to realize that what has been said or done is not just stupid or false but also morally indefensible, even reprehensible.

Then I got the bright idea to consult a thesaurus. With that discovery, I thought I may have attained unto BS heaven. Try these: bunk, claptrap, fiddlesticks, folly, foolishness, fudge, humbug, humbuggery, piffle, rot, senselessness, silliness, slush, stupidity, trash, absurdity, asininity, fatuity, foolery, idiocy, imbecility, inanity, insanity, lunacy, absurdness, craziness, madness, witlessness, tomfoolery, gas, hot air, moonshine, rigmarole, twaddle, double-talk.

So, from these I kinda' like piffle, fatuity and twaddle. But I am open.

And you get to discern what part of my blog is full of twaddle.