What, Exactly, Is Hogwash?

I like colorful language, in general. I'm a born New Yorker, moved to Texas when I was three, back to New York for college - I think you can deduce that I know some colorful words, even without the Irish component.

But Texas especially prides itself on over the top descriptions of things. You might recall Dan Rather's election coverage ridiculousness, wherein he invoked all the delightfully ridiculous things we say down here during everyday conversations.

If it's not a hyperbolic florid description, well, then you are either a quitter or a Yankee. True fact.

But the other day I found myself questioning something that came out of my own mouth.

I said "THAT IS HOGWASH."

This is something I've said just forever. It's a tried and true exclamation.

But maybe this week I was tired or feeling off my game because suddenly I had no idea what it meant!

Here's what I went through.

If my hog is dirty - which hogs are, generally - then washing him would be amazing, right? Then I'd have a clean hog.

So I would think if I saw something super amazing and unexpectedly clean, I might proclaim - THAT RIGHT THERE - THAT IS HOGWASH!

But that's not how we use it. Hogwash implies a lie!

I know for a fact it's possible to wash a hog. Look how clean Wilbur was!

I would think we would have developed something more along the lines of "THAT'S AS DELICIOUS AS A BEET" for something that's clearly a falsehood. Or maybe "THAT'S POLITICIAN TRUTH" or "THAT'S TAX REDUCTION" OR "LAUNDRY IS FUN".

But no - we ended up with hogwash. Some things just make no sense whatsoever. But if you're interested in the actual history of the word, it's here.

Anyway - today is the MIX-Ability challenge on Splitcoast and I adore it - Polly is hosting. The challenge is to confine yourself to black and white. I'm so beyond fine with that. I heart working in black and white and monochrome. It's pretty much my fave.

So what I did was started with a piece of cotton watercolor paper. I stamped the image numerous times with my mini MISTI to overcome the texture. I added a few pieces of crepe tape for texture - I have really enjoyed doing this in the art journaling class I'm taking - it adds texture without distraction. Then I lightly applied gesso over the whole image to fade it a bit. After that I applied a warm white acrylic paint in the area I was going to stamp the train so that it would pop. Since the background and train are both super detailed I didn't want them to fight with each other. So I just added enough to remove the detail.

Then I put the whole thing back in my Mini MISTI and stamped the train several times in Versafine until it was crisp and popped against the background. I added a strip of silver glimmer paper since that wasn't cheating :).

InLinkz.com

What's funny about this card is night before last (we are re-watching Breaking Bad for like the millionth time - such an incredible show) we watched the train robbery episode. I woke up in a complete panic yesterday at about 5:30 after dreaming that I was in a big glass building by the ocean (this is a recurring nightmare in which various terrible things happen to me, including the building filling with water) and suddenly I noticed that a train was plowing through the building. I start screaming at people to get out of the way and it's just crashing through the lobby. Then I wake up, hearing a loud train-like sound and realize it's the time of year when the flight patterns from our airport change, and I was hearing a jet in my sleep.

Sleep is a strange, strange thing. It might actually, technically, be hogwash.

You decide.

Loveyameanitbye.

OH PS - for those of you who commented about my hand - it's okay - it was just a little minor surgery to remove a few spots that were bothering me from my right hand. Just all part of being a freckly Irish girl who loves to walk outside on the surface of the sun. Nothing serious at all - just not attractive for a while. :) Thank you for your comments. It's all good.