Serendipity is accidentally finding something good.
For me, this meant finding a word — ultracrepidarian — that was new to me. It came my way via GS#2 and describes “presumptuous people who offer advice or opinions beyond their sphere of knowledge.”
US President Trump is an ultracrepidarian when he suggests injecting disinfectants into your body will battle coronavirus. He must have gotten confused with embalming. Then there are people who insist the pandemic is a hoax, therefore can be ignored. A hoax is a falsehood “deliberately fabricated to masquerade as the truth.” Coronavirus is a global reality, it may be a plot, but it’s not a hoax. I’m waiting for someone to declare the floods are a plot by some political force to enslave us.
We all have a right to our opinions, nobody has to agree with anybody, but no one person, including Mr. Trump, “knows it all.” Presenting opinion as if it is fact is irresponsible.
GS#3 often goes for walks after dark when the streets are relatively empty. One night recently he noticed something on the sidewalk outside Kornak and Hamm, and when he went closer to investigate, it snarled at him. It was a muskrat.
Question. Do muskrats regularly stroll downtown or did the high water discombobulate this one?
One day last week, a tiny wild bird got into my apartment and I found it on a windowsill trying to escape. The front door was open a few inches to accommodate the cat, goodness knows how the bird spotted it. I managed to catch the wee thing and turn it loose.
I don’t know any tales about being snarled at by muskrats, but legend has it that a wild bird comes in a house as a messenger, telling you something dramatic will happen soon. Something good, I hope.
Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian and book author.
news@wltribune.com
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