Not in this museum you don't!

My little students are passing around a nasty intestinal bug. I should be getting used to daily episodes of spewing from hither and thither all over this and that, but so far I can't. I haven't reached that point of desensitivity and acceptance.

I've tried distracting myself with memories of my Graeco-Roman teacher, June Williams, using the phrase "ad nauseam". June had such a way with vomitorium, coliseum, pepto, and bismal.



Mostly it's embarrassing when I misspell "ad nauseam" like a museum instead of an inseam. This is an important distinction when someone barfs on their elastic-waist jeans in the hall of ice-age mammals.

Ad nauseam used to mean "to the point of disgust". Now it indicates such intense overexposure that we are completely accepting of an advertising message.

© 2007 Nancy L. Ruder