It's a WHAT?

A DERECHO, that's what.

  

You know how it is.  Every once in awhile the big shots in TV news departments have to promote a fancy new word that we peons have blissfully been doing without and make it the new "IT" word.  In the sixties the stuff outdoors went from being, well---"the stuff outdoors" to The Environment, then roughly ten or fifteen years ago "hot enough for you?" became Global Warming.  Naturally, when folks began to notice that they weren't hotter than Barney Frank at Boy Scout camp, it became  Climate Change.

I can't keep up.

Now we have DERECHO.  This Spanish expression meaning "straight ahead" is all the rage at the Weather Channel, CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX.  (Probably CNN and MSNBC too--but who watches?)  Now we're all supposed to just hop aboard and start working that awkward mouthful into our conversations.  

I believe I'll opt out.

"Frog strangler" in the making.

I prefer weather related conversations to reflect my rural and small town American roots.  In the "sticks" we prefer communicating like this:

Zeke--"Hey Kermit, hot enough for ya?"

Kermit--"Damn straight buddy."

"That gully washer that come up last night pert near blasted me and the missus out of bed and into Watumka county.  Most that bed has shook since our honeymoon."

Zeke--"I hear ya.  That rain sounded just like one of your cows pissin' on a flat rock."

Kermit--"Funny you should mention it...Wanda, my number one milker is givin' nothin' but cottage cheese this morinin'.  AND, the wind blowed down Fat Crumpler's barn."

Zeke--"Sum bitch, Fat had my good manure spreader in there, not to mention that not too bright cousin of yours!"


Kermit--"Yep, I got plenty more cousins but a good spreader...well, them's hard to come by."


I just can't imagine old Zeke and Kermit working derecho into the conversation.  And, why should they?  Isn't it bad enough that politicians do that?  You know--taxes are "revenues", terrorism is "man caused destruction",  hand outs are "entitlements",  raising the budget by 4 % is called "cutting spending" and taxing everybody to pay for thirty million deadbeats is called "AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE".
Perhaps it all depends on what your definition of "IS" is.
Baton down the hatches baby, we've got a derecho out there.

Typical Americans prepare for derecho