I like the word 'piffle', not that I use it often...actually, this could be the first time ever. Piffle, piffle, piffle. Nancy, my grossly overweight neighbor from a few years ago, used 'piffle' occasionally. She wore outrageous hats...big ostentatious floppy things with bows and flowers and assorted wobbly bits. She was known locally as 'the hat lady'. One time I turned an old gas copper washer into (what I thought was a brilliantly creative) planter pot, and moved it to her side of the yard for extra sun. "Get that monstrosity out of my sight!" she bellowed. Nonethless, we became friends.

Words are fun and, at the risk of upsetting the literary establishment, one can fool around with 'credibility' and change it to 'crebidility', or 'similar' to 'simular' or 'pedestrians' to 'pedestrainians' or 'humidity' to 'humididity' or 'Australia' to 'Australalalia'. Constrabilge, zararee, thidge and others were words I invented as a child to compete with grown ups. One time I took a grocery list down to the local shop in an attempt to mimick my mother's grocery lists. Mine was unfathomable scribble, but not to me. I felt incredibly mature.

Camy (who introduced me to 'piffle') also mentioned that he was enjoying The Inevitable Murder of Horace Fink. But I'm used to that kind of praise and endless clamoring for autographs and embarassing adulation. *Ahem* No...I appreciate complimentary assessments from talented glockenspiel players and authors like Camy.

I use American spelling despite being antipodean...I'm loathe to confuse the poor little dears (and got tired of endless northern hemispherical attempts to correct my English). I think I read somewhere that the Poms added the 'u' to color and labor (for example) in order to tart up the lingo to compete with the more sophisticated parlez vous across the channel.

However, I am a fan of 'g'day' because it doesn't require an answer. It doesn't work with all Aussies...some reply 'well, thanks' or 'pretty good' even though you haven't asked them anything. Some people...

I'll leave it to you to determine whether this entry is piffle or waffle or both. In my last life I was involved in the sow's ear business.

AND, before I fergit, I posted chapter 5 today: http://www.gayauthors.org/eficiton/viewstory.php?sid=349