Wednesday, November 08, 2006

You know you've been spending too much money on houseplants when

...the woman who owns the flower shop on the corner
a) recognizes your face
b) remembers your name
c) greets you when you walk in by saying "Ah, my favourite customer! How's the dissertation coming on? What exciting things have you discovered about Chaucer this week?"
d) all of the above

12 comments:

Valerie Polichar said...

Ow. This used to happen to me when I was a grad student. Exact same scenario except the store sold inexpensive basketry and house plants, rather than flowers.

Despite the stress-relieving effects of spending money on plants and wicker, I *hated* having someone ask me how my dissertation was going :-/ You?

Keshi said...

You know you've been spending too much money on everything else but houseplants when u r Keshi. :):)

Keshi.

Moominmama said...

val: yes! drives me nuts! i know people are just showing concern and interest, but aargh!

keshi: hi. welcome to M.E.

Anonymous said...

ok ,what was Chaucer's favourite flower ? It's a toughie ,but a big prize awaits the correct answer.

Anonymous said...

Was it a rose, that's an old flower.

Anonymous said...

Thank you realdoc , but no......I expect our heroine and resident expert will be telling us soon once she's stopped gassing with her mum(mom) about the glorious mid term election victory. In the meantime , we should talk amongst ourselves whilt the teacher is away...!

Moominmama said...

teacher's back, fun's over.

and the answer to your question: look it up. what kind of teacher would i be if i just gave you all the answers?!

Dave said...

It was, if I remember right, the daisy, was it not?

Moominmama said...

Well done, Dave. In The Legend of Good Women Chaucer praises the daisy quite highly, calling it the Empress of all flowers. But, as I told Mr. Nonymous, it is dangerous to assume that the voice of a narrator is necessarily the voice of the poet. It is trecherous at best, and Geoff in particular is a tricky fellow on this point who likes to play mental games with his audience.

Moominmama said...

oh, and A. Nonymous? DO get yourself a proper WebID. Pick something, anything, so that we can know your comments from the hordes of other annonymous commentators. You don't need a blog; just click "other" down below and write whatever name you like. "Porthos" perhaps?

Anonymous said...

I've never much fancied Porthos's fencing style and it sounds too much like porthole ( a definate no-no), hence...........

Moominmama said...

Ah, the dashing, sexy, infamous 4th Musketeer. I like it. :-)