
Today, we’re to start with a word that starts with "M," and wouldn’t you know it, I immediately thought of "maybe."
When I was a kid, "maybe" usually meant "no." "Mom, can I go to the beach?" "Maybe." Then I knew that the answer was probably "no." Worse was when I’d ask if I could do something, and she’d say "we’ll see." That told me the answer was definitely "no."
If a diplomat says "yes," he means "maybe"; if he says "maybe," he means "no"; and if he says "no," he’s no diplomat. I don’t know where I heard that, but it’s probably true.
We were big fans of The Firesign Theater when I was in high school. Our favorite skit was "Nick Danger, Third Eye". At one point, the villain (a guy named Rocky Rococo) says "Maybe yes, maybe no," growled out in this sinister nasal voice. We picked up on that one right away, and whenever someone would ask a yes-or-no question, we’d say "maybe yes, maybe no." It was nuts, but so were we.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is brought to you each week by Linda Hill and this station. Now a word about Pall Mall (pronounced "pell mell," just like in England) cigarettes. Outstanding! And they are mild…
That woman toward the end of th commercial has crazy eyes…
We’ll see was always a no and maybe was maybe – sometimes yes and sometimes no. I remember the Pall Mall commercials and it seemed odd that it was pronounced pell mell! Maybe they should have spelled it pell mell. Interesting, because pell-mell is defined as – in mingled confusion or disorder. Maybe pell-mell is a good word for today’s current state of mess. I guess we’ll see.
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From what Wikipedia tells me, it’s a London street that ends at Trafalgar Square that was named after the game pall-mall (a precursor of croquet), that used to be played there. I don’t get the sense that pall-mall was a wild sort of game that had balls flying all over the place, but ya never know…
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Maybe is definitely one of those words that serves a wide variety of purposes. It took a long time to stop saying maybe to all the asks because I felt uncomfortable saying no. In the end it only led to a more uncomfortable no down the road.
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Feels like a weasel word sometimes, doesn’t it?
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I seem to remember my maybes truly being maybes. But my kids might have different recollections. I do know that I was fond of, “Maybe if you get your homework done and clean up your room.” However, if I said, I don’t know, I have to think about it, that would usually be a no. “We’ll see” was often a no. Then there was, “Maybe when you’re 18.”
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As in “Maybe when you’re 18 and living on your own”?
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Exactly!
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You’re right about those eyes!
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Kinda scary, huh?
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Yep, same mom. So asking dad. If you didn’t get go ask your mom, you got the definite NO. Dad was not a diplomat!
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Uh huh. I had one parent for half my childhood meaning there was no recourse to another parent…
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So sorry.
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Thanks! You get used to it, sadly, but my friends and their dads were really good about it. I was in Cub Scouts in 6th grade (the Webelos Den, the last step before Boy Scouts) and we were going to do one of those father-son things, and the adult leader made sure that I understood that I was welcome despite not having a father. He said “we’ll all be your dad that day.” It meant a lot.
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Oh, what great guys!
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It’s almost as of all mums have the same guide to follow when dealing with their children!
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They probably got it from theirs…
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The dreaded “we’ll see” was definitely a no for us too.
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Must have been parent-speak for the times…
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I seem to remember my mom and dad saying either a firm “yes” or “no,” and not too many “maybe’s.” Then again, that was long ago and I don’t have the best of memories. From my mom, I heard more “wait til your father gets home” for the bigger decisions and when discipline was a certain outcome.
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My dad died when I was almost 11, so I didn’t hear much of “wait ’til your father gets home.” Mom was the tougher disciplinarian, anyway…
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Good job explaining what meant no, John. Thinking back, we didn’t get to the beach often…
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The beach was close enough that we could walk it, but we couldn’t go unsupervised until we were 11 or 12.
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Today that would be 16-18
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I assume you mean blocks. For us it’d be that many miles to the closest lake. To the gulf, it’s well over 300 miles…
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No, I meant it would be 16-18 yrs old before being able to go by yourself.
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Oh, OK. … That was the advantage of living where I did…
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so true!
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👍
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Good one , maybe you will have a good day, maybe we all will 💜💜
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Let’s hope…
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😅
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