Why “Up” When You Can “Re”?
There are some words that I just don’t understand the point of. These tend to be synonyms for words that just don’t seem need to have an alternative... the first one that got my goat was purchased. What’s wrong with bought? There are plenty of variations on how to come by something other than in the transactional sense, but when you hear somebody say that the “went to the shops on the weekend to purchase a new TV”, it just seems a terribly precious sort of phrasing*. Although they may very well think that’s also true of people who waffle and use far more punctuation than required.
There are others, too – the current pet one is upcycled. This seems to be the new and fashionable word for something that used to be called recycled. And, presumably, is different to plain old re-used. I guess there’s a bit of a point, in that recycled suggests a different sort of subsequent use to the original use, whereas re-used just implies repeated use of something in the same way. So then, upcycling would involve using it not only differently, but better. Or maybe just making it better. Perhaps these things just need a lot of turning over and shaking in order to make sense...
It happened, though - I was converted to upcycling (the practice, if not yet the word). And it happened with this...
Turning an old record into a clock isn't wildly unexpected just by itself (the recycling bit), but cutting a city skyline (and not just any city, but New York City) around the edge is just brilliance (the upcycling bit - it really does improve on the original article). And it made the leap from things that look cool online to things that look cool and you want to have in your house in real life.
I'm not sure if this cake stand will make the same leap, but for a crafty-minded soul with a stash of old and questionable LPs, it's a thought. It could be the perfect way to serve some recycled cookie cake, though...
All this analysis was prompted** by food (quelle surprise!)... particularly this food...
Things to do with leftover cookies – break them into little pieces and drown them in chocolate. It’s like the baked goods version of rocky road. Rocky biscuit, perhaps? This looks like a great idea, especially for those of us prone to making far more baking than can possibly be eaten before it starts to get a little bit crunchy round the edges (for squishy things), sticky in the middle (for crunchy things) or otherwise not quite as good as it ought to be, but still eminently suitable for being coated in chocolate.
It’s not at all that I’m averse to there being innumerable different ways to describe things. So many things (the world, my life, food reviews/blogs and, possibly most significantly, fiction) would be unutterably the worse for a lack of synonyms, adjectives and other-ways-to-say-stuff. But I’m not sure I can even begin to find the words to describe the wonders of new ways to use chocolate...
* Heaven help me with the toilet / lavatory and the napkin / serviette
** Wow! A reason for unnecessary analysis... that doesn’t normally happen...
