Have A Nice Day

From the Online Etymology Dictionary, entry for NICE:

late 13c., "foolish, stupid, senseless," from O.Fr. nice "silly, foolish," from L. nescius "ignorant," lit. "not-knowing," from ne-"not" (see un-) + stem of scire "to know." "The sense development has been extraordinary, even for an adj." [Weekley] -- from "timid" (pre-1300); to "fussy, fastidious" (late 14c.); to "dainty, delicate" (c.1400); to "precise, careful" (1500s, preserved in such terms as a nice distinction and nice and early); to "agreeable, delightful" (1769); to "kind, thoughtful" (1830). In 16c.-17c. it is often difficult to determine exactly what is meant when a writer uses this word. By 1926, it was pronounced "too great a favorite with the ladies, who have charmed out of it all its individuality and converted it into a mere diffuser of vague and mild agreeableness." [Fowler]

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I don't have a 'nice' day anymore. Frankly, I don't bother with them. I feel as if I've outgrown the nice day. Let someone else have a few. I've had my share. Why should I be hogging all the really nice ones? So I feel I'm beyond the nice day now. 'Course people still want me to have one. Everybody wants me to have a nice day. "Have a nice day!" "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Would you give me my fuckin' change, please!" Some people are really insistent- "I said have a nice day!"
"Okay, okay goddammit, all right!" That's the trouble with 'have a nice day'; it puts all the pressure on you. Now you've gotta go out and somehow manage to have a good time. All because of some loose lipped cashier. 'Have a nice day'...Maybe I don't feel like having a nice day. Maybe, just maybe, I've had 63 nice days in a row. And, by God, I'm ready for a crappy day. Let someone wish me a crappy day. I never hear that. "Have a crappy day!" That's no problem at all. All you have to do is get up some mornings. There's no planning involved.

--George Carlin, of course

I had a nice (late thirteenth century meaning) day today. Actually, to be nice about it (late fourteenth century meaning), I've had a succession of them. I don't really want to bore you with details--it's mostly just more of the same sort of details you've heard before in my 'Tales From Aisle Ten' posts. Suffice it to say that the Peter Principle is alive and well in my place of employ...as I'm sure it is in yours.

I turned off the World Junior gold medal game last night at the end of the second period and stumbled off to bed. I have to say, given the demonstrated unreliability of Team Canada's goaltending in this tournament, the third period collapse did not surprise me one bit. But you gotta feel bad for Ryan Ellis and Brayden Schenn...not to mention most of the rest of that team. Schenn was playing with a separated shoulder. That's one of the reasons I love hockey so much: no wusses allowed. It's not like soccer, where players get carted off the field if they get a splinter.

This country is appallingly arrogant at times, especially when it comes to hockey. Any of four teams had a legitimate shot at gold in this tourney. The media acknowledged this before the round-robin began, saying that Canada was an underdog this year. And yet...as the games wore on, expectations grew, until gold was the only acceptable outcome. Take a step back from that statement and really look at it. "Gold was the only acceptable outcome". Imagine the pressure.

I'm about to say something vaguely treasonous: I often find myself rooting for the little countries in the World Juniors. Countries like Switzerland and Norway and Kazakhstan. I like to see them score goals. I love to see them throw a scare into a Great Power...even if it's us. After Canada dismantled Norway in the prelims, the Norwegian coach said "look, we have 150 hockey players in our country to draw from." Given that, they played very well, I thought. Sure, their goaltending was awful, but don't blame the goalie: it's not as if he had much access to top-flight training. Besides, Canada's goaltending wasn't all that much better. Not when it counted.

And yet...silver is nothing to sneeze at, no matter how many Canadian players and fans are going around today with runny noses. Congrats to Team Russia, and in particular Vladimir Tarasenko. And congrats to our world juniors, who played their hearts out...