Around the bend*

I was doing the newspaper's crossword puzzle today when I needed two more letters to complete G _ _ P E, a five-letter word for "Get excited."

Being, well, me, I was pretty sure the word had to be "GROPE," but the R and O didn't work for the other words in which they'd need to fit, so I had to keep trying until I figured out the solution to the clue was "GO APE."

Some people might be feel a little weird about trying to put "grope" in a crossword puzzle. I'm not one of those people. If we're discussing excitement, I'm happy that I think of groping before I think of apes.

All this sort of reminds me of that old joke about the guy who finds himself seated next to the Pope on an airline flight. The Pope is struggling with a crossword puzzle, so he says to the guy, "Pardon me, do you happen to know a four-letter word sometimes used to refer to a woman, and is spelled '_ U N T'?"

The guy nervously thinks for a minute and then replies, "Uh, how about 'AUNT?'"

"Shit!" says the Pope. "Got an eraser?"


* There is a slight possibility that I need to get off the trainer and go for a ride outside very soon.