The ladies of the Cotillion will be live-blogging the Republican debate tonight. We’re using this cool coveritlive format. It should show up on each blog that is participating. Sign up to participate in the discussion. It starts at 8:00 central time.

Here are the Cotillion members who are hosting the live-blog event:
My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
A Lovely Infidel
The Median Sib
Conservative Belle
Blue Star Chronicles
CatHouse Chat
Hooah Wife!

The first Cotillion Carnival of 2008 is now up at the Cotillion homepage.  Thanks go to Carol of Sex and the South for putting together this first monthly carnival for 2008.  Check it out and follow the links to read a wide variety of topics by the best of conservative women bloggers such as Greta of Kiss My Gumbo,  Fausta of Fausta’s Blog, Beth at My Vast Right Winged Conspiracy,  Sisu at Sisu, Linda at Something…and Half of Something, Wild Thing at PC Free Zone,  Cassandra at Villainous Company,  and Beth at Blue Star Chronicles.

I thought this was an appropriate logo for the next few days considering the fact that so far today I: (1) went back to bed after breakfast this morning took a nap; (2) bought a Snickers at Wal-Mart and ate it on the way home from shopping; (3) went shopping for RT and ended up buying MYSELF two sweaters (they were cute and they were on sale!); and (4) am blogging about this cute picture rather than cleaning and getting ready for our family Christmas get-together tomorrow evening.  So, shoot me - I’m on holiday!

Actually the logo would fit any Cotillion lady.

Tiara-tip to Stacy.

A post I wrote on Saturday contained the following statement:

Yesterday I wrote about reading a book entitled Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy.

A reader by the name of “Realist” left the following comment:

“was reading a book TITLED…” not entitled. Two different words.

Really? I’ve seen the word “entitled” used as I used it throughout my life. Typically, I’m careful about the words I use. Occasionally typos happen, and I always go back and correct them when I see them. It aggravates me to see careless grammar, spelling and word choice in any writing. However, I never questioned my use of “entitled” in that context.

Being a perfectionist, as soon as I read Realist’s comment, I began searching for clarification on the proper use of the word “entitled. My first line of investigation was to email my two older “English major” sisters. A quick reply from one reminded me of the comment. Here’s her entire response:

The correct word is titled.

Thanks, but . . . no explanation or discussion. Just that 5-word statement. I wanted an explanation or SOMETHING to back up why “titled” is the correct word and why “entitled” is not. So I went to my Cotillion sisters who provided a variety of opinions and some online resources.

Dictionary.com has the following:

en·ti·tle (n-ttl) Pronunciation Key
tr.v. en·ti·tled, en·ti·tling, en·ti·tles

1. To give a name or title to.
2. To furnish with a right or claim to something: The coupon entitles the bearer to a 25 percent savings. Every citizen is entitled to equal protection under the law.

That didn’t help much with my particular question, but I kept looking. I wanted examples - proof. Below that definition, they had the following from WordNet.

adj 1: qualified for by right according to law; “we are all entitled to equal protection under the law” 2: given a title or identifying name; “the book entitled `A Tale of Two Cities’ [emphasis mine]

Cha-CHING! Answer.com also confirmed the use of “entitled” as I had used it.

verb

1. To give a name or title to: baptize, call, christen, denominate, designate, dub, name, style, term, title. See specific/general, words.
2. To give authority to: accredit, authorize, commission, empower, enable, license, qualify. See allow/prevent.

The verb entitle has 3 meanings:

Meaning #1:give the right to
Meaning #2: give a title to
Synonym: title [emphasis mine again]
Meaning #3: give a title to someone; make someone a member of the nobility
Synonyms: ennoble, gentle

Notice that “title” is listed as a synonym. The conclusion: Apparently, I can write “I read a book entitled Blah-Blah-Blah” and be completely correct in my use of the word “entitled.” SO THERE!

Tiara-Tip to Beth at MVRWC for taking the time to help me research this vastly unimportant word choice.

Beth, at Blue Star Chronicles, has posted THE COTILLION COLLOQUY.  What, you may ask, is a “colloquy”? 

 It means a conversational exchange; dialogue, a conference. 

Thanks to Alabama Improper for providing that definition.  And since we Cotillion ladies do a lot of “conversational exchanging”, it’s an apt word for our canival.  Beth did an absolutely fantastic job of putting together some wonderful posts.  So click on over and check it out.   Thanks to Beth, also, for the cool Cotillion graphic!

This morning while reading The Cotillion email, I saw that Kathleen of Right Wing Sparkle has decided to quit blogging.  As I read her last post, I found myself agreeing with her.  What use is blogging anyway?  I’ve gone through so many stages of blogging: I’ve loved it, hated it, tolerated it, been frustrated with it, felt driven to do it, have been offended by it, laughed at it, and had fun with it.  Some posts take hours of tedious work.  Others write themselves in minutes.  When I think of what I’ve written, I’m proud, ashamed, embarrassed, happy all at the same time. 

One time I got so frustrated at what I perceived was the futility of blogging that I started deleting posts, and I deleted about 30 posts before I realized that I didn’t have to delete anything - I could just stop writing.  And so I stopped - for about a day.  Then I was back at it - minus about 30 posts that are gone forever.

When I think about the blogs I read regularly, 99% of them are blogs that I agree with politically or philosophically.  When I DO read blogs from a liberal perspective (which is not my perspective), I refuse to comment.  My comments won’t change anyone’s thinking, and it would only cause hard feelings. 

Then there are the idiots that make blogging a pain - the people who create commenting spam and email spam.  I wonder if there are truly people left on earth who still fall for all those stupid ads and get-rich-quick schemes.  Does anyone still click on links embedded in comments? Apparently the answer is yes because despite the spam blockers I put on the comments for THE MEDIAN SIB, dozens of spam comments still get through to my “comment moderation” page each day.  I then must spend time classifying them as spam and deleting them.  And idiots are still using my web address to send out spam to others.  So each day I must deal with numerous “returned emails” from spam sent from my web address. 

It’s easy to get caught up in traffic - how many people visit THE MEDIAN SIB each day and how many people comment.  My competitive nature kicks into gear, and I want to write about something controversial in order to get more hits and more comments.  Then I have to remind myself that increasing traffic is not my purpose here.

It comes down to the question of whether or not THE MEDIAN SIB makes a difference or serves a purpose.  And, for me, it does.  I know I won’t make a difference it anyone’s thinking.  Sometimes I might provide new information or a different way of looking at things.  Mostly, though, my blogging is for me.  It makes a difference to me.  It’s a form of journaling and communicating. It helps me work through my ideas and thoughts.  It helps me solidify my thinking. 

We don’t have the opportunity to sit down and discuss all our thoughts and opinions with our loved ones.  When I’m long gone, there will still be THE MEDIAN SIB floating around in cyberspace with my words there for my children and grandchildren to read, if they’re so inclined.  Thus, it is also a way of documenting my life.

Greta, at Hooah Wife and Friends wrote this:

“We are all stumbling through life, just some of us do it on a blog, out loud, for the world to read.” ~Greta~

Amen.

 Beth at My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy also talks about how the world needs more Sparkle.

Right Girl has tagged The Cotillion with the “What’s In Your Handbag?” meme.

With the distinct possibility that you will fall asleep from boredom before getting through this post, I will comply:

Cell phone
Roll of Tums
Keys
Compact with powder for my ever-shiny nose
Lipstick
Chapstick
A bottle of Aleve
A roll of breath mints
Sugarless gum
Tissues
A ziplock bag with tooth flossers in it
Sunglasses in a sunglass case
Reading glasses in a case
Wallet
Change purse
Two emery boards
A bulletin from church this past Sunday
A copy of the Sunday School lesson for next week
Ballpoint pen
Mechanical pencil
Assorted receipts
A pill case with my daily medications/vitamins

That’s it. You can wake up now.
If you’d like to share what’s in your handbag, consider yourself tagged!