More Fodder for My Book

Trifle [trahy-fuh l]

–noun

1.

an article or thing of very little value.

2.

a matter, affair, or circumstance of trivial importance or significance.

3.

a small, inconsiderable, or trifling  sum of money.

–verb (used without object)

9.

to deal lightly or without due seriousness or respect: Don't trifle with me!

10.

to play or toy by handling or fingering: He SAT trifling with a pen.

11.

to act or talk in an idle or frivolous way.

12.

to pass time idly or frivolously; waste time; idle.

–verb (used with object)

13.

to pass or spend (time) idly or frivolously (usually followed by away ). 

 

 

 

I was riding around with the second youngest (and too-much-so-for-anyone's-good most logical) of my clan, Itsy, between activities, and out of the blue she asks from the backseat, "What does 'trifle' mean?"

 

[Double take from the driver's seat] 

K: Well, if I'm thinking correctly, it's kind of like... dawdling.  [Imagery of City School kids talkin' 'bout folks that be triflin' plays on the movie in my mind]

Its: Oh.  Okay.

K: Why? Who said "trifle?"

Its: It was on Phineas & Ferb.  I thought it meant "small" because they had this thing where they shrunk the Eiffel Tower and they were using all of these other words that meant "small," and then they had to think of a word that sounded like "Eiffel," and so they called it the "Trifle Tower."

K: Oh! Well, yes, in that way it can mean small.  When it's used that way it basically means "unimportant."

Its: Oh! Okay!

Then I rambled on about sometimes it's used as a verb or a noun, and sometimes it's used as an adjective, and THAT time it was being used as an adjective and, yeah, she's seven.  She didn't really care.  But she was sweet and humored me.

Later, I was playing substitute mom at play rehearsal, and I was sitting next to the oldest of the clan, watching.  The play is R&H's Cinderella, and it's one of the kisses between Cindy and Prince Charming.  The kiss happens, and-- like a reflex-- 12-year-old Big Sister does this:

I chuckle at her and she peers through her hands and tells me, "I don't do kissing."

 

["And that's my new philosophy!"]

Smart thinkin', kiddo.  Stay that way as loooooooooong as possible.