GALOSHES

This entry won't be another about connotation or denotation or etomology or onamastics or derivation of word meanings or origins, will it? When I spotted this picture, it made me think of rain, obviously, and umbrellas, and slickers that we used to have to wear as patrol boys.

Somehow, even as a younster I managed to escape the house, most of the time, without being saddled with raingear. I didn't like rain, but so what if I got wet?

But not when it was snow. Galoshes. Man, I hated them. It took forever to get all the buckles bucked (ok, fastened). And they were so ugly. And they were so heavy. And as soon as you got to where you were going, you couldn't just slip them off. Unbuckle. It took just as long.

Of course, when you left again, the process started over. Did I say how ugly they were? And the word itself is ugly. Like gulosh. And that's not so good either.

I'm not sure they really functioned all that well. But then again as a rebel, I probably walked through the slushiest slush just to prove they were not very serviceable.

At least I never had to carry an umbrella when I was a kid. I was in high school before I appreciated the umbrella. Even then I didn't carry one. I just looked for a girl with one and walked to class with her.