"Fun..." 'Bettejo Dux' (Classic Wednesday)

Bettejo Dux has lived on the cosmic Garden Island of Kaua'i for over 40 years.
Bettejo is a regular columnist in the Garden Island news and is the author of the
famed novella, "The Scam." Today she blogs about FUN, FUN, FUN!!
www.bettejodux.com

Fun

Fun is a three-letter word. Easy to read. Easy to pronounce.Hurrah. Hurrah. Find it on page 734 in the trusty Third Edition of  the American Heritage dic-tion-ar-y—honest, that’s what it says on the cover—and the definition of FUN is brief. I’ll accept the first.

1. A source of enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure, often noisy activity. It does go on. Eight lines that it takes my 83-year-old eyes specs and a magnifying glass to read.

And then there’s a USAGE NOTE that chatters and clatters  on for 20 more lines!? The end of which states: “At present however, the ‘attributive’ use (whatever that is) of fun may still raises eyebrows, and writers who want to stay on the safe side are advised to avoid….”

Yeah? Well tell it to da judge. Don’t tell me you fat three- letter- word over weight dic-tion-ar-y thingie what to avoid. Anyhow, I was never comfortable on the safe side. The safe side ain’t no fun. No how. I’d rather play the playfully incorrect game. Wouldn't you?

I mean fun should be funny. Foolish. Silly. Amusing. Entertaining. Enjoyable.Have fun watching the herd-that’s the human herd-splashing at the beach. Surfing. Climbing and falling graceful- no broken limbs-out of trees. Feeding and window shopping at the malls.  Skating, biking, strolling on the scenic paths  or hiking in the hills. Young humanoids playing in a play ground.

Having fun is a very healthy  occupation. We should all indulge more.

Noisy activity? You betcha. Sing. Dance. Twang a guitar or a uke.  Enjoy a lively raucous-but peaceful-debate or conversation. Kick up your heels, it’s later than you think.

Hop, skip and jump. Clap you hands and chortle.

Watch other living things have fun. A dog chasing  a ball or its tail or just goofing around. A cat or a kitten batting a ball of string. I think birds have fun flying and dolphins and whales have fun cavorting in the sea and sleek  monk seals have fun soaking up sun on  the sand.  I think everything’s more fun when  it’s free.

‘Course it’s also fun to share a glass of wine, a bite of cheese,  a crunchy cracker. A slurpy chocolate ice cream on a stick. A cookie. A cuppa aromatic nose twitching coffee or  tea or a beer on a lanai or a porch or a garage turned into a party place when friends come calling.

At this very moment I’m having fun watching a speckled hen appear and disappear in a shady and  sun speckled  bank. The sun is out. They bask. A red necked crowing rooster follows at a distance.  They have a happy, healthy, freedom loving family. They swallow earth worms whole.

Robert Louis Stevenson, a Scott-he’s got a bar at the Hyatt, a fun place- said, “The world is so full of a number of things, I think we should all be as happy as kings.”

Maybe that should read, “The days are filled  with the funniest things, I think we should all be as funny as kings.”

Fast curtain

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