• kvox
      • hello Karen Wickre
      • Username: kvox
      • Wordsmith, media-obsessive, radio geek, canine-focused always-on old soul.
  • kvox's latest answers
    • I'm SO a dog person

      • Dogs are like cartoon characters - oblivious to normal constraints and wise beyond their species. And that incredibly endless array of sizes, l…

      • answered by kvox on 05/04/2009
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    • Even more than words, some phrases are irritating...

      • The words that rub me the wrong way when I hear or read them are often fine on their own, but when overused, or used badly in context, I shudder.


        jug
        has a vulgar connotation plus a jug-ugly sound


        snack
        sounds too cute by half, as if it were made up by a Mad Man


        impacting, impactful
        NOT REAL WORDS! use "affect" and variations thereof




      • answered by kvox on 03/05/2009
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    • What's in a care package for a traveling friend?

      • What might I send a homesick friend who's gone on a long trip? Bits of home that could be disposed of, but almost as easily packed up, along for the ride.


        MAD Magazine
        There's nothing like American humor. MAD was an early purveyor of knowing, slightly juvenile, culturally-aware laugh lines. (More recently, The Onion would work too.)


        ear buds
        Assuming my friend has a digital device that goes to the ear, you can always use an extra pair.


        "Best American Essays"
        Any volume of this will trigger US appreciation for the million untold stories from here.


        power bars
        Larabar is a favorite, or maybe a Clif. Fruit rollups too. Portable and familiar snacks.


        Tiny framed photo
        A little art is a big comfort. I'd pick a favorite of that friend (celebrity, landscape, abstract).


      • answered by kvox on 02/28/2009
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    • My first job: office work

      • My very first was a summer government job with an obscure research arm of the Smithsonian. I was excited to go to a downtown office (but only a…

      • answered by kvox on 11/26/2008
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