You know how you hear a word for the first time, and then flood gates open and you hear it again and again and again? For example, I remember the first time I “saw” the word “akimbo” – as in “she stood there with her arms akimbo.” It means she stood there with her hands on her hips. Guess that description was too blasé for Harper Lee, so she introduced me – and probably many other readers who poured over To Kill a Mockingbird – to that most unusual word.

I thought it sounded like a character’s name from Roots: Akimbo Kinte, son or daughter of Kunta???? There were not enough context clues to help me figure it out, and so I looked it up in a dictionary – this was before mass Internet. And, as often happens, the word started popping up all over the place. My favorite discovery occurred on the trip home from St. George one summer. We passed a truck hauling a sail boat and as we zipped by I noticed the vessel’s name plastered on the side: AKIMBO! Perfect name for a sailboat, don’t you think?

My latest addition to my vocabulary is SCRUM. Not being a follower of Rugby, I had NEVER heard this weird word. But on Friday evening at Joe’s pinning – NEVER heard of an MBA pinning either – the dean of the college asked the grads to “scrum” forward to pose for a class picture.

“Scrum”???? Like “scrum of the earth?” I guess that would work if the “scum bag” was also a “rummy.” But then would it be “scrummy?” No. The dean used it as a verb. Luckily, my daughter-in-law attended Highland High School – not MY Highland High in Pocatello, ID, but SLC’s HHS, where Rugby reins supreme. She clarified the term for me even though the dean used enough context clues that I was able to figure it out.

Obviously, SCRUM is a Westminster College favorite because the graduation speaker weaved it into his comments the following day, which accounted for the second time I heard the word.

The 3rd repetition was a surprise. Just minutes into Pirates of the Caribbean 4, viewers are introduced to a singing pirate named – yup, SCRUM. How he came by that moniker, I don’t know as there is very little written about the mate.

BUT, I’ll wager that he is one of them lovable RUM-swillin’ ScumBags!

Oh, and see you soon – but NOT tomorrow! 😉