Dear Mr. Harwell,

I am reluctant to admit that I have spent most of my life being barely aware of your existence. I remember there being a bit of a ruckus when you got fired by a college football coach, and that everyone was happy when the guy from Little Caesar’s hired you back the next year. But that was about it; beyond that, you were a trivia fact that rattled around my brain like so many others do. The second video ever played on MTV was Pat Benetar’s “You Better Run.” Minnesota became a state in 1858. And Ernie Harwell was the voice of the Detroit Tigers.

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When exactly did the word “full-blown” become part of our official vernacular?

I think the first time I saw “full-blown” in print was in reference to someone having “full-blown AIDS”. Since that time the word has shown up more and more: full-blown diabetes, full-blown hostilities, full-blown , etc.

Maybe it’s a perfectly cromulent word, but it seems awkward to me. Not to mention quite redundant. Is having AIDS different from full-blown AIDS? I feel pretty certain that full-blown isn’t a medical term. From usage I gather that its use is to differentiate between pre-something and the actual something. Someone can be pre-diabetic, but then end up with full-blown diabetes.

Maybe it’s because I don’t come from the Dickensian world, in that I focus on the economy of words, but it seems that full-blown is a nothing word that brings nothing to the party. Which means it fits in perfectly with today’s media/world.

Great article in the LA Times¹ about the lengths that workers at Disney Parks go to in making sure that every part of the park is cleaned up and/or repaired each night. It’s an attention to detail that helped attendance rise 8% last year in a bad economy, while other parks suffered. It’s a great read, and it’s good to see a company that cares about doing the little things right. And then, there’s this:

Years ago — no one seems to know when — feral cats began to sneak into the park, living among the park’s trees and shrubs during the day. At night, they venture out, and an estimated 200 cats now prowl through Disneyland and neighboring California Adventure Park.

But instead of evicting the cats, Disneyland’s animal wranglers work to control the feline population by spaying and neutering the adult cats and finding homes for all kittens born in the resort. The cats eat at five permanent feeding stations installed throughout the two parks.

“We are not trying to get rid of them,” said Gina Mayberry, manager of Disneyland’s Circle D ranch, where the park’s animals are housed. “They keep the rodent population down.”

Is that not totally Disney? During the day, hundreds of cats sleep in the park, unnoticed. At night, they come out and help with the cleanup. Awesome.