5/17/21 OT: Pack Rats By Senor Beef on May 17, 2021, 6:56am CDT 112
NATIONAL PACK RAT DAY
Each year on May 17th, National Pack Rat Day encourages us to take a look at ourselves and see if we have "Pack Rat" tendencies within us. A Pack Rat holds on to, collects or hoards often unneeded items.
According to Meriam Webster, the phrase pack rat dates back to 1885 and references a wood rat known for hoarding food and random objects. Today, the phrase is loosely used to describe people who do the same.
Many people even describe themselves as pack rats because they keep things they may need in the future, such as tools, boxes, and clothing. Have you ever cleaned out a closest and critically examined every item, tossing and donating things so that you had a clean space? Then days or weeks later discovered you needed one specific item you donated or tossed. It may be a document or container, but it never fails to happen. In the age of recycling, reusing, and repurposing, pack rats consider every item before they toss and donate.
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What’s in a Name?
I don’t see a lot of new babies being named Robert these days. I used to have such a popular name. What happened?
The Social Security Administration is out with the list of the most popular baby names for 2020, and it’s pretty much the same list it was last time. The top male name is Liam and the top female name is Olivia. Other names in the top ten include Noah, Oliver, James, Emma, Ava, and Mia.
At that link you can see how the most popular names have changed over the years and even check lists by decade and by state. It’s interesting to see how names that were popular in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s — names like David and Steven and Mary and Patricia — barely register in an era of Elijahs and Harpers. William and Elizabeth are still pretty popular though.