In which I introduce te stupid word of the day.

Ok, seriously, I've got to stop titling these things with "In which..."

Today's topic is; the stupid word of the day.

I will endeavour (Did I just spell that like a Brit? I haven't read many American books that used that word lately) to include with each post a stupid word of the day, much like the area that I maintain in the top corner of the white-board in my father's classroom. It is a stupid word, generally not in the dictionary, and it's definition. For instance, a few days ago, the stupid word of the day was;

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia - (noun) - an irrational fear of long words.

This word is in some dictionaries, but is still pretty stupid, for obvious reasons.

But that's off the point. Today's actual stupid word of the day is;

Veggie Monster, the - (proper noun) - 1. A blue, fuzzy character, formerly named "Cookie Monster" on the children's show "Sesame Street". 2. An abysmal blight on humanity.

Yes, it's true. Cookie Monster, after eating cookies for longer than I have been alive, has had his name changed to.... Veggie Monster.

It all started a couple of years ago, when his song change from "C is for cookie..." to "A cookie is a sometimes treat...". With this change came the inevitable conclusion that if he thought a cookie was "a sometimes treat", which, of course, it is (not), he simply couldn't be named Cookie any more! Thus, that horrible abomination, the Veggie Monster, was born. If I was a five to seven year old, I would be scared to death of the Veggie Monster! I would think that the blue furry cretin would crawl through my window and force me to eat spinach in the middle of the night! What could be scarier than that?

I suppose that it's a 'good' thing that network television is promoting 'health initiatives', but if they want to go so far as to replace cookies with cabbage, I fear that it may destroy the show. What's next? Putting Big Bird on weight watchers until he's Little Bird? The three (sorry, four) bears only eating low-cal porridge? Rubber Ducky on a diet? Dorothy eating only one pellet of fish food instead of two? Oscar the Paunch (negative example)? Celery Street? Is nothing sacred?

Apparently not. Nothing must stand in the way of the health-food initiative. Maybe it will be Celery Street soon. But it will still have been brought to you by "Chuck-E-Cheese's".