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United Kingdom
I've been creative writing all my life, though with various haitus(es) along the way. IFrom 2010 I started this blog and enjoyed sharing writing and other information with everyone. illness and bereavement supplied the more recent hiatus.

Sunday, 20 February 2011

First Crusader Challenge

The requirementsfor this First Crusader post are:
In 300 words or less, tell us:
• one secret
• one lie
• one interesting quirk
• one annoying habit
                                   • one of your best character traits
                                   • one of your favourite things in the whole world.
The post can be in any format, including poetry (for those poets among us), but must include the random words, “bloviate,” “fuliguline,” “rabbit,” and “blade”.


Most of you will not know this, but a few years ago I changed my name by deed poll from Sara to Madeleine, because I was so sick and tired of people mispronouncing and misspelling my name. You see I was a Sara without the H; in other words pronounced like hair not car and yet when I tried to explain this to others they would look at me askance and then proceed to bloviate as if they knew best about it. I have to confess that my usual courtesy flew out the window with a fuliguline awkwardness and their insensitivity cut me like a blade. Okay so I have been called rather anally retentive about my name, but hey at least I'm prepared to admit it.
        In those early days I couldn’t drown my sorrows in a Costa Coffee, so I just seethed inwardly feeling impotent with rage;  my off-the-wall sense of humour having quickly disappeared like a rabbit down a hole. Eventually I found ways to take my revenge such as adding an h onto the end of their names or placing my shockingly cold, Raynauds hands onto the nape of their warm, exposed necks. So I must send a thousand apologies to anyone whose name I may have ever misspelled, myself.  Of course while I now erroneously get called Madeline, at least amendments come with an apology, which is lovely.


(235 words)
I may have revealed something about me that isn’t strictly true, can you guess what it is?”
Come back later in the week for the answer.


Write1sub1update: I still feel rough with my virus, which keeps coming and going like a pantomime!  'Oh yes she is (getting better) Oh no she isn't!'
So I've not submitted anything this week and I got a rejection letter back for the poems I submitted earlier.
Hope to be better next week and maybe catch up.

21 comments:

  1. Ha, looks like fun, Madeleineh. I shall be back. I need to find what 'fugiguline' means. : )

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  2. I think the lie is that your hands are shockingly cold :P

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  3. The slight untruth is that there wasn't a Costa Coffee to drown your sorrows in!! :-)

    Oh dear. I'd have pronounced Sara in the same way as these other people and you would have to slap me silly!!!

    Madeleine (I pronounce it Madelayne - is that correct?) is a beautiful name too! take care
    x

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  4. According to your copyright information, your middle name is Sara. on the basis of that, I wonder if you changed your name at all?

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  5. I'm wondering if it's your name....poss the Costa thing - either way, beautifully written. Hope the virus vanishes asap.

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  6. Oh that is wonderful, so good of you to get all the new words into one sentence, really smooth.

    I love what stickynotestories said about cold hands because I was thinking it was a bit crazy to hold your hands to their necks, but maybe that's normal compared to cold hands, so funny!

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  7. I really enjoyed this and trying to decide what your slight untruth is! It's not the cold hands. I'm with The Blogger formerly know as, Madeleine was your middle name?

    Hope you feel better soon!

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  8. I didn't realize the two names are pronounced differently.

    I know how you feel. A lot of people misprounce the 'i' in my name. It's like the 'i' in Kristina (my full name), but people insist on saying it by the letter's name. That's just sounds ugly. :P

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  9. Hmm... I'm wondering if you legally changed your name, too. I love the name Madeleine. And with my last name, I'm used to peeps misspelling it. Happened all the time with my maiden name too.
    anyway, nice to learn more about you. :)

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  10. I don't think you changed your name because people could not pronounce it. Sara with or without the h is still Sara(h) but it's cute! And I'll bet Madeline gets mispronounced much more often! My name is ALWAYS mispronounced and I'm still not going to change it. (I'd rather choke them first- lol)

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  11. I think the lie is the one about your name.

    Great post!

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  12. Hi Madeleine

    I am sure you are sick and tired of the old saying "cold hands - warm heart" but in your case it is true!

    I have to say I immediately thought that choosing the unusual spelling of Madeleine would be a strange thing to do to escape a less strange spelling of Sarah (my wife's name :D)

    Well it was nice to find out a bit more about you! I am trying to get around to mine - but I can't think of a secret! lol

    :Domh

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  13. Good job on the first crusade challenge. I hope to have mine up tomorrow. I'm a follower now.

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  14. My first instinct was to figure you didn't actually change your name by deed poll :D

    Incidentally, I am rather anally retentive about people mispelling my name. My surname is more understandable, though really, it's six letters and there aren't any difficult letters in it at all :P But my first name, Trisha, is mispelled a lot. And sometimes I get called Pat (since I'm actually a Patricia) and I HATE THAT.

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  15. No one ever get's my name right - ever! It drives me nutes, I book stuff (like taxi's) in my mums name now.
    I think you don't have cold hands. :)

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  16. Too much fun. I can believe you changed your name to Madeleine - its so pretty. But I think you are still Sara, and are Madeleine as a psuedo name on the blogs.

    I like the quirk of adding an H to the end of everyone's name. Go ahead with mine: at work all my papers come addressed to me as Donna H :)

    Hope you get to feeling better.

    ........dhole

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  17. Hello fellow crusader! I am a tad bit late, so I just thought I would just say Hi! :D

    I've never heard Sara being pronounced like "car"

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  18. People mispronounce my name quite often, which is why I've shortened it to El for most newcomers. I'm going to say the lie is... the name change itself. I'm guessing you just have people call you by your middle name instead or summat. *nodnod*

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  19. Hey Crusader!

    Maybe you don't try to give others a chill by sticking your hands on their necks?

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  20. I can't imagine you not being courteous, so I'm guessing that's your lie.

    I'm trying to finish an entry for your Flowing Fonts blogfest! Better hurry, huh?

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  21. Hi! Congratulations, you are a finalist!

    Denise<3

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