#96 Remorial?

Item on TV news, heard in passing:  a family is raising donations to build a "remorial" in Albany.  My immediate thought was "Remoras are a butt-ugly fish.  Why would someone want to build something for remoras?"   Later, I find out that it's the family of a female college student who disappeared a few years ago (upstate NY seems to have a lot of missing coeds), and the structure is to be dedicated to missing students.  They want to call it a "remorial", which they define as a combination of "remember" and "memorial". 

I wanted to both cry and throw up.  Are they really unaware that the operative part of both words is "mem"?   They removed the remembrance portion, the memory, from both words!  "Remorial" is devoid of meaning, an insult to the language, and just plain ugly stupidity. 

It reminds me of when Daughter's elementary school called the combination cafeteria and auditorium a "cafetorium".  I flatly refused to use the word.  (It reminded me of vomitorium, given the way I felt every time I heard it.)  The school administration thought it was a combination of "cafeteria" and "auditorium", but it was really a prime example of the ignorance of those charged with my daughter's education.  "Cafe" refers to eating.  "Audit" refers to hearing.  "Teria/torium" means room or  area.   "Cafeteria"="eating room".  "Auditorium"="listening room". (*)  So "cafetorium" is still "eating room", with the gender of  "room" changed.    It is not combination of cafeteria and auditorium except to those who are blissfully ignorant of the roots of the words. 

* Yes, this is simplified, but it will do.

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I got home from Saturday evening's  hafla at about 1 am, and got to bed about 2.  I'm not sure when the phone rang - I didn't have my glasses on, so my view of the clock was fuzzy - but it was either 2:30 or 3:30 am.  I tend to think the latter.  It was the new widow, calling to invite me to a holiday dinner at her home on the 18th.

We chatted about the arrangements for the dinner, and when it began to look like she was settling into one of those "talk until her phone batteries die" marathons, I begged off, telling her that I have to go to bed now.

I was left wondering what was going on in her head.  She seemed to be completely unaware of the hour.  I felt bad cutting her off, but I really needed to go back to sleep.  I remember once telling her that it was best to call me in the afternoon or evening, because I frequently stay up very late and then sleep late.  Maybe I should have defined "late" better?   We had worried that she might take to drinking after her husband died, but she seemed to be doing ok, and she didn't sound drunk when she called.  A little maudlin, but sober.

I'm a social slob.  I should have called her the next afternoon.  I'll call her today.  (I hate the telephone - never call anyone if I can avoid it.........)