It All Depends Upon How You Look At It…
When you look at the above picture, what do you see?
In my early youth, last century, I might have told you, “Toilet paper and a crescent wrench on some kind of ratty surface.” But, along came a Boy Scout Master who took me camping and taught me what the item on the left really was – AP Paper! No, not Associated Press Paper. All Purpose Paper!
What a silly distinction you might think. Until you realize how often I need to clean something or wipe something off spur of the moment. Sometimes, I sneeze. Sometimes, I need just the right temporary shim.
Would you believe they put something so handy and recyclable on a roll of cardboard in a package just the right size to always be handy? It’s really inexpensive! And, it’s even embossed with hearts.
My point is that we so often limit the way we look at and use something by the way we name it. It is the old “label libel” problem. We do it with tools. We do it with relationships. We do it with God. We do it with political descriptions. As soon as we label something, we limit it in our mind.
Now, I’m not so silly as to say this is a totally bad thing at all, because without some limiting, how would we focus? Some have posed the idea that the brain doesn’t generate anything, it filters down from everything-available-at-once. I wouldn’t be surprised it is a little of both. If we never labeled anything, it would be very difficult to ever discuss it or communicate to another about it. I’m just saying that it comes at some price and it is good to stop and count the cost periodically.
Do I really call it AP paper these days? No. Just when I want to make a point on a blog. But, if that Scout Master had never called it that and never taught me to think of it differently…I bet it wouldn’t be on my workbench!
What can you think of that you see limited by its label?
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Tags: Labels, Limiting Thought, Tools
I’ve never been hampered by the name. When I return books to the library I always check that i haven’t left any “bookmarks” in it. If I did the next reader might be grossed out.
Jean Browman–Cheerful Monk’s last blog post..Storms Happen
As I’m sure you are well aware, Jean, this doesn’t really have anything to do with the name.
It is the concepts we are often most sure of that we are limiting the most in that process.
Conrad, my dear man, you are a treat. I have the larger size kitchen tissue paper in its regular holder AND a toilet roll holder fixed with a roll of AP paper in the kitchen. I am often ribbed for it but I think that it is silly to waste the larger size paper when just a wee bit will do nicely for various purposes, including for use as book marks as Jean suggests!
Now, coming to the second item in the photograph, the other end uses other than the obvious one, can be quite fascinating too. For instance, a fly swatter!
rummuser’s last blog post..An Utopia In The Making? Auto Ban??
I forgot to mention what I can think of that I see limited by its label? – Sarah Palin.
rummuser’s last blog post..An Utopia In The Making? Auto Ban??
It is so true what you had to say. Anything can have multiple uses if we can see it right. My neighbour is a man who hates to throw away old stuff. So when the time came to replace his old useless refrigirator, he placed it in his garage and began using it as a cupboard! The old bicycle became a hangar to hang the clothes used for cleaning, so on and so forth. Its all in the way we perceive things.
Ashok’s last blog post..Mysore trip
On my Wednesday Household Hints slot I regularly give alternative uses for everyday products. Today for instance we have steel wool as stuffing for a pin cushion and dental floss as an emergency slicer for cake or cheese.
Grannymar’s last blog post..Handy Hints for Wednesday ~ 34
G-mar, when I was in Afirca, I often had to take pregnant women to the hospital- it seemed the last minute– to deliver their babies. I had to go 6 miles over bumpy roads, and was concerned that the baby would drop in my car. I would take “dental floss” in case I had to tie off the umbilical cord. You are right “dental floss” can be used for many things!
AP Paper, is also great for AP-ing a persom’s yard! I can just see the headlines in the paper– Mayor’s yard– All Pupose Papered!
Rummy -
Expand your thoughts of more uses for the label of Sarah Palin???
Unfortunately that one flew over my head! Also unfortunately, not all that hard to do!
I am starting to really like this! I mean, we have Jean with the most flexible bookmarking in the universe and Ramana swatting flies with wrenches!
Maynard, your use of floss is fantastic. I must tell my wife the dental hygienist of your use. She uses floss for everything – not surprisingly – and if we ever break down on the road, I bet she’ll floss the engine back together.
Just you watch, I’ll tell her about using floss to slice cheese or cake, like Grannymar says, and she’ll say, “Oh, sure. I do that.”
Gail, I have definitely been papered. But, I’m with Deb on Sarah Palin, lol. Rummy, expand by all means. Floss our thoughts into a cohesive whole.
Ashok, I had an uncle who was exactly the same! I marveled at all the things he did with appliances and how many he kept around his place.
It wasn’t until recently that Mom told me he repaired people’s appliances on the side for extra money…
I’ll tell you this (one thing I understand all I know about) that roll of AP sure beats a Sear’s catalogue, lol
Rummy, the way I swat flies I’d probably knock a hole in whatever it was sitting on.
My house is so full of useful junk it looks like a second hand store that should go out of business…….Joe lets me know every now and then. I just say it is a DAV store without the sign (and it’s all mine).
Corky
Yes, Tom has a roll of toilet paper in his shop. And I never buy “Kleenex”. (Rummy that’s a brand name but is the tissue you blow your nose on.) I use toilet paper or AP instead.
Boy did Sarah Palin get labeled. See how effective labeling is. You all think she’s some kind of idiot. She wouldn’t have been where she was in Alaska if she was a dummy. I voted for Obama but she would have done well. She’d have learned ’cause she’s one smart cookie. Too bad she looked so good.
As for dental floss, I bought 12 rolls of kite string at a garage sale to use instead of dental floss. That’s enough to serve this whole town.
Today I discovered that three billion trees are needed each year to supply enough toilet paper to wipe the bottoms of the world! I wonder if that takes into account Rummy’s kitchen roll?
Grannymar’s last blog post..Handy Hints for Wednesday ~ 34
@Maynard – Did you ever have to deliver a baby? In Ireland if a woman goes way over time to deliver a baby the husband is encouraged to take her for a drive over a ‘hump-backed bridge’, the equivalent of your bumpy roads.
Grannymar’s last blog post..Handy Hints for Wednesday ~ 34
Well, the Sears catalogue is the classic source, Mom. That and the crescent moon on the door…
Kite string, huh, bhb? Interesting. With that and duct tape, there would probably be no limit to what a person could do!
Thanks a lot, Grannymar. Like I didn’t have enough to feel guilty about…
@ Grannymar—no, but I almost shit my pants a couple of times thinking that I was going to have to! I would drop them off at the front door of the hospital, and got the hell out of there,as fast as I could. I didn’t want any blood on my hands.
Maynard, if that had happened, you would have needed the AP paper rather than the floss!
Aw, geez, Mayo – I laughed out loud at your boldness – you always say the unexpected! LOL
For Sarah Palin, try The Faithful, The Evangelist, The Believer, The Protector and to be more mundane, the Bombshell, The P Bomb and the Xena Warrior Princess.
Grannymar, you have now gone and done the unthinkable. You have made me feel guilty!
rummuser’s last blog post..An Utopia In The Making? Auto Ban??
Sorry Gang, got a little carried away!
I have a “midwife” as a client, and she has some interesting stories to tell about delivering babies for the Buggy Mennonites and the Amish!
They have their babies in their homes.
You know, Ramana, if that is what Grannymar did… I totally underestimated her power! And I rated it HIGH!!!!
Conrad, I am Ramana’s brother, and live in the UK. Your post triggered the concept of lateral thinking and reminded me of the wartime story where the Captain of a destroyer lost steerage and found his boat drifting towards a mine. He called all hands on deck and asked them their view of how to avoid running into the mine and stated that any idea would be welcome. One seaman suggested that they all stand on the deck and urinate on the mine, and whilst the rest of his mates were chastising him for being an idiot, the Captain praised him for his clear thinking and ordered the water hose to be brought up, put the pump on and hosed the mine away!!!
Barath, that is a great story! LOL You need to become one of our regulars, I can tell.
Back to labeling & Sarah Palin.
She labeled herself “maverick”. She was labeled “bad mother” because her unmarried daughter got pregnant. but “caring mother” because of the love she showed for her retarded (mentally challenged) son. She was “big spender” for the money she spent on clothes for the campaign. etc.
More Sarah Palin labels: “Gun Lover/Wolf Hater”, “Unpredictable/Flighty”. She labeled herself “Victim”. Here’s a good label “Energy Conservation Expert”.
The news now is that she’s dropping being governor of Alaska & may be running for Pres. next term. I’d label her “Die-Hard”.
During the campaign I was looking online about “Sarah Palin in the Oval Office” with new funny negative “click-on-s” often. That didn’t help her campaign.
BHB, you sound like an unapologetic fan of the good lady! Between you and me, so am I. But not quite for the same reasons, I would suspect.
rummuser’s last blog post..The Curve Ball Or The Googly.