Losing the plot

I thought I ought to post something so that you know I'm ok after the trauma of the tornado. I don't want you to think I've lost the plot.

Speaking of which, I have read on more than one American-in-Britain expat blog how much they enjoy that phrase. 'Lost the plot'. I agree. It's a splendid phrase, and one I've stopped using since being here. I've lost the 'lost the plot'.

Of course I'm also in the business of selling the plot at the moment. Except here, your house in on a lot, not a plot. So the details describe the house as 'lot 25, block 2' of our subdivision. The word is bandied around, as in 'beautiful shady lot', instead of 'beautiful shady plot' (though I realise that in England, it would be described as 'beautiful sunny plot', selling points differing, as they do). Or perhaps even in the UK we don't talk about 'plots' in that way any more. It sounds a bit dated.

A lot, though, is just a parcel of land. As in 'parking lot', for 'car park'. I suppose in the UK, we have to say 'car park', though it's obviously a car park - what else are you going to park there? Your mother-in-law? If we didn't say 'car park', and just said 'park', then that would mean a completely different thing. Which conjures up an interesting mental image. Next time you go to a car park, you can picture your car joining her friends for a go on the swings and the climbing frame. Isn't that what a 'car park' might be?

Anyway, back to 'a lot'. Americans don't use the phrase 'a lot of', as in "I read a lot of blogs". They would say "I read a bunch of blogs". I believe I've posted about this before. But that is one phrase I haven't lost. I use 'a lot' quite a lot. I expect that as I do so, the person I'm talking to has a little inward invisible smile, and thinks "how quaint". So in my everyday speech, when it comes to Englishisms, I have lost a lot, but I haven't lost 'a lot'.

Are you keeping up with me here? Because I want to talk about Big Lots. That's the name of a store, which I haven't ever been to. The idea of Big Lots is just that. They buy big lots of items from other shops or suppliers, and then sell them at discount prices. You can get a tidy bargain at Big Lots, so I'm told, but you never know what's there. It just depends. If you like the random factor in shopping, if you're a T K Maxx fan - and yes, it's T K Maxx not T J Maxx over here, that's not a typo - you'd like Big Lots. You'd also like Tuesday Morning, which is kind of similar, and there's a story behind why it's called Tuesday Morning which I can't remember, though I have to tell you that the one time I went to Tuesday Morning - which was actually on an afternoon and probably not Tuesday - I found it very expensive for a discount store.

My point about Big Lots, though, is that the name makes me laugh. In England, "Big Lots" sounds like the answer a 3 year old gives when you ask them how much ice cream they want.

I remember when I was at school, learning that 'a lot' was two words. For years, I'd written it as one: alot. I wonder if I associated it with 'allotted'. If you have a lot of things, maybe they are allotted to you. That kind of idea. I still like the way it looks, written as one word, actually.

I had better go now, and mow my beautiful shady lot. Such is my lot.

.