Hi Wigleaf,

Yesterday I went for a brief hike in the woods with my toddler. We met a couple walking a big dog and we asked the dog's name. The one person said, "His name is Merle." I said, "Oh, is that, uh, like the... classic rock... guitarist guy?" The couple looked uncomfortable and upset that I was talking to them. The person said, "No, uh..." and I said, "Or is it, uh, like from The Adventure Zone?" They continued to look uncomfortable and upset that I was talking to them. The person said, "No, uh, it's because, like, the kind of dog this is, he's an Earl Something" (I wasn't paying attention to what he was saying by this point and this feels impossible to figure out via googling — lots of hits for some grumpy dog named Earl, some other bullshit, I dunno, I gave up). They said something else about Earl Grey tea, too, at this point, but seemed to trail off. Then the other person lowered their mask and said "And he wanted to name him Earl, but I didn't like the name Earl." Then the first person said, "So we decided on Merle, but, I guess, it's pretty similar to Earl." I laughed and said, "Yeah, it's the same, just one sound different." I felt surprised by how I was genuinely laughing at that.

I just looked up how to spell Merle — I had been spelling it 'Merl' until just now — and noticed that 'Merle' is a type of dog fur pattern. I feel like I probably misheard/understood the entire conversation about the dog.


Alright, take it easy.

Later,

Zac Smith