I am literally challenged by this week’s Daily Press photo challenge. I am challenged by literalness.
I grow uncomfortable around ambiguous phrases or terms, like questions that begin with “How do you like…” As in “How do you like your job?”
What is the actual question here? Is it like the phrase “How do you take your coffee?” I like my coffee with cream and sugar. I like my job with very little supervision and an extremely high salary. I seem to drink a lot of black coffee. Guess we don’t always get how we like.
But maybe the question simply means “Do you like your job?” In which case, the answer might be “yes” or “no.” But when “how” is tacked on at the beginning of the question, single-syllabic answers seem no longer appropriate.
In a question format, “how” becomes an adverb (I think; don’t quote me on that), which suddenly makes it all complicated with the need for nouns and adjectives and such.
“How do you like your job?”
“Yes.”
It just doesn’t work that way.
The Daily Post’s photo challenge theme this week is Grid. “We often superimpose a mental grid over things we photograph to help with composition,” the post begins. “This week, let’s go literal.” Michelle the Daily Post person suggests, “This week, let’s take the humble grid out of the shadows, and make it the star.”
Go literal? Suddenly I am compulsively pulling up dictionary.com to look up the literal meaning of “grid.” And since a “grid” is defined as a “grating,” I have to look up “grating,” as well.
This whole thing is, indeed, grating. On my nerves. Guess I’ll have to just grid and bear it. (Ahhhh, she breaks under pressure…)
Definition of “grating” and hence, by inference, also the definition of “grid” ~
a framework of parallel or crossed bars, used as a partition, guard, cover, or the like.*
*Emphasis mine. Mostly because I’ve always wanted to say “Emphasis mine.” **
** And also because I like to use asterisks.
After all this grate research, I have determined that my photos this week are in fact literal depictions of “or the like.”
How do you like them?
What Rhymes with Stanza? 
First thank you for taking your time for giving the definition of ‘grid’ it was after reading your post that I got what the photo challenge was about. Your interpretation is brilliant the different grids highlighting bamboo sticks has given a different perspective.
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Thank you! These photos were taken at a Japanese garden. It’s interesting, when I think of Japanese gardens, I think of flowing shapes, not rigid grids. But when you look for them, there they are. And yet, being made of bamboo, they still seem to have a flow to them. Thank you for commenting.
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Excellent post. I’d like to pass the cream and sugar and pour a fresh coffee for you.
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Thanks. Since you can’t literally pour me a cup of coffee, I will accept a virtual one. And it’s delicious! Thank you!
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I liked your pictures as well the ‘literal’ interpretation, but what I loved the most (and burst out in loud laughter at) was your reply to “how do you like your job?” 🙂 I like mine about the same, with a lot flexible Fridays thrown in for good measure!
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The only problem is that no one has offered me that job yet. I agree with the flexible Fridays. I’ll add that to my list.
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Whenever I hear “How do you like your” I automatically answer “Milk and no sugar, please.” This is obviously somewhat embarrassing if the next word is “job”!
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Hahaha! Open-ended questions can be tricky like that.
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Hahhaha laugh of the day. I like them very yes, and the reasoning as well! 😀
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Thank you! Maybe the real issue is that I prefer questions I can answer with one word. I’m not much of a conversationalist.
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