Still

This is apparently the word I use most often in my blog. I have been more than a little distracted over the last couple of days by wordle.net, which paints word portraits from any text you care to give it, including blogs, song lyrics, recipes etc. There are some fascinating examples on the website. Mine's below.

I'm surprised that still came out top of the list. Above pregnant, which given my current whining self-indulgent posts is something of a miracle! It makes me sound utterly dull, which of course might be what you're thinking whilst reading this.

A few years ago, whilst working as a reporter for a radio station in Manchester, a later middle-aged couple came up to me at a public event, giggling. 'Are you the really, really girl' they said. 'Erm, excuse me?' said I. It transpired, with much giggling (theirs, I was quite mortified, not least because my then boss was within earshot) that I had a terrible habit of using the phrase 'really, really' on air to buy myself some thinking time. So the weather would be 'really, really cold', the queues at the X-Factor auditions in Manchester (yes, I was the hapless girl sent off to find fame-hungry whores to chat to whilst waiting in vain hope of an audience with Simon Cowell) were 'really, really long'. You name it, I enthused about it, not just once, but twice. Still, it's nice to be noticed for something.

From that day to this I've always been very conscious of what I'm saying, well, if I'm concentrating that is. That's why I'm really, really surprised that my top word is still, and not a six letter one beginning with r.