Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the first day of the month is "Hat."
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I spent the last few weeks collecting a bunch of quotes from books I was reading that had the word hat in them. I was thinking about how one of the first words I learned in Spanish was hat and how weird that is (like why hat before dress or pants or whatever?), but as I started looking for it, it seems like it appears in most books. So I guess it's a noun that does come up regularly in speech.
It was such a fun thing to do, too. It felt like a scavenger hunt while I was reading and it was a good time.
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| I promised you more creepy kid sculptures from around town. |
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The wizard on his T-shirt's half-hidden beneath the table, so it looks like he's just a decapitated, pointy-hat-wearing head. - Seven Percent of Ro Devereaux, page 130
"Then I'd wander through the market and look in some stores to buy things I don't need, like a hat." - The Stand-In, page 286
If she makes the hat-trick, maybe Parks will even start to relax a little around her. - The Girl with All the Gifts, location 3099
Four of the Old Ones stepped forward. The hedgehog-dwarf; two small, cloaked, manlike beings; a beady-eyed creature in a green hat. - Flame of Sevenwaters, page 409
I understand now why this took so very long to write - the painstaking research bleeds through in every paragraph, from the standard-issue fur-lined hats to the enamel mugs the laborers used to drink their watered-down tea. - Yellowface, page 28
...serenely sleeping princess could turn into a drooling, snoring ogre at the drop of a hat. - How To Fake It In Hollywood, location 2574
Fran had wrapped herself already in her scarf, parka, mittens, hat. - I Have Some Questions for You, page 157
She’s flanked by a middle-aged man in a Silver Belly cowboy hat and a teenage boy in army fatigues who looks a few years younger than me. - Trail of Lightning, page 1 (PAGE ONE! - This sort of ruined the fun of the scavenger hunt, if you know what I mean.)
I threw on two fleeces and a hat. - Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, page 72
He tugs his knit hat down over his ears. - The Starless Sea, time stamp 56:49 on the audiobook
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What's another word that you don't necessarily say every day, but is still common enough that you'd find it in most books?
What a fun scavenger hunt! We did this at museums and galleries when the kids were young...
ReplyDeleteI LOVE a scavenger hunt at a museum. If there's a kids' program with a scavenger hunt, I'll do it even as an adult. Some of us never grow out of wanting a very curated museum experience.
DeleteYes, that's funny- I wouldn't have thought "hat" would be so ubiquitous, but there it is. No wonder it's one of the first words you learn in Spanish. Offhand I can't think of another word, but i know I'll definitely be looking for "hat" everywhere from now on.
ReplyDeleteI actually can't stop myself from looking even though I've already published the post. Ha! It's now like a reading tic.
DeleteFun scavenger hunt-- I am going to suggest this to Dorothy to make her summer reading list more whimsical.
ReplyDeleteI would LOVE to know if hat is as ubiquitous as in middle/young adult books! I suspect it probably is. Let me know if Dorothy finds it as fun an activity as I did.
DeleteWow, I never would have expected all of these references to hats! I think I would have to intentionally be looking for a word to notice that it's used quite a bit. Now I'm going to pay attention to the use of hats!
ReplyDeleteI saw your comment about getting Gato Guapo from the library. I hope you enjoy it! Paul had fun reading it with me. He'd do the counting part and got really into saying the last number in the way it's meant to be said since it has a question mark behind it. It was fun to keep track of which cats took what piece of clothing page by page. And he liked to see what the names for the things/animals passing as a cat on the back page of the book. We read that book A LOT and he was very sad when we had to take it back to the library last weekend.
I like that this post has spurred people into looking specifically for the word hat. What a lovely impact I've had on the world.
DeleteI don't know when I'll have time for Gato Guapo (maybe mid-week next week?), but I really enjoyed the cover illustration, so hopefully soon!
I can't think of another word, but as a childen's librarian, I am not at all surprised about the prevalence of hats in books. Also, this made me think of once when we were almost home after a long road trip and two-year-old Angus was sleeping in the back seat and suddenly woke up and said "Hat. Hat", which was the first time we thought we might have seen him wake up from a dream, so that was cool. ALSO also, do you know Jon Klassen's children's books about hats? They are hilarious and a little twisted and I love doing them for story time.
ReplyDeleteI know absolutely nothing about children's books, so I've never heard about Jon Klassen, but I just placed a hold on "This Is Not My Hat" because now I'm a person who's taking out picture books like a mad person! Sorry, CHILD, if you want this book. It's mine now!
DeleteThis is so fun. It's interesting, especially the "hat" references that aren't to actual hats.
ReplyDeleteRight? Like, I guess it's fine to find them if they're describing an actual knitted hat or whatever, but hat trick and drop of a hat are fun finds.
DeleteHa, what an interesting pastime! :) It reminds me of Tobia's interesting project of finding poetry in book pages.
ReplyDeleteIt really made reading, even bad or meh books, a lot more enjoyable. Ha!
DeleteOK, this is super-fun. I can't think of another word! So many repeated words are specific to a book. I might start looking for mentions of "hat", though. I feel like "bag" might show up frequently.
ReplyDeleteRE: museum scavenger hunts, my dad used to give us a quarter if we were able to find a painting in a museum with eyeglasses in it. (He has a huge collection of rare antique eyeglasses. I know. Talk about a niche interest!) Kept us occupied, for sure! Now I just love museums for themselves. Although I still look for glasses, whether he is with me or not. And when he is with me, I always ask for a quarter when I find a painting with glasses. :)
I LOVE that you do a little scavenger hunt with your dad at museums. That's so funny!
DeleteMy mom and I were at a museum in 2016 and there was a scavenger hunt available. I'm 99% sure it was for kids, but my mom and I did it and we had so much fun. LOL. Every museum should have one! (https://ngradstudent.blogspot.com/2016/07/vacation-day-4-theres-good-food-in.html)