~Wednesday~ Early afternoon, my friend and colleague, Jen, came into my office and asked, "You wanna play hooky from work this afternoon and go see a movie with me?"
In a complete digression: Where does that idiom "playing hooky" come from? This is the explanation from Ask Yahoo!
No one is quite sure about the origin of the phrase "playing hooky." We consulted the top three online word sleuths and found a number of intriguing explanations.
- The Phrase Finder offers a few possible origins, including "to hook it" or "to escape or make off." To "hook something" is also an old slang term for stealing, as in "stealing a day off."
- The Word Detective dates the first printed use of the phrase to 1848 and relates it to the 19th-century phrase "hooky-crooky," which means "dishonest or underhanded." The parent of this phrase is "by hook or by crook," meaning "by any means necessary."
- Word Origins suggests that the phrase comes from hoekje, the Dutch name for hide and seek.
The phrase seems to be waning in popularity with the younger folks these days. Most kids simply refer to skipping school as "cutting." But regardless of what it's called, the time-honored practice of playing hooky seems here to stay.
We went to the 3:00 screen of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Jen had read the book; I hadn’t. We watched the trailer before leaving the office, after which I was intrigued, but I still didn’t have a good feel for what the movie was about.
At the risk of sounding snooty, I will preface my comments about this film with the disclaimer that I rarely see mainstream movies, mostly because I hate Hollywood endings.
I like people to die at the end of my movies. A murder-suicide is bonus. Those tired, happily-ever-after, boy-gets-girl endings turn my stomach. Some time I’ll tell you how I really feel.
Anyway… I really enjoyed the movie. It was dark, which appeals to me. I found the mystery that untangled along the way compelling, and during the film I was at times—and sometimes simultaneously: tense, angry, curious, and visually satisfied.
I really enjoyed the use of technology in the film, and more than a few times I was proud to be a Mac owner and user. I also liked that the protagonist was female, and tech-savvy (to put it mildly).
Example of tech savviness: Male protagonist: “You know my password???” Female protagonist: “Please.”
I didn’t look at the time once, and in fact, I was totally surprised that it was as late as it was when it was over—not having realized going into it that it was a two-hour and fifteen-minute show.