Propa -- what?

In a comment to yesterday’s post, Karyn said she’d been up all night propagating.

Now, she was talking about being tagged by me and participating in the “meme.” If that doesn’t make sense to you, you haven’t been following my blog for the last few days. Please apply 19 lashes with a wet noodle to a non-sensitive part of your anatomy, and then keep reading. (And don’t let it happen again. Next time the punishment will be much more severe!)

Anyway, “propagating” is a good word, but from her usage it seemed to take on a bit of an ugly feel.

After a little research I found that the word has the same root as “propaganda,” which is what happens when a male goose propagates, right?

Well, I guess that would only be correct in the verb form. As a noun it’s more of a combined form, like “gentleman” is a combination of “gentle” and “man.” As in the following sentence:

“She was a proper goose, and he was a propaganda.”

All of which makes me wonder why the word shows up in the news and in stories so much seeming to refer to slanted information, or information intended to sway opinion. Is that because of the slanted posture and swaying motion of the gander when he’s in the act of propagating?

This is all very complicated.

And I’m still wondering about Karyn spending all night in this activity.

When I challenged her about it (again, see the comments) she reacted defensively and claimed it was MY word. Well, OKAY. It was my word. But I wasn’t the one DOING it all night!

I didn’t even realize she HAD any geese.

(If you’re confused, blame Chenoah’s meme. That’s what I do.)