P words are among my favorite words. There are probably more great P words than any other letter. You can turn almost anything into a great string of P's. For instance, when I worked in the loan business decades ago, there was a general rule of thumb that had been handed down from one generation to the next, that you never loaned money to anyone who's profession started with a P. They were professions that were considered at high risk to default on a loan, each for its own reason. The the seven dreaded P's were; Police, Politicians, Preachers, Painters, Plumbers, Prostitutes, Physicians, and an eighth that I added, Psychologist. The theory was Police viewed a loan as a payoff for a favor, trying to collect it invited trouble, Politicians for the same reason.
Preachers evolved from Politicians and viewed a loan as a donation, while Painters and Plumbers were generally irresponsible inebriates. Prostitutes were considered poor risks because all of their money went to their Pimps (a class that never needed a loan). Physicians of course with the money they made, and still needed a loan, had a problem such as an addiction to gambling, Prostitutes or Pharmaceuticals. The eighth one that I added to the list, Psychologist, was added because I found that Psychologists were generally people who were messed up mentally, and studied psychology in attempting a self cure. Of course the ones that were unsuccessful in fixing themselves, kept studying until they had a degree in psychology and hence became full-fledged licensed and dysfunctional Psychologists.
Now if you examine this list carefully, you will see that there are other equally descriptive terms for most of these P words, such as Law Enforcement Officer, (Politicians let's face it, are just Politicians), Ministers, (Painters and Plumbers today aren't inebriates but millionaires), Whores, Medical Doctors, and Nut Cases (or maybe Psychologists does sound more politically correct). The point is you can take almost any kind of generic list and convert it to a neat P list.
I have an organizational P list also. My organizational P list is a bit more "positive" (a nice P word) than the "do not loan to" P list. It goes: People, Plant, Pesos, Purpose, Plan, Process, Procedure, Performance, Production, Price, Profit, and Place. Some of those are self explanatory and some need minor interpretation, but I won't explain each of those key elements here. The point is there is a wide range of really neat P words that can be used to build neat lists.
Do you have a favorite P list? Someone once sent me a list titled "Public Places I have Pee'd". That one was a little off color and impolite, not to mention plainly perverted, but you come to expect a certain amount of edgy material like that here beneath the Carolina moon.
I'm out of town for the remainder of the week and net access is spoty at best, but next week we tackle Q. Oh joy!
Dread
