Wha la, another thing coming and the Trojan Horse

Well, I have to climb on my "English major" soapbox for a few minutes.

First, someone on one of the needlework chat rooms to which I belong posted a photograph of a completed project, noting "wha la."  I think that's "voila".  Not sure how you could hear "voila" often enough to know what it means without knowing how to pronounce or spell it.

Another error I run across with some frequency is an author having a character utter the phrase, "well, if you think that, you have another thing coming."  What?  How does that make sense?  I think the authors in question need "another think coming."

And the third item: we're studying "Pericles" in this spring's Shakespeare class.  We're reading an edition that has lots and lots of notes to the point that I feel like my intelligence is being insulted.  I'm guessing the edition is designed for college students (the play wouldn't fit in high school), but if current college students need this level of explanation, we're in big trouble.

Case in point: Pericles says in Act 1, Scene 4, when he arrives in Tarsus:

"And these our ships, you happily may think 

Are like the Trojan horse was stuffed within

With bloody veins expecting overthrow...."

This text is accompanied by the explanation, complete with picture, that the Trojan horse was "an enormous wooden horse, stuffed with Greek soldiers who burned down Troy." 

As for stitching, a big catastrophe this week.  I sat down and went to position my magnifying lamp to begin stitching, only to discover that my lamp no longer was self-balancing, that is, the swing arm did not stay at the level I put it.  The lamp ended up falling to its lowest level, which meant it was literally in my lap, and there was no way to stitch under it.  Well, when there's a will, there's a way. Since I couldn't adjust the lamp, I needed to adjust the stitching area.  I raised the lamp base on a pile of books (still too low), then on a low end table (too high), and finally used a small stool I had in the closet (just right).  So I could continue stitching while I ordered a replacement lamp swing arm attachment.  It arrived today, so I can send my original lamp swing arm back to the factory for repair. What can I say but voila! (or is that wha la?), I'm back in business.