I looked over someone's shoulder on the subway today and saw that the puzzles/games page of the freebie newspaper he was reading was titled 'Detours'. The snob in me smirked a bit and wondered whether someone at the paper just looked up a synonym for 'Diversions'. Or is that a legit usage?

Hmm. (Dang it, boronia, I want to give you a nickname, but I want to be sure everyone knows I'd pronounce it bor-OWN, and I'm afraid that if I write boron, people might think of it as BORE-on. Possibly your...uh oh, another tangent coming on, but I'll try and finish one thought at a time for a change. {Note to self: come on, fingers.} And I'm sure not going to put you as bor!) Okay, back to hmm: perhaps the editors meant to give their readers' minds some detours off the beaten paths of their normal routines?

Thought # 2: I started to write that possibly your fellow countryman who yells names in her mind might be worried by a misleading spelling. (No offense, old Bean!) Then I thought I should put countrywoman. THEN I thought that using "fellow" with countrywoman was really a contradiction in terms. So THEN,

Thought # 3: Is there a feminine counterpart to "fellow" that is used in this sense? Is there any other word at all?

(Whew, I feel a little dizzy...)

you guys crack me up!

boronia, is it a publication specifically aimed at commuters? Thence, perhaps, the name.

Jackie, you're a reg'lar Virginia Woolf!

Sounds plausible. Really must de-snob-ify myself and think a little more.