I often imagine how people wake up, or rather, to what they wake up. Some are exhilarated, maybe newly engaged or married, some exhausted with a new baby, some broken hearted with loss, some dulled with boredom and some feeling like a horse's ass. How did your new year begin?
Not a big fan of New Year's Eve but I do like New Year's Day. It has the same shiny feeling as buying a new notebook and sharpening pencils for the first day of school. I also like making resolutions, just one or two, thereby cutting down on disappointments. I begin by thinking about how I want my life to be different a year from now and base my resolutions on that. Next year, I want to be healthier. Not an exciting resolution; not like saying I want to get my pilot's license or finally play Hedda Gabler, but it's a good, solid resolution.
My second resolution is to change the world. Not all the world, of course, just a sliver, but millions will benefit. Here's my plan: get rid of the word, "amazing." The word is a prolific weed invading every field of life. I find it most annoying when someone being interviewed is asked how they feel about an important event: How was that trip to the moon? How did you feel when you won the Academy Award? What did you think when your neighbors built you a new house? Eyes widen then freeze as the interviewee searches for the exact word to convey the feeling. A big pause, a little intake of air, a slight head swing left to right and then out comes, "AMAZING."
Enough. It's had a good run but it's time to find a replacement. And, no going back to "awesome" or "surreal" or the less tiresome "brilliant" or "excellent" for which Canadians have an affinity.
Here is my choice for 2012 ... "wondrous." The first syllable can be drawn out to emphasis just how amazing (oops) something is or the second syllable can be hammered for a kind of gangsta cool or cynical disdain. So, I'm putting "wondrous" out there and hoping to see it spread around the world. To get it started, I'm wishing you a wondrous year with many happy morning wakenings.
5 comments:
Wondrous is an inspired choice. Amazing and awesome deserve to die. But please note that Canadians say cool, while brilliant is little heard outside of Ireland and England.
It's true, Mike the Canuck, about brilliant. But I am Canadian and I do say "excellent" a lot. It's a cool word. And wondrous... well, that's just brilliant!
I suggest we all start saying "mediocre". I simply cannot keep up with having awesome, excellent and super days. What was that you wrote, Bridget, about cutting down on disappointments? Now, "Have a mediocre day" -- I can do that!
Wondrous post - really excellent!
Hi Mike the Canuck,
Kinda intuited that "brilliant" and "excellent" were a bit too posh...you know, like for them Canadians up there.
I laughed out loud when I read this! A list of words came out that should be dropped and lo and behold there was amazing. I am also soooooo tired of always hearing "we are humans"-duh, no kidding. That is much overused.
I like "have a mediocre day".
Dear Anonymous, hope you have a very mediocre day. Thanks for the comment.
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