Tag Archives: limp

Announce

dictionary with letter A

Announce: (v) to make a public and typical formal declaration

I attended a wedding.

It was a festive affair, as they often are. I don’t know of anything quite like marriage, which gains such optimism and steam during the reception, only to be regaled as nearly hopeless by the time the guests reach the parking lot.

But I digress.

At this wedding, there was a flurry of toasts given to the bride and groom. In the midst of these salutes, one young gentleman stood to his feet, lifting his glass to the recently betrothed, and said, “I want to announce that I got a job on Thursday that pays 47K a year, which is a step up for me.”

There was a pause. You could sense the reasoning in the entire room.

  • Yes, this is obviously an unnecessary announcement for this moment.
  • Yes, it reeks a bit of selfishness.
  • Of course, it will keep some awkwardness in the air, until we are well into the cake-cutting ceremony.

At length, someone trickled off a limp representation of applause, duplicated by those souls most forbearing.

Our announcer was completely satisfied, smiled at the entire room, tipped his glass and drank it down.

Now, I was intrigued. I watched him for the next ten minutes as he beamed to those around him his glee over his recent acquisition, hoping to receive adulation, only being compensated with nervous nods.

Announcements are nice. Three things are important for them, though:

1. They should be on point, and not obtuse.

2. They should benefit the common good of the hearers available.

3. They should be doused in humility and a bit of reluctance, so there’s more joy coming from others than hemorrhaging off the speaker’s ego.

To conclude my story, I will tell you that the person who followed our bizarre announcer with the next toast was careful to elongate it with sufficient focus and praise back onto the blissful duo.

It’s the beauty of life.

For every fool who poops in the middle of the road, God seems to send a patient soul behind him … with a pooper scooper.

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Thank you for enjoying Words from Dic(tionary) —  J.R. Practix

Amble

dictionary with letter A Amble: (v) walk or move at a slow, relaxed pace

I started to amble many years ago.

My body was favorable to the concept, and my mind was not in a mood to argue. Maybe I began too soon; perhaps what you might call a preamble (even though I’m sure that’s not the definition).

But over the years, my amble has incorporated a bit of a hobble. Perhaps it’s just a limp. But my right knee is not willing to amble anymore, so even though the left knee is faithful to pursue that style of walking, when the two blend, I guess what you come up with is a “hamble”.

At a distance you might think, “Is that gentleman hobbling? Or is he just walking slowly (what we might call an amble)?”

Of course, the truth of the matter would be that if anyone was analyzing another person’s stroll, it might be safe to call them weird.