You’ll have to excuse this scribbler his fascination with words. I just can’t help it when one comes along and gets used every minute of every day, regardless of whether its usage is correct or apt.
The official word of the present cold spell afflicting Ireland and the U.K. is ‘treacherous’. The roads are treacherous. The pavements are treacherous. The black ice is treacherous. News readers and nanny’s alike use the word at every and any given opportunity, but each time the sad pedant that I am hears it, I want to wander off with that person into a gentle line of whimsical enquiry.
Do they really feel that the roads are treacherous? Do they believe the little lumps of tarmac are conspiring to trick them? Will the pavements chuckle with evil mirth as the old fella slips on the ice?
At a push, I can accept that we rely on the safety of surfaces upon which we walk and drive, so that if they should suddenly become dangerous they are in no small way letting us down. Even though I see ‘treachery’ as something rather grander, involving a castle, a king, a dagger and a close confidante sneaking into a royal bedchamber in the cold dark night, I can see how a pavement or a road might be construed as treacherous, if rather than supporting you safely it suddenly threatens your life.
But give a break to the black ice, eh? Black ice is designed to be dangerous and invisible. As it causes your car to skid it is simply fulfilling its own destiny. If black ice were to be truly treacherous it would probably have to melt upon impact with rubber, thus letting the black ice side down altogether.
If it’s treacherous you want, take a look at the way Nick Clegg and his Lib Dems have sold out their voters in England,.or the way the Irish people have been financially murderated to save the euro.
The black ice is innocent. It may be lethal , but it’s meant to be.
8 comments:
Funny, agree the use of language is funny, but at the moment I think all nature is conspiring against me at the moment.
It's all out to get you Paz. When you're not around we all lie on loungers beside swimming pools under 25 degree sunshine skies, sipping cocktails and having a good old larf about how we got ya.
Seriously though, in what way is nature conspiring to make you feel miserable?
It obviously isn't, just trying to get things done in this weather and being stuck on the office does not help elevate ones mood
Understood Paz - mood is tricky business in the winter, trying to get daylight and avoid S.A.D., but with your camera it appears you manage to spend a good few hours out and about in rural splendour! That must help the mood a fair bit. Your work certainly helps mine!
S.A.D. does not bother me too much, glad to hear that my pictures have some uses.
Absolutely! One of the reasons my missis is called the Snapper is that with her camera she can capture the essential beauty of a wild flower better than anyone. I enjoy your work in very much the same way as hers.
Great post, Charlie. We have the dreaded "black ice" across the pond as well and it's just as "treacherous" or rather the weather people usually make it a lot more treacherous then it really is. They've got to make it as dramactic as possible. Because obviously there isn't enough drama in the world.
Thanks Jeanne - over here we've had the country going broke, yet that was so last week. Now they lead the news with with the most important news is that 2 inches of snow fell on Dublin!
Despite the media's best efforts to make us fearful, i refuse to succumb. As a wise friend once said to me, if you sleep warm in your bed at night with a full belly, secure in the knowledge that nobody you love will be taken in the night, you have no worries.
Hope you are safe warm and snug over there, and that you're enjoying your first festive holiday in your new home.
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