Month: August 2020

Diddle, Doddle, Dawdle

Posted on by Robert Eck

During the Covid-19 self quarantine and beyond, a home-bound body becomes captive of repetitive and trifling activities that used to be confined to folks who have reached a respectable old age, including, according to word definitions of dictionary.com, to:

— Dawdle: To waste time, be slow
— Doodle:  To scribble absent mindlessly
— Patter:  to talk rapidly, chatter
— Diddle: To pass time aimlessly or unproductively [cite]
— Fiddle:  To touch or fidget with something in a restless or nervous way
— Piddle:  To spend time with unimportant matters; to work in a trifling manner
— Piffle:  To talk in a trifling and ineffective way.
— Dither:  To be indecisive.

Because of pure monotony and boredom, one could easily become immersed in many innocuous topics, thus being receptive to dither, dawdle, doodle, diddle, fiddle, piddle, piffle and patter — ad nauseam.  Importantly, if you live alone, it does not matter; but if you live with someone, then a mutual exchange of piffle could lead to an unpleasant squabble; i.e., a noisy quarrel about something petty or trivial, leading one to be likened to a dottle:  a remnant of used tobacco left in a pipe — a burned out remnant long past it’s usefulness, with little kick left.  

In addition, the lack of exercise reduces needed vibrant oxygen to one’s brain cells, which could bring about an unsteadiness in speech and movement, causing one to:

— Dodder: tremble, usually because of old age  
— Totter:  walk unsteadily
— Tottle: to walk in a wavering unsteady manner.

So what do dawdle, doodle, patter, diddle, fiddle, piddle, piffle, dither, dodder, totter, tottle squabble have in common?  Each comprises a two syllable word, accented on the first syllable, which drones on like iambs, suggesting that one has too much time on their hands with not enough to do — a common result of isolation. 

Finally, I sense that I have diddled, piddled and dawdled in piffle long enough, so I will totter and tottle on, ending this post, like a dottle.   

Fashion

Posted on by Robert Eck

Over the years, I lived through many fashion changes, and resisted all of them until no other alternatives became available.  Then, with stubborn reluctance, I gradually succumbed to accept some modest changes, just about the time the fashion craze moved on to something else.   

For example, In the early sixties, the style was skinny ties, about 1 1/2” wide, with jacket lapels the same.  A shirt had a narrow collar, with holes to attach a tie pin under the skinny knot of the tie.  Boffo!  What a great look, until the Vietnam era brought riots into the streets.  The fashion turned 180 degrees, sporting extra-wide jacket lapels, bell bottom trousers, and wide ties — suitable substitutes for a lobster bib to keep your shirt clean.  Reluctantly, I gradually moved into fashion, and kept the remnants in my historical closet repertoire.  After all, one never knows when an out-of-date fashion may return.  

Occasionally, when searching for something to wear, I would fetch a remnant, and my wife would say:”  You are going to wear that?’ —  a put down by a more knowledgeable fashion plate than myself.  Some time ago, retro parties became in fashion.   Every invitee needed to wear a costume from a former era, sometimes defined with particularity.  I found a bonanza in my closet.  At a Seventies party, I could wear a wide lapel hound’s tooth jacket, over a silken fluffy sleeve blouse, and dark bell bottom pants, with an unbelievably wide tie.  People would ask: “Where did you find that?”  I became the envy of the fashion-less crowd.  I responded, with a satisfied smirk, “In the retro section of my closet.” 

One benefit of the Corona virus quarantine:  I could wear anything I wanted or nothing, because no one could see what I was wearing.  So I relished dressing in old fashions of the past, and acted more youthful than my age, muttering:  “I can’t believe I actually dressed like this once”. 

Old sweat pants, soccer jerseys, white socks, and shorts (when shorts were short and not over the knees) paraded out of my closet, along with the many memories associated with them.  Alas, and at long last, I pitched many of the remnants of past decades, but enjoyed my leisure time reminiscing about earlier times.  My closet is much less crowded because of it.