Idioms for a Bad Week
A few pat phrases might help.
It’s been a tough week. No exaggeration. Uncertainty was high. Cortisol peaked. Fear prevailed over Faith. Optimism cowered in the corner.
As I was thinking it through yesterday, a series of idioms kept running through my mind. Silly stuff. But I do love an idiom. And an occasional pat phrase. This post is full of them; as in Where’s Waldo, see if you can spot them all.
I’ve got a sinking feeling.
You know when things just feel off? The knot forms in your gut, your throat tightens, and you just Know. There’s something about this interaction that is a warning.
Anxiety rises. As does the hair on the back of your neck. You have a sneaking suspicion that things are off. Because you’ve been around the block a few times. It’s not your first time at the rodeo.
I’m in dire straits.
Dire means extremely serious. Straits are narrow passages of water connecting two larger bodies of water. Navigating these can be challenging, dangerous, even perilous. So, you know, rough waters ahead.
U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt first used the term “dire straits” in a 1933 radio address concerning people who found themselves out of work during the Great Depression.
In 1977, the Dire Straits, a British alt rock band best known for “Money for Nothing,” formed. Sting made a brief appearance in that 80’s hit, singing the line “I want my MTV.” It was an era.1
Yes, I find myself in a serious predicament. Actually, a whole series of serious predicaments. It’s been this way for a few years now—just as I begin to crawl out of the strait, battered and exhausted, breathing a sigh of relief as I gain a foothold, the water pulls me back in. Have you been around that block a few times yourself?
The history of the dire straits idiom, well, it resonates. So now, I’m tearing my hair out. Grasping at straws. Having kittens. Beside myself. Bent out of shape. In moments, madder than an old wet hen because, once again, I’m up the creek without a paddle.
Meanwhile ….
I screwed the pooch.
My Momma used to say this. I’m pretty sure she never stopped to think about what she was saying. She was an American history teacher turned middle school principle who rocked babies in the nursery and sang in the choir at the Southern Baptist church on Sundays.
Tom Wolfe popularized this Cold War era NASA jargon in the 1979 book The Right Stuff. Wolfe, protagonist of New Journalism, was a cultural commentator who coined several metonyms we know and love, such as pushing the envelope, catching the flack, and good ol’ boy.2 But in researching the pooch idiom, I found this explanation, which is both wrong. And right.
We recommend not being too literal with this one. To screw the pooch is to make a big or humiliating mistake. If you somehow screwed an actual pooch (dog), dear friend, then you seriously screwed the pooch somewhere along the way.3
Um, yeah. Pretty sure my Momma didn’t think it through. It still makes me laugh. Except this week I wasn’t laughing. I closed the week out with a technology fail, alongside some other dumb mistakes. Insert facepalm emoji. I screwed the pooch.
On another front, it became clear.
That dog won’t hunt.
In my early days at the law firm, I worked for a true Southern gentleman. An honorable man who wore seersucker suits with bow ties on Fridays. He lives by the phrase “measure twice, cut once.” From him, I learned “that dog won’t hunt.”
It’s a no-go. A non-starter.4 That big idea? It’s not happening.
“It’s been a long week.” — Me in the middle of Tuesday.
I don’t know who said it. But they nailed it. Boom. Spot on.
It happens sometimes. I know you know. Distractions. Disappointments. Diversions. Disempowered. Disheartened. Directionless. Dark, really.
You might advise: Bite the bullet. Keep a stiff upper lip. Chin up, princess, or the crown slips. Really, though, I just wanted to curl up in the fetal position.
Or get drunk as Cooter Brown. (Look it up. You will not be sorry.) I can neither confirm nor deny.
But.
Storms clear paths.
This much, I know. So if you’ve had a bad day, a bad week, a bad year. Trust. The path reveals itself as you walk it.
Keep moving, Love. Keep moving, with Love.
Why share this? Because I tend to work things out on paper. Because it’s better when we walk together. Because I needed to laugh. Because I needed to create a silk purse from a sow’s ear. Because in our sunshine-and-roses Instagram world, we can lose sight of the fact that everyone struggles. So just a reminder, through two more pat phrases: perfect is the enemy of good; tomorrow is another day. XO, Ash
By the way, if you need some positive technicolor vibes to lift your spirits, tune in to my conversation with Peter Poulos (a/k/a @therealchampagnepete on Instagram), Episode 21 of The KickAshLife Podcast. Sommelier, dance choreographer, and vibrant energetic light, Peter speaks of self care and reminds us that “you are the star of your life!”
See https://grammarist.com/phrase/dire-straits. I spent two decades writing legal briefs filed with courts. I’ll likely never lose the urge to cite a source. Give credit where credit is due.
See www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/tom-wolfe-death-influence-terms-coined-vocabulary.html.
See www.dictionary.com/e/slang.
See https://www.urbandictionary.com.
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