I recently signed up for the Word of the Day from Urban Dictionary, and one of the words that caught my eye was multislacking: doing multiple slackeresque things concurrently. I think this includes things like listening to a podcast while writing this blog, as opposed to working on my current WIP. Then there's reading while watching TV, playing Solitaire while listening to the radio. You get the picture.
Of course, we've had a perfectly good word for this for many years: procrastination. Serendipitously, Slate Magazine recently published a special issue on procrastination. Being a first class procrastinator, I haven't read all the articles yet, but I did read Ben Zimmer's on "Pro·cras·ti·na·tion: How we got a word for "putting things off." The word comes "rom the Latin verb procrastinare, combining the prefix pro- forward - with crastinus "of tomorrow" — hence, moving something forward from one day until the next."
In other words, the tendency to procrastinate has been with us for a very long time and is probably an integral part of human nature.
Are you a multislacker? If so, what are you favorite ways to procrastinate?
Linda
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
And here I thought the word procrastinate was invented just for me! I'm definitely a procrastinator but I don't see myself as a multislacker. When I do one thing to avoid doing another, I do it with gusto. I mean, I have to at least LOOK like I'm too busy to do what I SHOULD be doing. Yes? :-/
~Debbie
Debbie, lol, good point about trying to look busy while procrastinating. I guess that's the difference between a serious slacker and a multislacker. :;
I do think procrastination was invented for writers, though.
Linda
Procrastination = weighing decisions.
Good way to look at it, Rhonda. I hope you're not as indecisive as I can be at times. "The confused mind makes no decisions."
Linda
Post a Comment