Posted 9-20-19
“It’s about time!”. I can remember this familiar refrain coming from mom’s mouth a hundred times in my youth. It was usually under her breath, mind you, but it was loud enough for me to understand that I was dillydallying on a task yet again. “It’s about time that you mowed the yard! There were hyenas taunting us out there!” or “It’s about time you changed your oil in the Dodge Omni! I think the dinosaurs were reformulating in your oil pan!” Mom usually told me after the fact as a reminder to try to improve the speed at which I did my tasks, a fact that I not only knew already but had milked to the nth degree before caving in to accomplish said task.
You see, I had a girlfriend to tend to in the late 1980’s. Miss Susan was my opposite, but was the Beauty to my Beast or, perhaps, the peanut butter to my Eggo. We were, and are, very different. We took a personality type test recently and this explained things well. It was the Enneagram test and both I and my son were what is referred to as two wing one (Helper/reformer)…and my blushing bride was a five wing six (Investigator/Loyalist). Here is a link you can try if you want to see how you measure up and what the possible benefits/ramifications for your group may be. Suffice it to say we are true opposites in most ways. But, it works. It worked so well in schools that the “It’s about times” came a lot as my time with her consumed much of my time.
Today I want to discuss the two meanings of “It’s about time” a tad more, as drawn from the ever-helpful Applegate Not an Opinion Dictionary of Didactic Booty of American Linguistic Liberty-taking (or A.N. O.D.D.B.A.L.L., for short).
It’s About Time:
Definition 1: Often sarcastic. It can be premeditated or passively aggressively spoken after the fact to state displeasure in the timeframe at which something is accomplished. It is often accompanied with 1-3 sighs and an eye roll by the speaker and the hearer. As I reminder:
Definition 2: The more literal entomology of the phrase. (Note: I like to misspell this term because using the incorrect term really bugs people). OK…an correct, alternative meaning of the phrase by just breaking down the words through my present day eyes:
It’s: “It is.” The subject “it” meets the qualifications of what comes next. (It is/It’s a hot mess)
About: Regarding, pertaining to. (Digital Cornbread talks about dementia and fishing and getting injured and small town living and brains and 17 sweet ladies plus mom, and odd things)
Time: Years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. (Time flies!)
My final use of this phrase:
It’s about time we come up with a cure for this stupid disease! Let’s make a push, be sure the finest minds are on the research, be sure those suffering have the help they need, be sure that the world understands some basic prevention philosophies (what’s good for the heart is good for the brain), and block out all of the other chatter. Let’s do this! Now. Let’s pray…a lot. Let’s serve…a lot. Let’s give $… a lot, Let’s advocate… a lot! Let’s love…a lot. and let’s kick this disease’s butt, starting now and continuing tomorrow at the Walk to End Alzheimer’s–Springfield! It’s about time for a cure! It’s about time for a white flower at the Walk to End Alzheimer’s! 1,000,000 white flowers! Now is the time…for mom…for the Sweet 17…and for the millions and millions and millions! It’s about time we #EndALZ!
#EndALZ