Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Today...


Today I'm going to put my geese* in a row, and
then let things happen as they may. 

I like to have a plan. I like to know what is going to happen and how I can best use my time and efforts with it. But you know what happens to best laid plans...**  When that happens, I am going to just go with the flow*** and not get stressed about it. Because try as I might, there's only so much that is under my control.

*The phrase is actually, "Get you ducks in a row," but I didn't have any pictures of ducks, so I said geese. And the rest of my family can't tell the difference between a duck and a goose, so maybe it doesn't really matter. I wondered where the phrase came from, and as with most of these sayings, there are several ideas. The first is a mother duck getting her ducklings in a row behind her. Another says that it is getting bowling duckpins in a row for the next ball.

**I tried to remember what came next after, "Best laid plans..." but I couldn't. Turns out the whole phrase is "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry," and comes from a Robert Burns poem, To a Mouse, written in 1786.

***Another wording of this is "Go with the tide".

Photo by Theo.

8 comments:

  1. I don't think I've ever heard the rest of the phrase for "best laid plans". Interesting!

    I like to have a plan, too. I am too scattered if I don't at least begin with a plan.

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    1. I certainly get more accomplished if I have a plan. The key for me is not to get upset if things happen that I hadn't planned for.

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  2. I enjoy learning origins of odd phrases. Cats sure don't line up and march along. I'm always trying to go with the flow instead of getting stressed over things I can't control, but I keep reverting to the stress way anyhow. Good luck with your "go with the tide" way. It is the best way.

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    1. I'm better going with the flow than I used to be, but still have room for improvement.

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  3. I like having a plan too... of course it seldom works out the way I imagine it, but it does give me an illusion of control! And the duckpins thing is fascinating... I too love researching the history of phrases. I suppose there are some obvious ones that will become mysterious to future generations - like "sounding like a broken record!"

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    1. That's a good example. I'm gonna have to ask my kids if they know what that means.

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  4. This is how I learned the "mice and men" saying--“The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley.” I think your version was adapted from the Scottish version, but I'm too lazy to research it. :) My Word Nerd tendencies come out again ...

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    1. Yes, I think it was adapted from the Scottish version. Most sources listed "Gang aft a-gley" as the original version, then translated it.

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What do you think?