“Man, but I’m busy! When will this stop?”
My contribution to last Saturday’s “Faith Forum” came in, as is often the case with me, very tight to the deadline. That’s been the bane of my relationships with editors, news directors and, in this case, the Faith Forum coordinator.
So, when I went to offer an excuse/apology for the lateness, I started to write, “I’ve been really busy”. And I caught myself, because “busy” has become a negative word – a “four-letter” word, in fact.
(For those of a younger generation than mine, there was a time when the most offensive words in the English language, words like ****, ****, **** and even, if you can believe it, ****, had one thing in common: each had four letters. I realize that these days, pretty much the only place where you can be guaranteed not to hear those words and others like them is a Hallmark Christmas movie, so the idea that a “four-letter word” is necessarily a “bad” word might be outmoded. But work with me on this, OK?)