Temporize

Word of the Day Tuesday, March 02, 2010

temporize

\TEM-puh-ryz\ , intransitive verb;

1. To be indecisive or evasive in order to gain time or delay action.
2. To comply with the time or occasion; to yield to prevailing opinion or circumstances.
3. To engage in discussions or negotiations so as to gain time (usually followed by 'with').
4. To come to terms (usually followed by 'with').

"Soooooo, it turns out this musical is, like, really dangerrrrrrous."

The teenage girl sitting next to me on the bus was speaking to her two friends sitting in the seats in front of me.

"Beeeccccccause, like, Kaitlyn is on vocal rest. She can't talk in class even," she went on.

"She can't talk in class?" the girl in front exclaimed, "Teachers can't call on her?"

"No, like, she is reaaaaall dedicated to the musical and opening night is coooommmming up, and all the teachers are respecting thaaaaaaat."

I tried to concentrate on my book, but her long drawn out words were driving me to distraction. Was it a temporization method honed over years of evasive teenage communication? Or was it just a bizarre quirk of teenage girls these days?

"Buuuuuuut, I think she is feeling better, beeeeeecause I was getting books out of my looooooocker and she walked by and totally smacked meeeeeeeee on the butt. She couldn't say aaaaaaannnnything, but I could just tell she had this merciless laugh on the inside that she wanted to let out."

"Oh my God," I thought, "this conversation makes me want to die."

I closed my book and starred out the window at the passing scenery mentally trying to memorize the conversation so I could mock them in my blog later that night.