And with that, half the people in the DC area cringed, then sighed, then gave up on getting to work on time. It's amazing how one simple phrase--seemingly innocuous to the outside ear--can evoke so many emotions from people in a metropolitan area of several million. People from Ashburn and Springfield to Laurel and Frederick have strong feelings about the word "momentarily," all thanks to the inability of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to accurately know what the word means.
In WMATAland, momentarily ranges from a low of a few seconds to as many as 15 minutes. I'm a transportation junkie and some of the blogs on transportation and smart growth in the area have rightly pointed out that people would prefer to hear nothing than hear this phrase which should mean so much but really means so little. With no communication, I don't expect my train to move and therefore get excited every time it does. Yes, a problem, but at least setting the bar low. Even though I know "momentarily" has such a wide range here, I always believe this time will be a correct application of the word and that my train will, in fact, be moving momentarily.
I started conceptualizing this post on Sunday as a post about catchphrases and things we say so much that we have warped the meanings of those words. I have a lot of them and am trying to be better about saying words I truly mean. But then my Monday morning commute rolled around, and in true WMATA fashion, there were unannounced delays and lots of momentarilies. So a post about catchphrases will have to wait (maybe forever...I intend to come back to topics but then forget about it) and instead, y'all get a lovely post about WMATA. And the fact that we are not, contrary to what the train conductor says, moving momentarily as we hold each stop for several minutes and in between stops for several more.
No matter how bad the commute may be, my day is always brightened when I get off the Metro and my favorite street musician--Emma G--is performing. She's a good singer, has a positive attitude, and it's hard walking away from Metro steamed after hearing her. Sadly, she wasn't outside Metro on Monday. :(
I started conceptualizing this post on Sunday as a post about catchphrases and things we say so much that we have warped the meanings of those words. I have a lot of them and am trying to be better about saying words I truly mean. But then my Monday morning commute rolled around, and in true WMATA fashion, there were unannounced delays and lots of momentarilies. So a post about catchphrases will have to wait (maybe forever...I intend to come back to topics but then forget about it) and instead, y'all get a lovely post about WMATA. And the fact that we are not, contrary to what the train conductor says, moving momentarily as we hold each stop for several minutes and in between stops for several more.
No matter how bad the commute may be, my day is always brightened when I get off the Metro and my favorite street musician--Emma G--is performing. She's a good singer, has a positive attitude, and it's hard walking away from Metro steamed after hearing her. Sadly, she wasn't outside Metro on Monday. :(
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