unprecedented

Man, am I tired of this word. Every five seconds. I’m living in unprecedented times. These are unprecedented markets. These are unprecedented situations. Holy hell people, yeah, we get it. We ain’t been ‘ere before. I turn on the TV and there’s a morose yet soothing voice saying someone’s company somewhere is “here for me”. Thanks. I think.

First, let’s solve the problem at hand. Here’s a slew of other words you can consider.

• bizarre   
• extraordinary 
• new   
• uncommon  
• unheard-of   
• unique   
• unusual   
• aberrant   
• abnormal   
• anomalous   
• freakish   
• idiosyncratic   
• odd   
• outre
• outlandish   
• preternatural  
• unexampled

Now. Personally, anything that starts with “un” is really off the list because let’s be honest, that’s just too dang similar and it’s only now a semi-triggering word. I personally like outre because it’s fun to say – oooootray…..but I’m also more likely to use the word “freakish” with friends and “bizarre” in office conversation (because it sounds better than anything that uses the word “freak” in it). “Extraordinary” and “odd” are a little common and perhaps even a little too positive at the moment for me. I can picture a grandma-type saying “My dear! These times are so outlandish!” and likewise, I watch too much Grey’s Anatomy and the term “anomalous” sounds like something you’d do to a liver.

Where’s this got us to now?

• new   
• aberrant   
• abnormal   
• idiosyncratic   
• preternatural  

Hmmm….I feel as if we use “new” we’re going to start to accept this as a new normal and I realize while that may be reality, I’m hoping one day we all are looking forward to a time where we aren’t “back before this all started” but aren’t “accepting that we’ll be living like this and masked forever”.

“Aberrant” is beautifully defined – departing from an accepted standard. I mean, that’s gorgeous, I have departed from what I typically accepted. But it’s also in so little use that I’m gonna have to hashtag and get some internet influencers to make it popular. “Abnormal” – fair game, but again, too generic. “Idiosyncratic” times…..that’s gotta be what we’re living in…the term is derived from Greek sunkratikos ‘mixed together’ – WAIT KIDS! That’s not social distancing…so forget it. Again, another definition winner: “preternatural” meaning “beyond what is normal or natural”…I like it. This is definitely “beyond normal AND way beyondnatural” for me.

So I’m out of words – at least on this subject – for now. I love my denial’s reaction of “can we just be normal now?” even though I’m sitting here knowing I’ll don my mask, I’ll do the distance and I’ll avoid the virus. I guess right now I want to stop being reminded of all this, and find some cozy spot where my muscles will untense, my brain will release and I’ll breathe “normal”