In the dim dark recesses of h2g2 history before we moved lock, stock and barrel to our new BBC home there used to be a front page feature The h2g2 Word of the Day. It was a way to highlight some of the lesser occurring or largely obscurer words in the English language. Sadly this feature was discontinued.

Until now...

Word for the Week

This week is national procrastination week, so I'm
going out on a limb .

Procrastinate
v. transitive senses: to put off intentionally
and habitually intransitive senses : to put off intentionally the
doing of something that should be done

Oddly enough h2g2 researchers do not procrastinate about using the word procrastinate in their posts. It appears often and in varied contexts throughout the guide. Of course this isn't surprising bearing in mind that Douglas Adams was the Godfather of Procrastination. After all didn't he say 'I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by.'

There is a sad lost article in the flea market by
Paulo on How to Procrastinate. There is also an early unedited entry called Procrastination from August 1999
by bubster and I quote it in full.

Don't ask me. I haven't even begun
to procrastinate yet. I mean, why put off to tomorrow what you can put off to Friday week...?

One procrastinator uses the word as a title in his journal from an entry on 1 March 2003. YeDiarist says 'I tend to procrastinate when I'm busiest. At the moment I am running so many personal projects I do not know which one to focus on. So I procrastinate. I make more coffee. etc...' he finishes this entry by saying 'Off for coffee'. Wonder if he is still procrastinating as
he hasn't be around much since then.

In the thread which started humbly as Bras, but became Bras/Boxers/Basques/Hotpants/Hugs/Randy Computer Equipment/Corset/Wedding/Wings/Cake a pre-beeb Mina was heard to type in response to Dr E Vibenstein planning to spring a surprise 27
days hence 'Better (tell me) at least a week before hon. I'd need that long to procrastinate'.

On of the earliest researchers - Goddess of Timewasting and Procrastination - wrote in her journal on 31 July
1999 'There shall always be newer and more exciting ways to procrastinate (there are more things that look more exciting than the dreaded object procrastinated).'

From the Archive

For a change I have attempted to keep word of the week with this weeks theme of procrastination. Nothing in the archive is really suitable however I do think this week's look into the archive gets across some element of that.

Obdurate
adj. stubbornly refusing to changes one's opinion
or course of action.

This word has made its way into an edited guide article on Lindsay Anderson - Director written by fords. It is a quote from the memorial lecture given by David Storey describing the man amongst other things as 'An intellectual and yet an artist. He was cantankerous, vituperative, obdurate and acerbic, yet incorrigibly loyal and unfailingly
generous'. Now that I've got you all reaching for your
dictionary, I fell I can procrastinate until the same time next week.

1. Go and check out words in the archive to avoid
   duplication.
2. Check out the discussion threads and nominate a
   word that you feel was overlooked before
   discontinuation.
3. Suggest a new word or your forgotten word in the
   word of the week
   archive conversation.

The Word of
the Week Archive

Demon Drawer

11.03.04 Front Page

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