38. Winning at whelm 🎄
An exploration of being right up to the line.
Dear Reader,
Whether it’s toothpaste, fireplace, blackbird or Substack I love compound words: maybe it’s because of the time I’ve spent in Germany, where words are strung together like verbal paperchains.
I love these examples for being so descriptively obvious:
‘der Fingerhut’ (finger + hat) is thimble, as well as the name for the foxglove flower.
‘der Staubsauger’ (dust + sucker) is vacuum cleaner.
‘das Flugzeug’ (flight + stuff) is aeroplane.
These are perhaps more conceptual:
‘die Hochzeit’ (high + time) is wedding.
‘das Schmerzensgeld’ (pain + money) is compensation.
‘der Wichtigtuer’ (important + doer) is busybody or pompous idiot.
And there’s so much scope to go further, look:
‘der Geschäftsführer’ (business + leader) is company director.
‘die Geschäftsführeranstellung’ (business + leader + employment) is the appointment of a company director.
’der Geschäftsführeranstellungsvertrag’ (business + leader + employment + contract) is the contract of employment of a company director.
And there are longer words than that in the German language, trust me!
In this busy, complicated run-up to Christmas I’ve been hearing all sorts of compound words to describe an inability to cope, or an uncomfortable sense of pressure.
‘Burnout’ is one. ‘Overtired’ is another. Someone told me last week that they’re feeling ‘steamrollered’. And Reader, I see the word ‘overwhelm’ everywhere.
Can I even call ‘overwhelm’ a compound word, though, when these days ‘whelm’ doesn’t actually exist in isolation? Yes, we have ‘overwhelm’ and ‘underwhelm’, but modern English is lacking in actual ‘whelm’. Reader, it’s whelmless.
The word ‘whelm’ is one we don’t use today, but it means to engulf or to submerge. It is a surge of water. If a boat is ‘whelmed’, the water is threatening to creep over the gunwales and flood the vessel. If it then becomes ‘overwhelmed’, that boat is pretty much sinking.
From a metaphorical standpoint, to be ‘overwhelmed’ is to be overcome by something to the extent that you cannot cope. Its cousin ‘whelm’ has altogether disappeared from contemporary usage.
Now that I’ve done my duty to acknowledge that it was is actually used to be a word, I’m interpreting modern-day ‘whelm’ for myself as being not quite ‘overwhelm’… but nearly.
DISCLAIMER: What follows should not be taken as an actual definition: please view it as my own interpretation of what I’m calling ‘whelm’.
If I have a lot on my metaphorical plate of Christmas dinner but am pretty sure I can just about gobble up all that turkey without it being too much for me, I am ‘whelmed’.
‘Whelm’ doesn’t mean ‘enough’: it’s not simply a happy medium between ‘overwhelm’ (which I’d define as ‘AAARGGHHH, TOO MUCH, CAN’T COPE!) and ‘underwhelm’ (yeah right, big deal, sooooooo unimpressed……).
Instead ‘whelm’ is just the right side of overwhelm. ‘Whelm’ is busy, very busy, but not quite TOO busy. It’s a feeling of ‘I can’t do much more than this, but I can do this’. It’s a feeling of ‘Wow, I feel great: I’ve got a lot on but I’m nailing all of it.
‘Whelm’ is challenging, but still just about comfortable.
And that’s exactly what I need in the run-up to what is always an overwhelming a busy festive season. I need to #bemorewhelmed.
I mean, yeah, I could relax a bit: take my foot off the gas. Chill. Curl up and read a book one afternoon instead of choosing to tackle ever more of the tasks on my to-do list.
But that’s a double-edged sword. In order not to ‘overwhelm’ myself by throwing myself into every task on my list like a whirling dervish, I’m risking being unimpressed and ‘underwhelmed’ by what I’m not achieving towards Christmas.
Because my to-do list needs to-doing, right?
How will I feel if it doesn’t get to-done?
I want to be busy, but in my all-or-nothing approach to life I’m risking either idleness or burnout. And in the middle, the happy medium is very comfortable, yes, but disappointingly non-committal.
Reader, I’m happy to settle for beyond medium. I want more than enough to do: I want ‘whelm’. Because the right place for me is at the edge, my nose pressed up right against the line between the middle and the gone-too-far. I don’t want to breach the boundary, leave my gunwales unprotected and risk my boat sinking, but I want to be the not quite precarious position of being able to challenge overwhelm up close and laugh in its face at its vain attempts to swamp me.
Do I have enough on my plate? Absolutely. Do I want more? No thanks. Offering me both challenges and comfort, ‘whelm’ is a platter of festive plenty with not quite too much on it.
I’m happy with that.
Happy Christmas, one and all! 🎄 See you on the other side!
Love,
Rebecca
If you’ve enjoyed this post, please let me know by clicking the heart. Thank you!
Where are you more comfortable? Are you a happy medium kind of person? Are you bothered by overwhelm? In this busy festive season are you looking to take a step back to regroup altogether? Or do you thrive on just enough pressure to keep simmering? I’d love to know!
Thank you for reading! If you enjoy ‘Dear Reader, I’m lost’, please share and subscribe for free.
Happy Christmas Rebecca! May your 2023 be free of Überwältigend 😃
Attention vowel-lovers! The Germans have nothing on the Finns: the longest word in the Finnish language is “Lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas,” an airplane jet turbine engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned officer student.