Time flies when you’re having fun – or, at least, that’s how the modern saying goes.
I spent some time ruminating on this week’s column by tracing the roots of such a quote.
After all, it’s something I’ve heard plenty of times over the years and I grew more curious about it the more I brooded over my column.
I’m not surprised to learn that the phrase has any particular name attached to it and it’s often considered an “idiom” in the English language.
According to several sources, an idiom is a phrase or expression with a figurative meaning that cannot be understood from the literal definitions of its individual words.
Man, that’s a mouthful to even type – let alone say out loud!
Beyond that aspect, most academics cite the Latin phrase “tempus fugit” as the most telling bit of groundwork for our modern quote.
Tempus fugit literally means “time flies” and is found in ancient Roman poet Virgil’s third “Georgics” book.
I couldn’t even being to point you in the direction of where to obtain a copy, but since the guy has been dead a good while, Google might be the best place to start.
Regardless, when you consider that Virgil was an ancient poet then he probably didn’t deal with newspapers, too much.
Sure, he wrote epic poetry and all that jazz but the sheer, crushing weight of deadlines were probably lost on him.
After all, I remember his “Divine Comedy” epic more than anything else and that’s certainly not a treatise on covering luncheons, political events or routine monthly organizational meetings.
Still, I’m curious how the man would do in our modern times – forgetting that his head might explode when he sees his first automobile.
Cellphones, email, and even something as crucial to surviving Texas summers like air conditioning might just throw off his entire groove.
Speaking of groove, we’re working on lining out coverage for major October events and I keep seeing my hours for freedom on the weekend dwindling further and further down.
Outside of that, my only real problem is the sheer number of events starting to stack on specific dates.
While we try our best to be everywhere for everything, there are only three of us employed here and until I can get myself cloned, we’re kind of limited on where we can make an appearance.
Not to mention, but my birthday traditionally falls at the end of October and I’d like nothing more than to have some free time for myself.
And I’m not looking for any special trips or experiences – by the time I reach my birthday on the calendar I’m usually too exhausted to want to do anything besides recuperate and mentally prepare for the following week.
I don’t know how newspaper life factors in to the “time flies” quote, but I can guarantee that if that stands for “normal” or “regular” time, then newspaper time must be breaking the sound barrier or something.
Visualizing the Sentinel as some super technologically advanced aircraft is worth more than a little giggle when you consider that we’ve been operating since 2014 and don’t see an end any time soon!
