Random Word of the Week #1

What a dud.

Hello, I’m Jack Anderson.

I’m a brand writer nowadays, but I spent most of my life writing things that didn’t make me any money.

Songs.

Birthday cards.

Facebook statuses where I’d lie about meeting tennis stars and inspiring them to win the Australian Open.

Words are work for me now, which is awesome. But I wanted to create a place for all of the stuff I come up with that doesn’t suit my 9-5.

Fun stuff. Odd stuff. Stuff that might make you cry (out of frustration with me).

Which is why I created Jack Anderson’s Wide World of Words (don’t tell Nine about it).

I’ll hopefully publish a whole range of stuff on here, but I’m kicking things off with Random Word of the Week. Here’s how it will work:

1. Each week, I visit randomwordgenerator.com and generate a random word.

2. I plan absolutely nothing and start to ramble about that word.

3. We discuss.

Depending on the word, I might look at etymology, pronunciation, synonyms—really anything I think might be interesting.

If any of this is unclear, feel free to reach out. On that note, here’s this week’s word:

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activity

/akˈtɪvɪti/

noun

1.     the condition in which things are happening or being done.

·      busy or vigorous action or movement

2.     a thing that a person or group has done

·      a recreational pursuit or pastime.

My thoughts

Is there any other word that does such a terrible job of convincing people they’re going to have a good time as activity? I don’t think so.

Even as far back as primary school, activity’s had dud energy. Sport? Inherently fun (or a bludge). Excursions? Peak excitement. Activity? There’s going to be a catch.

You do learn stuff at school by playing sports and going on excursions, sure. But the education is masked by what a good time you end up having. The honey hides the Panadol. Activities have no such sleight of hand, and it spoils the enjoyment every time.

“We’ve got a fun little activity to do this afternoon.” You knew as soon as your Year 2 teacher would mention it before lunch that it would probably be something shit. Then it would turn out to be, literally, maths. Maths but with something colourful—like translucent coins or a little toy dinosaur. A borderline disrespectful attempt at convincing you that you’re having a blast. Speaking of maths, you know what they call questions at the end of textbook chapters? Questions that are just more work? Activities.

This is what Adobe Firefly created when given the prompt: ‘an activity’

Maybe I’m being too harsh. And maybe the fact I’m bad at maths, and hate being lied to, has skewed my perspective on an otherwise decent word. After all, as an adult, there are lots of activities that I find enjoyable.

But, come to think about it, those activities can be better described with more specific language. I don’t participate in ‘physical activity’, I like playing floorball and going for a run every now and then. I wouldn’t describe myself as a ‘big social activity guy’, but I’m partial to a bit of pub trivia. And ‘mental activity’ doesn’t really encapsulate imagining the taste of the Zinger Box I ordered as it Ubers its way to my front door.

These things don’t need activity clinging onto them, threatening to ruin a good time. They stand on their own two feet. They look you in the eye and tell you what to expect. They treat you with respect.

So with all that in mind, what are your favourite activities? Drop a comment below.

Etymology tidbits

First used sometime in the early 1400s. I wonder what kind of activities would people get up to back then. Catapult stuff, most likely.

Synonyms I like

hubbub: What an incredible word. Just ridiculous to look at.

hustle and bustle: Inspired. Iconic.

hobby: Three synonyms starting with ‘h’. Who’s behind this?

Final verdict

WOEFUL