What's In A Name?
The name of this blog may seem strange to some... perhaps many... well ok, to most of you. What does it mean?
Well, you won't find it in a dictionary; at least, I couldn't. It is actually a deliberate misspelling of waffling. Why would I do that? Ah, that's an interesting story.
Let's confirm just what waffle means first. My trusty Pocket Macquarie Dictionary shows two words with this spelling, meaning quite different things. The first is a "batter cake with a pattern left by the hinged implement in which it is cooked". Nahh, not that one.
The second entry says waffle, -fled, -fling, [coloquialism] 1. to speak or write vaguely, to no purpose, and at length 2. lengthy, vague speech or writing 3. nonsense, twaddle. Yep; that's the one.
Now, it so happens that a couple of years ago I had the privilege of mentoring a group of young Australian military personnel through a fairly demanding course over 9 months of full-on effort. Of the 24 who started, 18 graduated to be some of the very best medics anyone could hope for.
Now understand that they were wonderful people and I grew very fond of them. I was commited to ensuring they had the best possible training under prevailing conditions and I certainly delivered everything in the training manuals, and then some. It was this extra that earned me the reputation of a waffler.
You see, as anyone associated with military culture knows, when it comes to communication, less is more. It should be minimised, short and sharp, to the point. The more I extended, elaborated and enriched, the more I confirmed my reputation as a waffler. At the end of the course they told me that I definitely won the waffling award.
So I have a label and a reputation to live up to.
Why then is this blog called Woffling On and not Waffling On?
Well, here's the thing. My speech was certainly lengthy and from time to time a few individuals may not have quite followed everything I had to say. But I was never really vague, I never spoke to no purpose and I did not speak a lot of twaddle or nonsense. Furthermore, the students themsleves were quick to point out that they did appreciate that I was generally well worth listening to, and they meant absolutely no offence by calling me a waffler.
In a sense, understood in context, I am very comfortable with the well-earned label. Especially since I know I was valued for that extra contribution. So I have accepted their label, but express it misspelled, since they never meant all that the dictionary reveals. If you like, woffling on is a positive spin on waffling on. If you wander back here from time to time, you may see for yourself whether I am justified in mangling the spelling.
Well, you won't find it in a dictionary; at least, I couldn't. It is actually a deliberate misspelling of waffling. Why would I do that? Ah, that's an interesting story.
Let's confirm just what waffle means first. My trusty Pocket Macquarie Dictionary shows two words with this spelling, meaning quite different things. The first is a "batter cake with a pattern left by the hinged implement in which it is cooked". Nahh, not that one.
The second entry says waffle, -fled, -fling, [coloquialism] 1. to speak or write vaguely, to no purpose, and at length 2. lengthy, vague speech or writing 3. nonsense, twaddle. Yep; that's the one.
Now, it so happens that a couple of years ago I had the privilege of mentoring a group of young Australian military personnel through a fairly demanding course over 9 months of full-on effort. Of the 24 who started, 18 graduated to be some of the very best medics anyone could hope for.
Now understand that they were wonderful people and I grew very fond of them. I was commited to ensuring they had the best possible training under prevailing conditions and I certainly delivered everything in the training manuals, and then some. It was this extra that earned me the reputation of a waffler.
You see, as anyone associated with military culture knows, when it comes to communication, less is more. It should be minimised, short and sharp, to the point. The more I extended, elaborated and enriched, the more I confirmed my reputation as a waffler. At the end of the course they told me that I definitely won the waffling award.
So I have a label and a reputation to live up to.
Why then is this blog called Woffling On and not Waffling On?
Well, here's the thing. My speech was certainly lengthy and from time to time a few individuals may not have quite followed everything I had to say. But I was never really vague, I never spoke to no purpose and I did not speak a lot of twaddle or nonsense. Furthermore, the students themsleves were quick to point out that they did appreciate that I was generally well worth listening to, and they meant absolutely no offence by calling me a waffler.
In a sense, understood in context, I am very comfortable with the well-earned label. Especially since I know I was valued for that extra contribution. So I have accepted their label, but express it misspelled, since they never meant all that the dictionary reveals. If you like, woffling on is a positive spin on waffling on. If you wander back here from time to time, you may see for yourself whether I am justified in mangling the spelling.
posted by Dr Peter Tylee at
5:05 pm
