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Idiom: At a loss
Children never expect to see their parents at a loss.
When you’re at a loss, you don’t know what to do or say.
Often, when people are shocked, they are at a loss and can’t say a word.
In a child’s eyes, their parents always know what to do or say in any situation that may arise.
Little do the kids know that their parents are no different than anyone else in the world.
Most of us have no idea what we’re doing half the time, and the other half of the time, what we say and do is just pure luck.
Even so, we still manage to get through life somehow.
There seems to have been an unusual amount of major natural disasters this year.
Japan has suffered significant earthquakes, landslides caused by heavy rains and the strongest typhoon in 25 years.
Indonesia experienced a significant earthquake followed by a massive tsunami which was in turn followed by a volcanic eruption.
Most recently, the southeastern United States has sustained hits from two massive hurricanes.
Millions of people have been left at a loss as to what to do next.
Likewise, the people whose job is to comfort and encourage them find themselves at a loss as to what they can say.
I mean, what do you say to a person who has just had the roof of their house blown off or completely lost their home in a tsunami?
On a lighter note, word games often leave people at a loss.
Have you ever tried to do the New York Times crossword puzzle?
I can complete The Daily Mini crossword in around two or two and a half minutes each day, but the big one leaves me at a loss.
I have yet to learn about many of the hints related to current American music or cultural trends.
They leave me scratching my head in frustration.
I’ll keep at it, though.
Hopefully, one day I’ll know everything.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 12).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 74.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.