YouTube / iTunes / Spotify / Radio Public / Pocket Casts / Google Podcasts / Breaker / Overcast
Listen to ArtisanEnglish.jp posts & lesson intros here.
WotD: Go sideways
It always happens at the most inopportune times.
When you think everything’s okay, it all goes sideways, which means going wrong or getting worse.
It’s a term that’s been around for quite a while but increased in popularity after 2000.
I hadn’t heard it used very much until after the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008.
At that time, everything was going sideways.
It always happens at the most inopportune times.
When you think everything’s fine, it’ll go sideways or become much worse.
People everywhere were losing their homes, cars and jobs, the economy was in the tank, and pension plans all over the world seemed to collapse at once.
Thinking back to that time probably gives many people nightmares, but it’s a perfect example of what it means to go sideways.
Of course, I always try to do a little research before writing each post, and I found a helpful article in The Globe and Mail.
The writer says that go sideways most likely originated from racing.
If you’re racing a horse or car, the last thing you want to do is go down the track sideways.
If that happens, something has gone wrong, and there may be worse yet to come.
Remember that when you’re racing, ah, I mean driving down the highway.
You always want to drive with care, caution and control.
If you ever find yourself spinning around, then you’ve lost control.
Now, it’s never nice to have anything in your life go sideways.
Most times, we can prevent things from happening or at least prepare for the possibility that they might.
We never know when the economy will crash or something else, which is beyond our control, will cause chaos in our lives.
As I said, the best way to deal with it is to prepare for what you hope will never happen but may occur.
It always happens at the most inopportune times.
Right when you think everything’s okay, it all goes sideways.
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 72.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.
