Word of the Day: On edge
Sorry to have not asked you for a while, but how are you doing?
Have you been feeling OK, or have you been on edge?
If you have, join the club.
If you are on edge, you are feeling nervous, worried or anxious about something. When you are on edge, it is difficult to calm down and relax.
Most of us have been feeling nervous, worried or anxious recently.
Every time we step outside the door, we can never be sure that we won’t contract the coronavirus.
At the start of the pandemic, there was worry that toilet paper would run out.
Then there were empty shelves in some countries due to the supply chain crunch.
Now, prices are rising seemingly every month because the supply chain really has broken down.
The world is stumbling from one crisis to another; it’s enough to put anyone on edge.
I can’t blame you if you’re worried about how much gasoline will cost next month.
I’ve recently read projections that oil will be $100 a barrel by the end of this year and could hit $200 a barrel at the end of 2022.
Naturally, even if you don’t drive, high energy costs will create a knock-on effect, and prices for everything will increase.
It may sound absurd, but here in Japan, salaries have been stagnant for 25 years.
If you don’t believe me, I just checked the base salary for a foreign English teacher working in a large English school.
It’s ￥255,000.
When I came to Japan 22 years ago, it was ￥240,000.
The spectre of inflation should put anyone on edge, especially teachers, if they think they can come here and pay off their student loans while enjoying life in Japan.
We are living through exciting times of change and uncertainty that have put us all on edge.
Hunker down and pinch your pennies.
We’re in for a rough ride.
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 79.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.