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Phrase: Slow/quick on the uptake
Some people are quick on the uptake.
They can walk into a room, read the situation and understand what’s going on almost instantly.
Then others are slow on the uptake.
For example, if you walk into a room and everyone suddenly walks out, you have a problem.
No, it wasn’t a coincidence.
You either have nasty breath or are not very popular.
If you can’t figure that out, you, my friend, are slow on the uptake.
It’s ok. It just means that while everyone else is running on fibre optics, you are still on dial-up.
Incidentally, remember what it was like trying to get online about 20 years ago?
First, you had to log in. Then there were all these crazy sounds like prrrr puuuuu piiiii pppaaaaa buuuuuu.
If you’re still connecting to the Internet using a dial-up connection, you’re not only slow on the uptake; you’re also slow on the download.
That was a joke, so you can laugh now. Ha!
As I was explaining, when you are slow on the uptake, it takes more time for you to understand things than other people.
It’s not necessarily a bad thing. Some people are slow learners, that’s all.
By applying yourself and with a little extra work, you can learn everything. It’ll just take a while longer.
The only time it can be a serious problem is in social situations.
If you are unfamiliar with the social norms of the culture you find yourself in, you may get yourself into trouble by committing a faux pas.
If you know you are slow on the uptake, try to find someone who knows the ropes, become their wingman and follow their lead.
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 77.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.
