Apropos... yes?

Wednesday, January 07, 2009 | , | 2 comments »

A few months ago, I was having a lactose intolerance test at the hospital. They have you drink a fruit-flavored lactose-filled drink, then they test your breath every thirty minutes. So, you've got to wait in the waiting room for about 3-4 hours to complete the test. Anyway, while I was in that waiting room reading a book about a boy and his dragon, a lady walked out from the testing room area and began having an insanely loud conversation with the older lady sitting across from me who was also having a test done. Their conversation lasted a couple minutes, and I don't remember what it was about, but I do remember that the lady who walked out of the testing room made a joke about something, and in response, that lady sitting across from me laughed and yelled, "Haha, very apropos." The she walked away. End of story.

After that lady said 'apropos,' I thought to myself, "Wow, that was pretentious. Why would someone use that word in everyday conversation? and yell it? Jebus."

So, a couple of days ago, that little conversation popped into my head. My thoughts regarding it headed in a different direction this time. It went a little like this:

Adam: Hmmm... that lady was pretentious for using the word 'apropos.' She should have just used the word 'relevant' or something.

Adam: Wait a minute... am I pretentious for using the word 'pretentious?'

Adam: Wait another minute, am I pretentious for calling someone else pretentious?

Adam: Umm... am I pretentious for debating whether or not using the word 'pretentious' is pretentious?

Adam: Oy. I may be pretentious.

Adam: Wait another minute, I think that using the word apropos in the context that that lady did was actually appropriate... even quite apropos.

Adam: Yeah, using the word 'apropos' actually sounds better in that context than 'relevant' or any alternative. Ending a statement with 'relevant' doesn't sound as smooth as 'apropos.'

Adam: I guess that lady was right in the first place. Apropos was appropriate.

The lessons to to be learned from this tale?

  1. Apropos is a good word.
  2. Using the word apropos does not make someone pretentious.
  3. The whole beginning of my story was entirely not apropos to the point of this post nor the lessons to be learned. Did I do that on purpose? Yes. Why did I do that? So I could have an excuse to use the word 'apropos.'
  4. Those two pictures of chickens and frogs have nothing to do, whatsoever, with this post... or do they...

In case you don't know what Apropos means, click here for dictionary.com's definition.


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Leave a Comment!... 2 comments »

2 comments

  1. Anonymous // January 15, 2009 at 6:47 PM  

    Quite apropos. You are aware that there are other (albeit similar) meanings for 'apropos,' yes?

  2. Adam // January 15, 2009 at 8:10 PM  

    yes, I am aware.