Be careful with that lazy man’s load! That’s the oversize armful you carry when you’re transporting things and take too much to avoid making another trip. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Lazy Man’s Load”
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Grant, I came across an interesting term the other day, lazy man’s load.
What are you saying about me? I’m not saying a thing about you.
This is a great expression that I found in a 19th century dictionary, and it applies to today, because a lazy man’s load is when you are transporting things from one place to another, and you just fill your arms up so much so that you can’t feel like it.
You won’t have to make a second trip.
You’re unloading the groceries from the car, and you think, oh, I can just carry one more bag in my hands.
And then the eggs go everywhere and the milk.
Still manage the key and the lock, right?
Yeah, your foot in the door and the elbow and all that.
Lazy man’s load.
I love it.
As a parent, you have to do it that way.
Otherwise, you make a million trips.
You’ve got the kid in one arm, and what are you going to do?
Go back out to the car seven times?
Because you can’t leave the kid.
Right.
It’s the fox, the corn, the hen, and the boat, and the farmer, you know?
You can’t leave the kid in the house.
You can’t leave the kid strapped in the car.
And the cat’s going to try to get out.
And the cat, yeah, don’t forget the cat.
So you’ve got the kid in one arm, you’re carrying 15 bags of groceries in the crook of your other elbow.
And you’ve still got the key in your mouth.
Never mind, not really, but it feels like it.
It’s the lazy parents load, I guess.
What have you found? What language curiosities have come your way?
Or send any of your questions about language, slang, grammar, dictionaries, punctuation, usage.
You name it, to words@waywordradio.org.
Thank you.
