Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Six Word Road Trip

Billowing smoke,
Car,
Dead as doornail.

I wrote this and then I wondered, what is a doornail? Why is it always dead when we use it as a simile? So I looked it up and found more interesting information than I had bargained for at The Phrase Finder, http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/as-dead-as-a-doornail.html. It means completely dead, or in the case of nonliving things, unusable. The phrase has been in use since at least 1350, and was used by both Shakespeare and Dickens:

"Look on me well: I have eat no meat these five days; yet, come thou and thy five men, and if I do not leave you all dead as a doornail, I pray God I may never eat grass more"
King Henry VI, Shakespeare

"Old Marley was dead as a doornail"
A Christmas Carol (of course!), Charles Dickens

What is a doornail? Again according to Phrase Finder, a doornail is a "large-headed stud." They were used for strength and also for decoration. Once nailed through the door or other item, the end was bent to secure the nail in place. The dead part may have come from the idea that now the nail was unusable, or un-reusable, to be more accurate.

My six-word story above was inspired by the most recent six word contest at Six Words, which is to write about your summer road trip in six words. The backstory is my husband, son, and I drove from Chicago to Minneapolis for a family reunion and my mother's birthday. Everything was smooth sailing until we crossed the Minnesota border. The car began to lurch and then the engine shut off. Fortunately we were near an exit, and my husband maneuvered the car up the off ramp and onto the shoulder of the ramp. Then smoke began to billow from under the hood. My husband said, "Everybody out of the car!" And we exited rapidly. Afterwards he claimed this was the first time nobody argued with him.

It was after six o'clock and we were on the east side of St. Paul, while my mother lives on the west side of Minneapolis. We started searching the Internet and calling repair places, tow companies, and rental car companies. We were very lucky to find one repair shop that was not only still open, but was fairly close. They called a tow truck for us and came to fetch us. The only rental car places open after six were at the airport, so we called my brother-in-law, who cheerfully came to get us. The next day we got the news that the car needed a new engine. Since the car was 13 years old, that wasn't a good option. We ended up donating it to a school for budding car mechanics and driving back to Illinois in a rental.

The rest of our trip was great -- catching up with relatives, relaxing, eating good food.

And now this:

Flooded basement
Dead car
Unexpected opportunities

18 comments:

  1. I enjoy six word memoirs. I use to have my students write them and it really caused them to think of just the right words to use. I love how you can find just about any kind of information yu want on the internet.

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    1. So true about the internet -- I find you need to fact check more and more, though. Thanks for reading!

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  2. Road trips are the best teachers in life. I'm sorry that car trouble was followed by water trouble. Both are so trying!

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    1. Thank you! Right now we are close to getting a new (used) car and are taking the opportunity to declutter in the house!

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  3. Road trips are the best teachers in life. I'm sorry that car trouble was followed by water trouble. Both are so trying!

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  4. oh man.. those are not fun words. but at least u made the best of the situations.
    6 word poems are fun though!

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  5. I need to explore 6 word poems. I certainly got a great sense of your summer trip in your 6 words!

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  6. I need to explore 6 word poems. I certainly got a great sense of your summer trip in your 6 words!

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    1. Six word poems are a lot of fun. If you've looked at the website you know how varied they can be, from the hilarious to mysterious to tragic.

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  7. Brilliantly succinct! Says it all.

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  8. This post fascinated me. The beginning drew me in and then felt horrible with your car engine dying. There was a bit of levity in your husband saying that that was the first time no body argued with him! And then your ending...oh my.

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    1. Thank you very much for your kind words and for reading! Levity certainly helps!

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  9. This post fascinated me. The beginning drew me in and then felt horrible with your car engine dying. There was a bit of levity in your husband saying that that was the first time no body argued with him! And then your ending...oh my.

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  10. Captivating post. Great job weaving a variety of writing together in a single post -- six word story/poem, history and meaning of an idiom, and a personal narrative. You kept me reading to the end.

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  11. I loved your 6 Words about your summer trip. The backstory made it all the more meaningful, but even without it the 6 words drove the idea home clearly. I had no idea about the history behind "dead as a doornail". Thanks for sharing that.

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