Etymology: Commonly Cumbersome

Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” So, let’s examine it together. In Etymology, I’ll be presenting a word each week with its generally accepted definition and riffing on this word as a way to get us to talk about life together. This is meant to be a discussion based article, with emphasis on “together.” In one sense, these articles will be written and complete when they are published, but they will not be whole without your input. All of us could use better words to describe our lives. So, let’s go through life together in words. Helping each other and improving together and always remembering to breathe.

By Brianne Leith

“Some things will get more cumbersome before they get better.”

~ Debra Neiman

I was walking down Cornhill Street in Downtown the other day. The sidewalk is slightly treacherous, being narrow and an uneven terrain because of the bricks. My friend was next to me with his large Timbuk2 messenger bag overflowing with items, one of them being my laptop. Feeling bad about this circumstance and its surrounding obstacles, I offered once again to lighten his load by taking my Mac.

“It just seems cumbersome for you to carry all of this.”

Immediately I was taken aback by my word choice of cumbersome. Cumbersome is not a word I commonly use, nor do I hear others using it for the most part. Actually, the only time I can remember hearing it used was in the song Cumbersome by Seven Mary Three, that was popular in the mid-90′s.

There is a balance between two worlds


One with an arrow and a cross

Regardless of the balance life has become cumbersome



Too heavy, too light, too black or too white, too wrong or too right, today and tonight

Cumbersome


Too rich or too poor, she’s wanting me less and I’m wanting her more

The bitter taste is cumbersome.

Seven Mary Three: Cumbersome

 I turned to my friend and laughed, “Did I really just say cumbersome!?”

Cumbersome is defined as:

1. burdensome; troublesome.

2. unwieldy; clumsy

“Life has become cumbersome.” Juggling different activities and responsibilities can make life feel burdensome. Everyday walking around with all of the stresses on your shoulders can make you feel like you are walking down a narrow, bumpy sidewalk with too many things slung around your arm. When one thing becomes cumbersome, everything else seems to become cumbersome also. Even you become cumbersome.

Even the word “cumbersome” is cumbersome.

But even though life can feel like a winding spiral staircase or feel like you are just a big block of stone mindlessly shuffling to work, there are a myriad of different things to be ecstatic about. Fall is coming. There are businesses in the Market House, finally. The temperature outside does not give you heatstroke the second you step out of your house. *Insert your own personal good things*

Do some stress relieving activities.

“Stop and smell the roses.”

Though life may be cumbersome, it is not unmanageable.

Life is not impossible.