Deadlines.
Most of us have experienced them, whether at school (finishing that project at the last minute) or at work (trying to finalise a powerpoint for a conference paper even though the boss keeps changing her mind about the focus of the presentation) or at home (getting the house clean and dinner prepped before the guests arrive).
When you think about if though, the word deadline is a pretty grim descriptor for something that needs to be completed by a particular time on a particular day. The examples given above should not be a cause for concern over our imminent death (well, perhaps with the exception of the changeable boss...).
The stress of a deadline feels real, and might in fact feel worse when you know where the term came from: Merriam-Webster dictionary advises that a deadline was “a line drawn within or around a prison that a prisoner passes at the risk of being shot.” Oh.
Given the power of words to influence how we feel, I'm hoping that someone out there might come up with a better word for this, something a little more affirming. I did go to a thesaurus to see what I could find, but the best option was 'cutoff point', which sounds a little too French Revolution for my liking.
Shakespeare is said to have created/contributed over 1,700 words to the English language. Wouldn't you like to be known as the person who created a better descriptor for a deadline?! Let me know!
Caroline
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