Loafer

Why do I do this to myself?  It was my turn to pick a word at random from the dictionary.  I normally pick one from either end of the dictionary.  This morning I thought I will go to the middle.  I looked away, opened the dictionary and put my finder down.  The word was “loafer.”
The definition really did not help.  For loafer it said “one who loafs.”  Great help – NOT.  Even looking at loaf (the word before) did not really shed any light on the meaning.  I had to go elsewhere to find that.  The Oxford dictionary defines loafer as, “a person who idles away time.”  That was sorta my understanding of it.
Merril and I need only say one sentence and we can picture immediately what the other person is referring to.  There is a saying “go to the ant you sluggard.”  Ants have a reputation for being industrious. I ask myself, “do ants ever sleep?”  Anyway I say, “get a life!”  We both saw a cartoon one time that showed overweight kids investigating ants closely.   In the caption one ant says to the other, “Oh no, the Sluggards are back.”  That is the sentence we say that immediately brings that cartoon to mind.
Sluggard is not a common word these days.  But dictionaries seem to have words past and present.  These days I am more likely to say “slack.”  It is probably just as well I do not talk in old English.  Reading Chaucer shows me that.  I have to interpret so much.  I think “talk English man!”  Thing is though, he is.  Ok it is from a bygone era.  I understand what is current and have trouble understanding speech from the past.
The question I ask myself though “if something is spelled wrong in the dictionary, how would I know?”  Ok my problem.  But it just shows the immensity of what I deal with.
But loafer is the word of the day.  It is not something I consider often and this only like the 17th time.  I will try to help if asked, but I am busy trying to ensure I have things right.
But I have seen and experienced loafing.  The thing is, it is not really attractive.  It is not like, “we need a loafer to fill this position so let’s divide up the applications and hire the person we think is the best one.”  It seems a lot of people are like me.  I find it harder doing nothing than being busy.  But being too busy is bad for my health too.  There is that thing called balance again.
Ok loafer saw me bravely exploring other worlds but from all I have seen, I still like this one better.