Good Morning Digital Neighbors! We never did find our way back to Endangered Phrases, but it probably wasn't too missed. How about a look at one or two today? Off we go!!!

Behind the eight ball: in a precarious situation.

In certain games of pool or billiards, a player whose cue ball (the ball that strikes the other balls) is behind the 8 ball is unlikely to make any shot. Therefore, to be behind the eight ball is to be in a losing situation.

Anyone old enough to remember Pool Halls? I caught the very tale end of their disappearance from most of American life. The space they once occupied in my little town gave way to pinball machines and emergent video games. Even those only had a generation window from the 70's to the early 2000's when home game systems eventually had better games and graphics than the arcades. I am guessing for many families in cultural transition, pool tables in homes have gone the way of the family piano. Fewer and fewer homes possess them and it comes with some diminishment of family life. The diminishment of the large us for the much larger me comes with many unintended consequences.

Beyond the pale: A pale, originally a stockade made of pales of wood, was an area under the authority of a certain official.

In the 14th and 15th centuries the British ruled Dublin, the surrounding area was outside the law. Anyone or anything beyond the pale was considered savage and dangerous, and the express came to mean anything unacceptable or beyond the limits of accepted morality or conduct.

I can remember my parents using this phrase, but I doubt I have heard it much even from the old timers circles I run in these days. You knew from the context that something beyond the pale was not good. What was exactly wrong with it may not be known to you, but if you trusted the person making the declaration it really didn't matter.

Trusted voices are a rarity these days in the public sphere. Most have an agenda and a bias that they either fail to acknowledge or worse yet fail to see in themselves. No one is unbiased, at best what comes closest to an unbiased opinion is the widespread indifference of this current chapter of life. Many don't simply care until it is very late in the game. I don't ever believe it is too late, but the deeper you descend into the darkness, the longer the climb back to the light. Try to understand your bias, reflect on the experiences, attitudes and elements that contribute to your point of view and understanding of it. Happy Thursday my friends!

November foliage - Alberto Clapis