🔄 On Hold, On Ice, On the Back Burner: The Art of Delaying Things
Sometimes life throws everything at us simultaneously, and we find ourselves having to hit pause on certain tasks. Here, we’ll unravel the delightful chaos of idioms synonymous with postponing, delaying, or saving for later.
Definitions and Origins
Put on Hold: To defer or temporarily suspend an activity, much like being stuck on hold during a long-winded phone call (“Your call is important to us…unless you hang up first”).
Put on Ice: Originating from the days when refrigeration meant placing things on blocks of ice. Now it eloquently describes saving something for later, sans freezer.
Put on the Back Burner: Chefs with their culinary wisdom transfer this from the kitchen—slower heating to metaphorically postponing less urgent tasks.
Related Expressions
- Pedal on Pause: Similar to put on hold, especially when you half-expect to resume biking any minute.
- Freeze the Frame: Cinematic, no?
- Sideline: Coming from sports, where one remains within the playing perimeter, awaiting their turn.
- Table It: Often used in meetings to mean discussing a topic later—gesture necessary.
Synonyms
- Postpone
- Defer
- Delay
- Suspend
- Pause
Antonyms
- Expedite
- Accelerate
- Execute
- Proceed
- Continue
Humor-Filled Quotes
- “Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.” – Don Marquis
- “Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week.” – Spanish Proverb
Proverbs
- “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1
Literary References
- “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams – Laura’s awaiting the unicorn to shatter always feels a bit like being on ice.
- “Catch-22” by Joseph Heller – Delay is the name of the game for Yossarian’s military bureaucracy.
Suggested Media
Books:
- “Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation” by Lynne Truss – You’ll never find punctuation on the back burner.
- “Watership Down” by Richard Adams – Adventure delayed but never denied by the rabbits from Sandleford Warren.
Movies:
- ”Office Space” (1999) – Tackling work drag with delay-inducing hilarity.
- ”Inside Out” (2015) – Riley puts her memories on ice… literally.
Songs:
- “Procrastination” by Amy Winehouse – Can’t get more on the nose than this!
Poetry:
- “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman – “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself” – might as well delay stuff too!
Take a pause, taste the freeze, and embrace the melt-away delay—they teach us patience and patience, they say, is a virtue. Always remember, what’s on the back burner today might be the main course tomorrow!
Happy reading, pondering, and delaying things while being witty about it! Remember, sometimes it’s not about the speed of arrival but how you enjoy the journey, even on hold.
