Word of the Day: yare

yare (adj) [yair]

Speedy, agile, nimble.

"The juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip. Yare, yare, good Iras, quick -- methinks I hear Antony call; I see him rouse himself To praise my noble act; I hear him mock the luck of Caesar, which the gods give men To excuse their after wrath."
--William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act V, Scene ii.

My escalator-riding technique is so yare.

There are two types of people you encounter on a escalator: passive riders who stand still and ride up (or down), like plaster saints on a conveyor belt, and those who treat the escalator as a moving staircase to be climbed or descended actively. The latter requires sprightly zigging and zagging, not unlike the jogging of a running-back on a football field, to avoid the obstructionists, who will often stand two-abreast, blocking the forward momentum of the climber (me) as he attempts to catch his train or just relieve his impatience with this odd form of travel. And it is odd, when you think about it -- a moving staircase. People don't stand still on conventional stairs; why do they feel they can do so on these rolling steps? Be yare or be square, I say.