March 28, 2011: Weed Appreciation Day. (Check for yourself. I can’t make this stuff up.)
The expression “in the weeds” rarely means anything good. My father used it often (and usually with more joy and a bigger smile than the implication warranted) and the phrase passed into my lexicon – much to my benefit, since it takes the place of some much less pleasant options.
The phrase is probably best known in the restaurant industry, though the meaning is much the same no matter where it’s heard. It means you’re hopelessly behind, with new issues bearing down on you like a herd of rabid wildebeests, and all you can do is stand there like an unwary shopper trapped between the 90%-off table and a thundering crowd of Black Friday shoppers.
It’s bad, Ray.
Being in the weeds is actually good. It means you have work to do. More work than you anticipated, and possibly more than you think you can handle, but work nonetheless.
That said…it’s 12:59pm, I just ran water through the coffee maker and forgot to put coffee in it first, and I’ve accomplished exactly two of the seven things I needed to finish this morning. In other words…I’m in the weeds.
At least it’s the day for it.