Tuesday’s Thoughts 2/22/22

Image by ElinaElena from Pixabay

It’s said that today is a special day, being Tuesday 2/22/22, which is noted as 22/2/22 in most parts of the world. Whatever the notation is, it is a day created for pair, duo, duet, duplex, twin, double, couple. How many English words are there to describe two? I don’t know, but I guess there are more than twenty. The problem is that each is used in its specific realm and occasion, which poses a big problem for non-native speaker like me. Other languages don’t usually go to this extreme to create different words to describe one concept, but English is different in this aspect–it has an eye for the minutest differences, like those articles in New Yorker.

On this day for pairs, I am going to talk about those pairs I’ve encountered. One can’t help loving them.

A Couple I Helped

I was assisting this couple and their teenage son with files and translations etc. Since the matter was complicated, we met several times. Each time, the family was a riot, mainly due to the volubility of the father. He’s an engineer and runs a small computer company. I somehow guessed that he’s very smart but he dislikes the formality and indifference of the business environment. So at home, he has this nonstop talk show with his wife, who obviously plays the role of the magician’s pretty assistant. Their presence was quite a diversion for me. Sometimes the son would jump in, “Can we get on with it? If you talk like this, we are never going to get anything done.” The teenager son was too young to see through his father’s acumen under the facade of effusiveness. I think they are a nice couple, who love and respect each other. Most importantly, after so many years of marriage, they still had so much to talk with each other and had fun communicating, despite the riotous and messy nature of their conversation.

Two Girls I Went To High School With

I was in this boarding school and we lived in this old dorm that was built by Japanese in 1930s. It had big Japanese windows, which must be very beautiful before. However more than half a century later, they were hardly functioning–the sliding rails under the window panes were rotten long ago. Opening and shutting the windows required Herculean efforts from girls who would be frightened of insects or rodents.

We had eight people in a big dorm room. And these two girls were always together. Sometimes they got separated and would pair with others for certain activities, but we all knew that they would like to be together whenever possible. Actually they invited me into their “privileged” duo circle once, but I somehow didn’t think I would fit in. Three would be a crowd and I would be the third wheel.

Two Boys In Graduate School

In graduate school, I met these two guys from the mathematics program who are always together. By the way, the two guys are from two different countries and two different ethnic groups. People just got very curious about the two. They each went out on dates with girls, but it’s obvious that they enjoyed spending time together, so much so that rumors swirled around them. I only knew the Asian guy among the two and let’s say his name is M. And whenever there’s a gathering, people would ask M very bluntly if he liked girls etc.

Then one day out of nowhere, suddenly M announced that he was getting married with a girl from his hometown, who his parents highly approved. He would get married when the girl and her parents came to the school to visit him during the coming summer. We all congratulated M on his pending nuptial, but deep in my heart, I felt sorry for M, for the girl, and for M’s buddy from the mathematics program. I mean something was happening there, but I did’t know the details. I hoped no heart was broken, no feeling was hurt. I wished the entanglement was not too messy.