I’d really like to talk to Will Shakespeare.

William Shakespeare, Biography Newsletter

I’m sure that Will Shakespeare did not mean to be definitive when he gave Juliet the beginning lines of her famous soliloquy:  “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/ By any other name would smell as sweet.”  Surely, if asked, he would have more to say about names than this.  I thought about him a lot this past weekend as I kept my eye out for the “King” tides were were promised — a 12.3, a 12.4 and a 12.2 for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

When none of them even crept within a foot of our east fence, I felt that Will really needed to revisit his words of wisdom (or, actually, Juliet’s) about names.  He rather ignored the entire aspect of expectations.  “Will,” I would like to have said to him, “when respected weatherpersons and commentators on the more general marine outlook — such as Joanne Rideout of KMUN renown — speak of ‘King Tides,’ those of us paying attention immediately develop high expectations.”  Yes, high.  Which is a condition directly related to those sorts of tides.  To wit:

According to NOAA’s National Ocean service, “ King Tide is a popular, non-scientific term people often use to describe exceptionally high tides that occur during a new or full moon.”  Check out that word “exceptionally.  Those tides we were watching weren’t all that exceptional, nor were they all that high.  Yes, our expectations were quite elevated; our cameras were ready; but our hopes were dashed (or perhaps dampened.)

High Tide at Our House, Dec. 20, 2018            (similar to last weekend’s “King Tides”)

“What do you say to that, Will, in answer to Juliet’s question?  You didn’t quite cover the waterfront (ahem!) did you?  The numbers looked good, but the royal personage didn’t show up to lead the flotilla.  Or maybe you weren’t so free-and-easy with your word usage in the olden days and wouldn’t have given high tides such lofty names and expectations…”

It would be a discussion worth having, doncha think?

2 Responses to “I’d really like to talk to Will Shakespeare.”

  1. Cassin R Espy says:

    Loved this, Sydney.

    In my teensy neck of the universe, they just NEVER get the names, or the forecast right. I should be ecstatic about that. If every disaster they swore was coming actually CAME, Cold Spring would be nothing but rocks and MoJo and I would be blowing around in the non existent tornado, just like Dorothy and Toto, waiting for our turn to check in with the great wizard.

    In any case, my imaginative and talented cousin, it’s time for me to say “Hi!” So HI SYDNEY! Think of you often and send you and Nyel lots of love.

    Cass

  2. sydney says:

    Ain’t it the truth!!!
    But I do think we went into the wrong biz(es) or what is plural of biz, anyway? We could have been making fortunes predicting weather and tides and all sorts of climate aberrations — the sky seems to be the limit. (ahem!)
    XXXOOO Sydney

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