The opposite of a word-thrill ride

Ready for some fun?

 I’m not talking about fun in an exciting roller coaster sort of way. That type of fun is always fun, but fun can be all sorts of amusement park rides.

 Some are like roller coasters - fast, thrilling and take-your-breath-away.

 But that isn’t the only type of enjoyment to be found at an amusement park. Sometimes happiness is uplifting like the ferris wheel, or well-rounded like a carousel. Sometimes it is unexpected like bumper cars, or refreshing like the flume on a really hot day.

 And sometimes, fun is simply hurkle-durkle.

 You read that right, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that typing out hurkle-durkle wasn’t fun. Because it was. Saying it out loud is even more fun, if you can imagine that. I’ll pause here while you try it yourself.

 See what I mean?

 Words like hurkle-durkle make my day. As does conundrum. Superfluous. Catywampus. Tintinnabulation. Kerfluffle. Pulchritudinous. Gobbledygook. Whackadoodle. And squishy. (Mustn’t ever forget squishy.)

 Why? Because it, like all the others are quite simply fun.

 And, while fun often happens at amusement parks, hurkle-durkle does not. It’s a bit of a conundrum.

 I’ll attempt a simple explanation - nothing superfluous or filled with a bunch of gobbledygook.

 First a clue: After a day of kerfuffles with a bunch of squishy whackadoodle types, you typically long for nothing more than hurkle-durkle. 

 But now I’ve made the definition obvious.

 In some ways hurkle-durkle is one of the most beautiful  - not to mention pulchritudinous words and ideas a philosophies ever uttered out loud. It’s akin to tintinnabulation for the soul. For sure it is, to me. Nothing catywampus about that.

 Let’s cut to the chase:  Hurkle-durkle is a 200-year-old Scottish term meaning to linger under the covers of a warm bed long after it’s time to get up.

 Can you imagine anything better? Doesn’t hurkle-durkle sound wonderfully and incredibly indulgent - without any calories?

 I think so, too.

 We all need a hurdle-durkle every now and then - and probably more often than that. 

 Beyond the word, compound that it is, we need the concept of hurkle-durkle in our lives. We all need permission to commit hurkle-durkle - in whatever shape, space or time that means for us.

 Sometimes hurdle-durkle might be lying under the soft warm covers. But maybe it means other things, too. Maybe it’s stopping whatever you’re doing, in the middle of the afternoon, when your favorite song comes on the radio. Maybe it’s taking a hurkle-durkle day off from work after an extra long week. Maybe it’s reading a long book over a long weekend while hurkle-durkling on the couch. 

We could all benefit from some hurkle-durkling in our near future. 

Word can be fun - exciting, even. 

But they can also be hurdle-durkle. I realize I am stretching the term a bit. But why not?

Lingering under the covers, into the late morning, long after you were supposed to get up and get about your day is an easy feeling to replicate into the rest of your day. 

It’s a beautiful and even (dare I say) pulchritudinous idea. In that vein, I say go ahead and hurkle-durkle whenever you are able. Well, so long as it doesn’t cause any Kerfluffles.

Jill Pertler is an award-winning syndicated columnist, published playwright and author.