I received a message from a very dear friend on WhatsApp that read “I hope that all is well at your end.” I responded “Nothing is wrong with my end. It is my COPD that troubles me. I hope that all is well with you.” He responded with a couple of smilies.
I just cannot resist the temptation to crack this kind of jokes with peculiar language. This particular one, either brings to my mind my bottom or my last day on earth. Neither very appealing what?
Do you use this phrasing?
I think I may have used it once or twice in reference to a specific task but I don’t use it to enquire about the well being of my friends.
Your joke is clever!
Thank you. The next time some one says the same thing, I intend adding that I hope my end is not too near.
It’s a peculiarly English phrasing. When I hear it I imagine a rope – like the one for skipping in the playground. Two ends. One might say two beginnings. With something in between. Still, I think it perfectly ok to ask your opposite how it’s going their end. You don’t get that in the motherland. Few people there appear interested in how it “goes” your end. Do or die.
“The End” always leaves me a little bereft (unless, of course, I am relieved it’s come to an end) – say when a film or a book finishes. There is a finality to The End which doesn’t appeal to me. Same with death. According to the saying, two things in life are certainties: Death and taxes. Which is true. Unless, for the latter, you find a haven and evade. However, no one appears to want to discuss the final curtain. My parents, apparently, will live forever. I am sure they will. Joining the cockroaches once the rest of us have left planet Earth. I have made progress with the Angel. A few days ago, over dinner – as one does, I briefly mentioned that it’d be nice if he could open the window on my demise to let my soul join all that human consciousness already gathered somewhere. That I don’t wish to be embalmed. That I do not wish an undertaker near me. Which prompted the Angel’s question how he (and his friends) were supposed to get me to the burial ground. “We can’t just chuck you into the boot of my car, can we?”
THE END
U
Over here, we can hire ambulances to carry dead bodies. In my case, being a Hindu, my body will go to the crematorium not too far from our home and the ashes will flow down our local river to join the Bay of Bengal.
Your joke is great. I always assumed it came from old phone lines – when someone would be at the end of a phone?
Thank you. At the end of the phone line! The next time around, I will also include the hope that my end is not too near.
One need not to be old to think of death. Definitely it is death which will have the last laugh . Let us pray for a peaceful one and also we have no control . Always think that someone is ahead of you in the queue . May God give you peace of mind
Vidhura’s prayer.
अनायासेन मरणं विनादैन्येन जीवनं ।
देहि मे कृपया शम्भो त्वयि भक्तिं अचन्चलं ॥
Anaayesaena maranam ,Vinaa dhainyaena jeevanam
Daehi mae Kripayaa shambho ,Thvaya bhakthim achanchalam
Meaning : Requesting Lord Shiva to kindly grant three wishes:-
To give a peaceful death without any bodily troubles
A life without any trouble for the basic needs
Total Bhakti to Lord shiva.
LOL! 😀
I am glad that it amused you Tammy.
blasted English language and phrases…so many “endings” to all the commentators ideals about “the end”
Amen!
I have not heard it recently, but the slang phrase to .. “have your END away” .. had nothing to do with death. In fact, it was rather the opposite, as it referred to a ‘sexual encounter’. I guess that it’s been replaced by … Well, let’s not go there ! … 🙁
Yes, let us not. 🙂