Vacating

[emc]

NOTWITHSTANDING!

I was reading thru our neighborhood covenant and noticed a large number of “Notwithstanding” word entries. I also noticed that every time I read the word “NOTWITHSTANDING” I would go into a cranial tailspin. In desperation, I researched the references on the internet. The first reference entry was something about a serial killer... then attending a game in spite of a doctor’s warning... and the purpose of a picnic... then my cranial tailspin became more of a hyperactive mental pinball.

Ultimately, I’m left to my own devices... so I started by attempting to break down the word into parts. First part is “NOT”... Now I’ve got that one... I’ve been frequently told NOT to do something (i.e., “Ed, stop thinking… you’re scaring the children!” and “Don’t eat that. You know it will give you gas!”)... So the meaning of NOT is quite clear to me.

Second part is “WITH”. This one is a little tricky. My fifth grade teacher taught us that a preposition was anything a rabbit could do to a log. While “WITH a log” can lend itself to strange interpretation, especially if you have an overactive imagination... (You probably wouldn't want to make that rabbit angry)... but the "rabbit to log" teaching is still valid... So "WITH" is within my stable cranial word processor.

Next we have “STAND”... which first brings to mind R.E.M. (“stands” for Rapid Eye Movement – a clinically validated dream state which one does not do normally unless prostrate) and just like the Athens, Georgia rock group song, the word “STAND” injects a sense of erect fundamentalism. “Stand in the place where you live... Now face north... Think about direction... Wonder why you haven’t before...” (Stand, R.E.M., 1989)

Lastly there is “ING” which... whenever I hear or see “ING” I think of singing and winging... probably because there are two “INGs” in each. Singing and Winging beautifully illustrate how the brain can take artful and blissful flight on a word’s notice.

But seeing all those parts together as one “NOTWITHSTANDING” just leaves too many variables to keep under this one cranial control cavity... It’s like my brain just takes a vacation.

[bystander]

I think maybe you broke it up too much, Not With Standing

[Chris Peterson]

I think maybe you broke it up too much, Not With Standing

Still too much. Just Not Withstanding. (Curiously, "withstand" comes from Old English "with" and "stand", where "with" means "against", quite opposite its usual current usage.)

[emc]

I think maybe you broke it up too much, Not With Standing

Thanks Bystander,
I get it... if we Asterisk* buds were to all have an overindulgent cocktail party... pass out on the floor and a stranger crash in... we would all be Not With Standing!

[emc]

I think maybe you broke it up too much, Not With Standing

Still too much. Just Not Withstanding. (Curiously, "withstand" comes from Old English "with" and "stand", where "with" means "against", quite opposite its usual current usage.)

Chris,
I get your abbreviated version also and I appreciate your concern for my cranial character... I like to think you may at times... be Not Withstanding my occasional whacky attempts at whimsy...