Today's Word: Self-Extricate

This little beauty comes to our lexicon from a story in the Washington Post. The headline: Driving Lesson Gives New Meaning to Carpool. It is the story of a driving lesson gone horribly awry: “An amateur driving lesson Saturday started in a parking lot in Montgomery Village and ended when the car jumped a curb, crashed through a fence and landed in a swimming pool.” The two people involved were in their 50s or 60s. In other words, probably old enough to know better.

I have no idea how this snake wound up 3 feet of the ground in the light branches of the asparagus ferns, but it seemed like an excellent illustration. I am not fond of snakes, BTW.

According to a spokesman for the local rescue company, the people involved in the crash were fine and were standing by the side of the pool. “They had self-extricated.”

What a lovely and useful phrase! Do you see disaster looming ahead? Time to self-extricate.