Category Archives: Language

Hydrologists have a technical term they call “depression storage.”  As it seems, it’s the volume of water in an area of interest held at any given time in recesses in the ground.  Most people call it puddles.  It’s an interesting case of jargon at its worst and best.  At its worst, because it takes a simple concept and makes it more complicated, more opaque.  At its best because it has an unintentional effect of describing the emotional state that many people have in dark and wet weather:  storage of depression.  One of language’s unexpected beauties.  It’s the third of a series of rainy days here in New England.  Remember that children in rubber boots encounter joy when they jump into depression storage.