#Microblog Mondays 184: A Moment
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In the same vein as learning about the history of lines, Atlas Obscura had a brilliant piece on the concept of a moment. It begins by asking the length of a moment, since a moment could be several months (the #metoo movement marks a moment in time) or a few seconds (“wait a moment”).
Moment was first defined at 1/4oth of an hour (or about 90 seconds), but clearly that’s not how the word is used now. But more interesting, do YOU define a moment as a short or long period of time? If I said a vague sentence like: “Preparing the thing you’re about to see took a moment,” would you think that it took me a few seconds or a few minutes or a half hour without having any further context? Or do we only know the length of the moment when we have the context?
I usually think of a moment as almost instantaneous, a period of time so brief that it doesn’t warrant measuring. But… clearly that isn’t the case.
So what does a moment mean to you?
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17 comments
I’ve always thought of moments as instantaneous too, but I guess I’ve been wrong if they can go on for months.
Thanks for the thought provoking piece
I tend to think of a moment as a short period of time, like you, something so short it’s almost noteworthy for its brevity. However, I do see the idea of a “moment” being longer, more of a time period measuring an idea’s popularity/spotlight. Interesting piece.
Usually I would think of it as a short period of time. But then there’s a saying people often say…”I am going to need a moment” when rushed or pressed about something, so in that case I would say a longer period of time. Or a beat. Idk now lol
I would have to see the context. I don’t use that word much, but when I do, it usually means the same as: “Give me a minute” like the period of time between when a child needs me to sign something and I have both hands temporarily occupied.
Hmm, I think it depends on the context. In most cases I think of it as a few seconds. But in the context of “give me a moment” or “let’s be silent for a moment”, more like a minute.
I think of a moment like a specific event. Something significant that has a start and end. I think less of the amount of time, and more of the “moment” that happened.
This is so fascinating! I love how you find all these interesting things. I’ve never thought about it. I think it’s all in context. You have to the context before you can understand which moment you are meaning.
That is so interesting. Until I read your post, I had no clue that it could be the context too. But as I noodle over it, it feels there is a context attached to moment.
I feel like a moment is very short, but I can see how if you use it in a historical sense it could be longer. But if you said the work took a moment, I would assume almost no time at all.
To me, the word “moment” can have either meaning, depending upon context.
As the others, I have always taken it to be a short moment of time. Maybe a few seconds, maybe a few minutes, but not longer than that. It’s really not something I’ve put thought into before now! haha
This discussion has made me realise how much I love the word “moment”. I never did think of it as having a defined period of time and it’s kind of funny that at some point it was defined as a 1/4th of an hour… I think of it more as… a brief period where something significant happens… I love it when two people are involved in some kind of deep and meaningful conversation and refer to it as “we were just having a moment”.
Moment definitely requires context for me. For example, “I’m going to go jogging for a moment” = It may be only a second, but it’s going to feel REALLY long. Alternately, “I’m going to eat chocolate cake for a moment” = the time will pass so briefly I won’t believe it! 🙂
This was informative, Mel. I thought of ‘moment’ as a short period of time, maybe because I usually use it to refer shorter instants.
My gut reaction would be that a moment is a few minutes.
I think of that longer sense (“it’s an important moment for women” or “plaid is having a moment”) almost as a separate definition, something closer to “era” (but shorter) or the period of time that would go with “these days”. An “important moment” could be an important time/era/season/etc.
Honestly to me a moment is a blink of your eyes. I think because I always heard that your life flashed before you in the blink of an eye. And that always seemed like such a good way to describe a moment.
You are walking down the road and your foot catches in that one particular way and in a blink you are on the ground in pain.
You see the car coming and in a blink your car is totaled and you are thanking Gd you are alive.
One blink and your child is gone and you are left alone.
Interesting thoughts here. I think I’ve been using the words flexibly, sometimes short and sometimes longer. Are there other imprecise or versatile words like this? Hmmm…smidge is always small. I can’t think of any others at the moment. Ha!
Wait. I found this for precision in measuring matter: http://www.humblebeeandme.com/faqs/much-smidgendashpinchnip-measure/