In the News

Word of the Week

November 4, 2000 (The Scotsman, UK)

frustration: the state or an instance of being frustrated; a deep chronic sense or state of insecurity and dissatisfaction arising from unresolved problems or unfulfilled needs; the act of frustrating; something that frustrates. (Middle English, from Latin frustratus, past participle of frustrare to deceive, frustrate, from frustra in error, in vain. Date: 1555) - yourDictionary.com.

I am trying to imagine just what it was in the 1550s that was so bad about life that they had to invent a word for it. Certainly, whatever it was, it hardly compares with this week's catalogue of frustrations. The English Environment Agency estimated the deluge in the South was on the same scale as the infamous Great Flood of March 1947, when 700,000 acres were submerged. In historic York, they even dragged out an old fire engine being exhibited in a local museum to help pump water out of people's homes.

But it never rains but it pours. Think of how our submariners must feel. All that water and yet we have had to mothball our entire nuclear attack submarine fleet because of cracks in the steam pipes. Fortunately, we've hired a genuine modern U-boat, complete with German crew, to defend the Thames Estuary.

Equally frustrated must be the executives of Railtrack and the 26 rail companies as they sat down to their black-tie dinner in London's Park Lane last night, ostensibly to raise money for children and young people living rough in railway and bus terminals - a social category that has swelled unaccountably this week as the rail system ground to a halt.

Somehow the great British public doesn't seem to appreciate what the diners were doing on their behalf as they cope with their own frustrations trying to get to work despite 344 new speed restrictions, flooding and the landslide that mysteriously cut off Edinburgh from Glasgow.

Even those taking to the road found that petrol was running out again this week, assuming you could afford to buy some if you found any. Shell Petroleum reported its best ever quarterly profits, and its shares promptly dropped by 20p, frustrating everybody but the Iron Chancellor, who is locked away somewhere counting the estimated Pounds 60 billion extra taxes he has accumulated.

But there is relief at hand thanks to the wonders of new technology that wasn't around in 1555. The ubiquitous Internet is sprouting hundreds of web sites where the frustrated can record their anger for all to see. "Well, Fargo Sucks" and other clones tell the banks what we think of them. "The Stained Apron" lets waitresses moan about bad tippers. And yes, you can log on and tell the head of Railtrack, Gerald Corbett, exactly what you think of his parentage.