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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Few things fill me more certainly with gloom than an approaching deadline. “Doom and gloom†often seem like the consequences of failing to meet some of the more demanding ones, and the first citation below actually mentions (punningly?) “doomsday.â€
The etymology of “looming†is debated, but the frontrunner possibility seems to be a derivation from Old Norse “ljóma,†meaning “to gleam, glistenâ€; early instances of “looming†are applied to things “faintly visible†on the horizon, so the Norse suggestion may not be as farfetched as it might at first appear. If that’s right, this particular substitution becomes what you might call an etymological antonym. Examples:
The last stretch before our final deadline, the last couple of weeks to be exact, were interesting, to say the least: I was waking up at night to write down a sentence for that one paragraph of chapter whatsitsnumber, constantly thinking what is left and what should be done next, wondering if it is all coming together as it should, frantically trying to find the right book where I remembered seeing this, that and the other (silly me for not making proper notes!), and all the while feeling the glooming deadline closing in on me like it was confirmed as doomsday.
http://tamk-en.blogspot.com/2011/06/mis … leted.html
I had to convince my then CEO that we will be able to sell tickets despite the glooming deadline hovering over our heads.
http://kolopis.wordpress.com/2008/09/
I go to the couch and start to do some work since we are suppose to be putting in overtime to get our product done before a glooming deadline.
http://www.deardiary.net/show/diaries/690/1109808000
I am starting to look forward to Monday and going back to work… that glooming deadline is not this stressful. ;)
http://forums.anandtech.com/archive/ind … 83345.html
The five unique hits for “loaming deadline” are a little harder to justify. Maybe the writers feel like they’re about to be buried under a ton of loam. Or maybe it’s a WTFT.
Last edited by patschwieterman (2011-08-19 01:30:40)
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