wordy wednesdsay...yeet {october 12, 2022}

The NYT Mini has been a source of new vocabulary for me. The most recent enlightenment is "Yeet." Never heard the word.

Yeet is a slang word that functions broadly with the meaning "to throw," but is especially used to emphasize forcefulness and a lack of concern for the thing being thrown. You don't yeet something if you're worried it might break. Yeet is also used as an interjection, most often to express excitement or enthusiasm. (Yes, I got an A on my math test. Yeet!)

First known use of yeet: As an interjection, 2007, and as a verb 2017. 

(according to merriam-webster.com)

In 2018 Yeet, defined as an "indication of surprise or excitement, was voted the American Dialect Society’s 2018 Slang/Informal Word of the Year.

So this new word got the gears going. I know I have never used yeet as an interjection but have I ever yeeted anything? Yes, I have.

My mom's last few years of her life involved a journey with Alzheimer's. She stayed in her home probably longer than she should have and finally my siblings and I made the difficult decision to move her to a care facility. Mom was so upset and mad that she was no longer in the home that she loved, with all her familiar surroundings, and was sure that her children were plotting to take all of her precious things and her money. I got the brunt of her anger and accusations. I understood where her frustrations came from and usually could let her words go in one ear and out the other but after one visit, I just couldn't let go. She was brutal. All the way home, I blasted the radio, singing at the top of my lungs with the window down, got back to my house, and Rush's "The Spirit of Radio" came on the radio and I just started dancing in my garage. After the song was over, I looked at a pile of mom's stuff and there it was, a teapot sitting on a box. I walked over to that teapot, picked it up by its handle, and yeeted that sucker right onto the garage floor. It felt good. And the next day's visit started with a clean slate.