Hey, gang.
Happy Friday, and welcome to the final weekend of the countdown.
If I haven’t said it enough along our journey, please allow me to reiterate that without all of you, every word on this blog is essentially worthless.
And to that end, I want to thank all of you for reading, sending links to the posts onto others and for simply giving up your precious time for me.
This is the fourth annual Winter Solstice blog, and it has been far and away the most interactive one. Like Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.) once said, “You bet on me like I bet on you.” Simple, sure, and maybe a little overly idealistic. (Me, idealistic? Nah! ?) But I really do think there is something to the solidarity angle.
OK, I’d say that’s enough “rah rah” for one day, yes?!
As for today, and Countdown Day 5, ever wonder why people say, “I hear you ‘five by five,” when they’re confirming that they hear you over a phone or walkie talkie?
In the simplest terms, five by five essentially means loud and clear. (Yeah, sort of a hybrid of military speak and CB operations jargon.)
According to a cleverly named site called painintheEnglish.com, there are generally two main scales to measure how well you are hearing someone:
- Signal Strength
- Clarity of transmission
Since we’re dealing with a five-point scale (with five being the strongest), if someone tells you that they hear you “five by five,” that means you’re crystal clear.
Losing that logic, if the signal strength and clarity is particularly weak, I’d guess you could say, “I hear you ‘two by two.” (Though with a signal that weak, the phone, walkie or other comm device might end up in the garbage!)
Although the “five by five” expression does seem most related to communication, a person can use the term to describe his/her mood/state of personal health, etc.
With that in mind, I wish you all a great weekend, filled with five by five moments at
every turn.
Closing in on just 100 hours left to go, people!
JFish