a more appropriate term for daylight saving time since a lot of time is wasting on the silly ritual of resetting clocks a couple times a year
Urban Dictionary
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Some of the more obscure pet peeves I have relate to daylight savings time. The lesser of the two involves the prevalence, particularly in writing, of 'EST' or 'CST' without regard to the time of year. Just so we're perfectly clear: EST stands for Eastern Standard Time, which is the time people are on during the 'standard' (i.e., non-daylight savings) time of year. So if your buddy in Chicago asks you what time the 4th of July fireworks are going to be broadcast and you write back 9 pm CST, either (a) your buddy will tune in an hour too early or (b) your buddy annoys me just as much as you do. Central daylight time, folks. CDT. Unless you live in one of the oddball places that doesn't participate, which is wrong for all the reasons I'll get to in a moment.
Even more alarming than the year-round CST-writers are the people who walk around dissing daylight savings time. Think of those long summer evenings that would be an hour shorter if not for daylight savings. And the early summer mornings that would come an hour earlier (does anyone really want the sun to rise at 4:15 am?). For me, those are sufficient reason for daylight savings, but if you need to be convinced of more tangible merits, there are plenty of people willing to lay out a case for the physical and psychological benefits, economic advantages, etc. (and plenty of people willing to refute these claims). Have a look at Wikipedia for a summary, if you're so inclined.
Right around this time of year, I start having to get up while it's still dark in the morning, but I barely notice because, frankly, light or dark, it's never easy for me to drag myself out of bed. And by the time I'm really shaking off the stupor, it'll be light regardless of the time of year. But what's really got me bummed is that in a week, the clocks are going to change, and I won't see daylight after work again until daylight savings kicks back in on March 10, 2013. That's right, for nineteen weeks, I (and a very good number of other people, too) will be coming home in the dark, taking the dog for a walk in the dark, getting in an evening run in the dark. And I will do this after having spend the day in an office and labs that bear the distinction of having not a single window. This makes me grumpy. It makes me want daylight savings time to last all year. And it makes me exceedingly easily annoyed by people who don't appreciate those extra hours they get on summer evenings.
I propose that Daylight Wasting Time be colloquially redefined to encompass the time of year when daylight is not saved but wasted. Summer? Oh yeah, we're on daylight savings. Winter? Meh, stupid daylight wasting. Because after all, in a country in which less than 1% of the population still works in agriculture, what is precious daylight squandered during office hours other than wasted daylight?
Even more alarming than the year-round CST-writers are the people who walk around dissing daylight savings time. Think of those long summer evenings that would be an hour shorter if not for daylight savings. And the early summer mornings that would come an hour earlier (does anyone really want the sun to rise at 4:15 am?). For me, those are sufficient reason for daylight savings, but if you need to be convinced of more tangible merits, there are plenty of people willing to lay out a case for the physical and psychological benefits, economic advantages, etc. (and plenty of people willing to refute these claims). Have a look at Wikipedia for a summary, if you're so inclined.
Right around this time of year, I start having to get up while it's still dark in the morning, but I barely notice because, frankly, light or dark, it's never easy for me to drag myself out of bed. And by the time I'm really shaking off the stupor, it'll be light regardless of the time of year. But what's really got me bummed is that in a week, the clocks are going to change, and I won't see daylight after work again until daylight savings kicks back in on March 10, 2013. That's right, for nineteen weeks, I (and a very good number of other people, too) will be coming home in the dark, taking the dog for a walk in the dark, getting in an evening run in the dark. And I will do this after having spend the day in an office and labs that bear the distinction of having not a single window. This makes me grumpy. It makes me want daylight savings time to last all year. And it makes me exceedingly easily annoyed by people who don't appreciate those extra hours they get on summer evenings.
I propose that Daylight Wasting Time be colloquially redefined to encompass the time of year when daylight is not saved but wasted. Summer? Oh yeah, we're on daylight savings. Winter? Meh, stupid daylight wasting. Because after all, in a country in which less than 1% of the population still works in agriculture, what is precious daylight squandered during office hours other than wasted daylight?
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