The true meaning of “Temporaily”

More than four months ago, in the middle of the Covid-19 lock-down, I snapped a picture of our local cinema with its ominous “Close Temporaily” marking.

I assumed it meant something close to “temporarily”, just for a month or so, at the very most. Yet, today, as I was passing by, I couldn’t help seeing that nothing had changed. My favorite theater was still “temporaily closed”.

That’s when I realized that Temporaily meant much more than what I originally had assumed. I immediately began to research the meaning of “temporarily”.

I found that it meant “for a limited period of time; not permanently.” I looked and looked but couldn’t find one for “temporaily”, so I assumed that it came from “time” and “rail”, meaning that time was being railroaded.

In other words, that time was being coerced into a course of action that it would not otherwise choose, hence the seemingly long lasting (four month) and unpleasant (no more movies!) situation.

I’m so glad I’m a “lettered” man!