Read this, do that, react here, create there. Pfew, after three days without Internet access it is suddenly raining assignments - quite overwhelming.
Did you know that the antonym of "overwhelm" is "underwhelm"? Never seen that one in print. Just for the fun of it, I ran a comparison through Googlefight (http://www.googlefight.com). The results were overwhelmingly in favor of "overwhelm", 1.080.000 results as opposed to 12.800 results for "underwhelm". Where does the "whelm" in overwhelm come from, you ask? Well, believe it or not, it comes from O.E. hwielfan (W.Saxon), meaning "to cover over" and this apparently led to O.E. "helmian" (to cover) which is the origin of the "helmet", a head covering we might all need if it continues raining assignments.
Did I really complain earlier that this course started too slowly? Well, I am taking my words back. I have a lot to do now and need to plan my time carefully. Are others feeling overwhelmed as well? Here is something that might help:
I would have liked to write some more but I have to post on the class forum, react to the posts of others and read the blogs of fellow bloggers so there is not much time. Let me close this post with an overwhelming quote from Robert Coleman:
"Unless I accept my virtues, I will be overwhelmed by my faults"
Googlefight
Etymology overwhelm
overwhelm quote
