Life Typo (noun): A little mistake made in everyday life which is quickly corrected and you hope that no one really notices. E.g. Tripping and nearly falling over but regaining balance at the last second before walking away and pretending like it never happened.
I am the master of life typos. Over many years I have managed to hone my equally terrible coordination and perfectly subtle ninja reflexes to simultaneously get into and out of precarious situations. An art which I have called ‘Life Typos’. I chose this term simply because typos on the computer are easily corrected, such as the easily corrected fumbles of everyday clumsiness.
Everyone at some point has experienced a life typo. I think one of the most common ones happens at traffic lights. So, you are a pedestrian walking towards a crossing at traffic lights, and you are about to reach the curb when the light indicates to stop crossing. But you are right there, you could probably make it. So you make a decision to walk across anyway and you notice that the cars are waiting for you to cross before they can go. In an effort to speed up crossing you start to jog a little, but that looks silly so you walk a bit, then jog a bit, until you end up in a little walk-jog dance off with the awaiting traffic. It is only once you get to the other side that you realise it probably would have been quicker just to walk casually like any other pedestrian.
Another common occurrence is when you are walking along, holding something in your hand – a phone perhaps. And out of nowhere something happens and you let go of the phone, and it begins to fall. Until as quickly as you dropped it you manage to catch it mid-air again. You keep walking as if nothing ever happened, but on the inside you are partying like its 1999. And everyone around you is acting like they didn’t see anything, but really you know that they are completely amazed at that incredible moment of cat-like reflexes in action.
As you can tell most of these occur whilst walking, and in a busy area such as city streets, or shops. But alas, that is just the nature of life typos. And you know what? There’s no point fighting it, just embrace the moment. Feel free to let out a ‘Yahoo!’ at those strangers secretly impressed by your fantastic mid-air catching skills. They’ll smile, you’ll smile and you will all go your separate ways knowing that a perfect life typo has been executed.
Write And Day 