YouTube / iTunes / Spotify / Radio Public / Pocket Casts / Google Podcasts / Breaker / Overcast
Listen to ArtisanEnglish.jp posts & lesson intros here.
Word of the Day: Elastic
As a young child, my only concept of elastic was a rubber band.
My father would tell me to get him an elastic out of the junk drawer in the kitchen to hold his tobacco pouch together.
The clasp was busted, you see, and he used an elastic or rubber band to keep it closed.
When something is described as being elastic, it can easily change without breaking and may even be able to return to its original shape afterwards.
Elasticity in a business or financial sense alludes to flexibility and adaptability regarding prices.
As the prices of a good or service rise, demand falls.
Price elasticity is a measure of that relationship.
Many other intangible things are considered elastic – self-perception of one’s abilities, for example.
As we age and grow, we acquire new knowledge, skills and abilities.
Things we once considered impossible are suddenly easily accomplished, and our self-perception changes because it’s elastic.
As with all things, some people are more flexible than others.
Some of us can adapt and change to various situations and societal norms, while others seem unable to do that for one reason or another.
Especially in current times, those with more elasticity will find it easier to mentally, physically and culturally adapt to our rapidly changing world.
Climate change and a fading West will require elasticity.
The need to change our habits and ways of thinking will demand a level of personal elasticity that may stretch many of us to the breaking point.
Elasticity will become an essential quality for surviving and thriving in a new world.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 9th-grade education (age 15).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 53.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.
