Today I will discuss my first experience with one of the two definitions of Leverage* and ultimately my second happier experience with the second.
The first experience with leverage occurred during the moving of our family from our city apartment back to our country home.
The washing machine which was situated in the basement of the townhouse was going to need to be loaded onto a cart for transport.
The stairs leading up from the basement were the type that had a landing on the stairway and then the steps turned at a right angle to complete the rise to the ground level.
As moving appliances was usually happily not in the realm of my pre - transport duties I spent most of the morning packing the mundane kitchen/bathroom items and utensils all the while listening to things being dragged around in the basement, back door opening and closing, several trips up and down the stairs, some nonthreatening banging and clanging, with some murmuring under the breath guttural moans and expressions.
All seemed to be going according to schedule.
Until...I got the call.
"Dear, could you come down here for a second?"
Fearing someone had gotten hurt, or perhaps I needed to run an errand, I immediately went down to see why I was being hearkened in such sweet and loving manner.
As I turned the corner to go down the stairs I saw my husband standing at the bottom with two lengths of planking lying along the steps and the washing machine resting at the bottom.
I slowed my pace...warily squeezing by the appliance and planks--no small feat as I was six months pregnant at the time.
"What would you like?", I asked eyeing the scene dubiously as little alarms started to tinkle at the back of my consciousness.
"I can't get the washing machine around the corner of the landing so I want you to stand here. " He said as he pointed to the bottom of the steps, "I am going to the top of the stairs and slide the washing machine up the steps using the planks for support."
I thought to myself, 'Well that is easy enough...I can do that! As long as he doesn't let the washing machine slide back on me....'.
Then he said, " As I get the washing machine to the top of the landing, I want you to lift the planks up to your shoulders and just stand there."
As my bladder lurched and the baby kicked, my inner thoughts were , " OK...now this is too much. Had this man gone MAD? Was he conniving some sort of household accident in his mind's eye? Had I finally pushed him over the brink?
Did he actually expect me...his darling, little , and kind wife and mother of 3 1/2 of his cherished children to actually be able to lift TWO heavy planks PLUS a washing machine to the level of her shoulders without suffering any serious consequences or harm?"
The greater fear was that his expectations of my success were perhaps not really that high.
He stood there waiting for my response as I weighed the odds of receiving at the very least skinned shins, knees, and arms if the machine fell back down the stairs, all the way to possibly experiencing a hernia compounded by a cardiac event or worse if I attempted such a feat.
As he was already half way up the stairs with said appliance preparing to drag it precariously upward and outward, I obediently said, " OK. If you think I can do it."
So it began.
I watched as the washing machine was hauled up slowly by hand higher and higher over the planks accompanied by scraping sounds like nails on a chalkboard.
When the machine got near the landing, he said, "Now! Now! Pick up the planks and place them on your shoulder."
I took a deep breath (as deep as any woman who is six months pregnant could) and laboriously bent over, grabbed a plank in each hand, and without hardly any effort lifted the planks surprisingly quickly up to my shoulders.
I raised my eyes to see the washing machine miraculously being pulled level onto the landing and consequently disappearing around the corner and ultimately heard it being dragged up over the next stairway and out the door.
THAT apparently is leverage.
.
Give me a place to stand , and I will move the Earth. -- Archimedes
But it didn't end there.
There are two definitions of leverage* remember.
Henceforward, whenever there seems to be an impasse in who does what for whom in terms of favours, gifts, or outings, I sometimes hearken back to the 'time I helped move the washing machine' to leverage the situation in my favour.
*
>
the system to their advantage — Alexander Wolff>
her 15 minutes of fame>
The first experience with leverage occurred during the moving of our family from our city apartment back to our country home.
The washing machine which was situated in the basement of the townhouse was going to need to be loaded onto a cart for transport.
The stairs leading up from the basement were the type that had a landing on the stairway and then the steps turned at a right angle to complete the rise to the ground level.
As moving appliances was usually happily not in the realm of my pre - transport duties I spent most of the morning packing the mundane kitchen/bathroom items and utensils all the while listening to things being dragged around in the basement, back door opening and closing, several trips up and down the stairs, some nonthreatening banging and clanging, with some murmuring under the breath guttural moans and expressions.
All seemed to be going according to schedule.
Until...I got the call.
"Dear, could you come down here for a second?"
Fearing someone had gotten hurt, or perhaps I needed to run an errand, I immediately went down to see why I was being hearkened in such sweet and loving manner.
As I turned the corner to go down the stairs I saw my husband standing at the bottom with two lengths of planking lying along the steps and the washing machine resting at the bottom.
I slowed my pace...warily squeezing by the appliance and planks--no small feat as I was six months pregnant at the time.
"What would you like?", I asked eyeing the scene dubiously as little alarms started to tinkle at the back of my consciousness.
"I can't get the washing machine around the corner of the landing so I want you to stand here. " He said as he pointed to the bottom of the steps, "I am going to the top of the stairs and slide the washing machine up the steps using the planks for support."
I thought to myself, 'Well that is easy enough...I can do that! As long as he doesn't let the washing machine slide back on me....'.
Then he said, " As I get the washing machine to the top of the landing, I want you to lift the planks up to your shoulders and just stand there."
As my bladder lurched and the baby kicked, my inner thoughts were , " OK...now this is too much. Had this man gone MAD? Was he conniving some sort of household accident in his mind's eye? Had I finally pushed him over the brink?
Did he actually expect me...his darling, little , and kind wife and mother of 3 1/2 of his cherished children to actually be able to lift TWO heavy planks PLUS a washing machine to the level of her shoulders without suffering any serious consequences or harm?"
The greater fear was that his expectations of my success were perhaps not really that high.
He stood there waiting for my response as I weighed the odds of receiving at the very least skinned shins, knees, and arms if the machine fell back down the stairs, all the way to possibly experiencing a hernia compounded by a cardiac event or worse if I attempted such a feat.
As he was already half way up the stairs with said appliance preparing to drag it precariously upward and outward, I obediently said, " OK. If you think I can do it."
So it began.
I watched as the washing machine was hauled up slowly by hand higher and higher over the planks accompanied by scraping sounds like nails on a chalkboard.
When the machine got near the landing, he said, "Now! Now! Pick up the planks and place them on your shoulder."
I took a deep breath (as deep as any woman who is six months pregnant could) and laboriously bent over, grabbed a plank in each hand, and without hardly any effort lifted the planks surprisingly quickly up to my shoulders.
I raised my eyes to see the washing machine miraculously being pulled level onto the landing and consequently disappearing around the corner and ultimately heard it being dragged up over the next stairway and out the door.
THAT apparently is leverage.
.
Give me a place to stand , and I will move the Earth. -- Archimedes
But it didn't end there.
There are two definitions of leverage* remember.
Henceforward, whenever there seems to be an impasse in who does what for whom in terms of favours, gifts, or outings, I sometimes hearken back to the 'time I helped move the washing machine' to leverage the situation in my favour.
*
Full Definition of LEVERAGE
1
: the action of a lever or the mechanical advantage gained by it
2
: power, effectiveness leverage
3
: the use of credit to enhance one's speculative capacity
Examples of LEVERAGE
- The union's size gave it leverage in the labor contract negotiations.
- The player's popularity has given him a great deal of leverage with the owners of the team.
- I used the leverage of the bar and a wooden block to pry the rock out of the hole.
First Known Use of LEVERAGE
1830
Related to LEVERAGE
Rhymes with LEVERAGE
2leverage
transitive verb
: to use (something valuable) to achieve a desired result
leveragedleverag·ing
Full Definition of LEVERAGE
1
: to provide (as a corporation) or supplement (as money) with leverage; also : to enhance as if by supplying with financial leverage
2
: to use for gain : exploit leverage
her 15 minutes of fame>
First Known Use of LEVERAGE
1957
Related to LEVERAGE
- Synonyms
- abuse, capitalize (on), cash in (on), impose (on or upon), exploit, milk, pimp, play (on or upon), use, work
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