Question: “What have you been doing?”

My answer: “Just piddlin’ around.”

There was a brief pause and then a bit of nervous laughter and a quizzical expression by said Questioner. Another question followed: “You’ve been doing what?”

I realized the Questioner had no idea what I meant and so I elaborated, “You know, just messin’ around – not much o’nothin’.” This seemed to clear things up somewhat and we went on from there.

In retrospect, the Questioner was “not from around here” – if ya know what I mean. And I realized that this might be an expression unique to the South. So, I thought I’d clear things up a little – just in case you’re not from around here.

First, you should know that the word “piddling” is, in fact, an old word in the English language that has been around for a couple of hundred centuries. According to the dictionary, piddling is used as an adjective and defined as “amounting to very little; trifling; negligible.” The word piddle is used as a verb and is defined as “to spend time in a wasteful, trifling, ineffective way; to dawdle; or to waste (time, money, etc.).”  It is also used as meaning “to urinate” and usually in reference to small children or puppies.

Now, any of the aforementioned definitions are acceptable but, here in the South, when you piddle, it isn’t necessarily wasted time. I mean, you might piddle in your garden – which, of course, is never wasted. Or you might piddle around in a store – which usually means you sorta wandered around, looking and considering but not necessarily buying anything. And, certainly, this activity is not wasted time. Why, you might be just thinkin’ about redecorating who knows what or when but you’re just gettin’ some ideas stored up to ponder over. Or you know your favorite lipstick is about used up and they stopped making that one so you’re just wondering if they have something that could possibly be as nice as the one you’ve been using. Or you might be thinkin’ about that fancy wedding that’s comin’ up next month and since you probably don’t have a thing to wear, you’re just seein’ what you can see. I mean, there’s no need to make a hasty decision – especially if it’s between seasons here in North Carolina since there’s no tellin’ what the weather might actually be and you could always wear a shawl if it’s a little cool – but, if it’s hot as blue blazes, you sure don’t want anything polyester or with long sleeves. So, you just need to piddle around a little.

True piddlin’ is more like ponderin’ – a second cousin to contemplation – which is a sacred thing. Well, at least it is in my perspective. All this to say, never underestimate the power of a piddle.