Occasionally, learning the origins of a word is an eye popping experience. One person uttered it, and another repeated it, and probably neither had the intention of growing Webster’s Dictionary. Those with English degrees call such considerations etymology. Me, I kick it vernacular. Where the hell did a word start?

Recently at a prevention conference, a DEA agent explained the meaning of the word tweaking in drug culture. Methamphetamine addicts cab focus on a single point of interest for upwards of 40 consecutive hours. If they are having sex when the high kicks in, then it’s a long night in the sack. If a television catches their attention, they might take the entire set apart, with no idea of how to reassemble it. They might piece together pages that a neighbor shredded and discarded. That’s tweaking, and its scary.

I’ll never pass a television again without thinking about a burned out meth addict chipping at it for 2 days straight, sitting on the floor, a screwdriver in their shaky hands.