‘Spuddle’ is an archaic word from the 17th century that means to work ineffectively; to be extremely busy whilst achieving absolutely nothing; to assign trivial things undue importance.
In true Dilbertian style, upon encountering this word, several of my colleagues leapt in resonance suggesting that this word described their common experience of life and work.
It was <lol>, in a gallows humor sort of way.
In the group chat, one colleague wrote: “How do you use that in an sentence? This whole academic year has been a spuddle? I feel like all I do is spuddle?”
Another declared: “I am spuddling, I have spuddled, and I will spuddle in the future.”
A third quipped, “Well as Paul says, ‘for all have spuddled and fallen short of the glory of God.’”
I observed that in one meeting this week, where we were discussing the problem of addressing problems while being chronically under-resourced, my boss affirmed, understood, and appreciated my rationalizations for past and future spuddling. I felt like I should be indicted for spuddling along and not being sufficiently strategic. Affirmation and understanding felt better, but….
In a different conversation, I was accused of undermining the proper authority of staff in the midst of a dysfunctional…
