When the dust settles

When the dust settles

I’ve got a good expression for you today: when the dust settles. This is what you say when you describe those first moments of calm and clarity after a period of confusion or activity. We just had a big election, in which 435 seats in our House of Representatives, 35 seats in our Senate, 36 state governorships, and hundreds of state representatives were chosen. There was a long campaign, a long election night over our six time zones, and even the next day there were still some votes being counted. A lot of confusion, a lot of activity, a lot was up for grabs, up in the air. But after the dust settled, the Democrats had won control of the House of Representatives and the Republicans had expanded their majority in the Senate. After all the confusion, after all the activity, after the dust settled, it was a partial victory for Democrats.

I did a Google News search for this phrase, and the majority of the examples were related to the US elections—or to individual sports games. If you watch ice hockey, you know that it’s common for players to fight on the ice. When the fight is over, when the dust settles, the players get penalties and the game resumes. The fights, by the way, are JR’s favorite part of watching a hockey game.

You may remember tech giants Apple and Samsung were in a long court battle. Apple says that Samsung copied its phone and tablet designs. They fought in court for seven long years, but when the dust settled, Samsung had to pay Apple over $500 million in damages.

Do you remember at the Oscars a couple of years ago, they announced the wrong winner of Best Picture? Presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced that La La Land had won Best Picture because they were given the wrong envelope. There was confusion on the stage, but after the dust settled, it was actually the movie Moonlight that had won.

Before we go, I got a question from a listener and I answered it by e-mail, but I figured that since Maia had the question, maybe some of you had the same question. Maia wanted to know, what does the word “though” mean when it’s at the end of a sentence? Though is t-h-o-u-g-h, or if you see it on social media, sometimes people just say t-h-o.

When “though” is at the end of a sentence, it means the same as the word “but” when it appears at the beginning of a sentence. I’m going to give you three examples:

I love that bag! It’s really expensive, though. That means, I love that bag, but it’s really expensive.

I had such a fun time at the hockey game. The Chicago Blackhawks lost, though. That means, I had a fun time at the game, but the Blackhawks lost.

Last one. I love Mexico City, where Maia lives. It’s got so much traffic, though.

That’s all for today, thanks again for being with us. I love being with you every Monday and Thursday. It’s time to wrap up for today, though. Don’t forget to join us again on Monday, when we’ll talk about the movie “A Star is Born.” Click “subscribe” in Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to the program and you will never miss an episode. Have a great day, a great weekend, and we’ll be back with you in a just a few short days from now.