Simply Acting Up

Today someone tried to explain away a problematic issue in a case by telling me that their breath monitoring device, which showed some serious anomalies, was simply acting up.  When I read the logs for this alcohol sensing machine it did not look like the device was “simply acting up” it looked like the speaker had returned to very heavy drinking. The decision in the case was simple. But after I typed the last line of my Order the phrase was still stuck in my head.

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Simply acting up, what a powerful phrase it is. Simply acting up can cover all kinds of sins with a softening sheen.  From a car starter that occasionally won’t turn over to a child that occasionally screams and runs off for no apparent reason, “simply acting up” spoken aloud with a hint of exasperation and perhaps a roll of the eyes is a phrase that renders the problematic less bad, more comprehensible. .

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Simply acting up does not negate the problem.  Instead speaking the phrase aloud makes the problem less primary.  It is one of the pixie dust phrases that turn harsh realities into just mere run of the mill day to day problems. We need phrases like those to make life bearable.  “Oh it is nothing” and “He’s fine” and others of their ilk take a moment where everybody is hanging in the awkward space after a behavioral supernova and return the moment to normalcy.  Yeah we need words like this.