the.com/fleeting
The blink between mattering and missing it entirely, gone before you've named it.
means Lasting only a very short time; passing swiftly and gone almost as soon as it arrives.
from From Old English 'fleotan,' to float, swim, or drift — the same watery root that gives us 'fleet' (as in a fleet of ships) and 'flit.' The sense slid from 'moving lightly over water' to 'moving away fast,' and by extension to anything that slips past before you can hold it. To be fleeting is, quite literally, to be already swimming off.
- word origin
- From Old English fleotan, meaning to float or fly away
- attention span
- A glance lasts roughly 200 milliseconds before reset
- physics rule
- Some particles exist for a billionth of a second
- memory trick
- Brains delete most moments within seconds of living them
mayfly — insect with adult lifespan of 24 hours or less, some species live only minutes
cherry blossom season — sakura blooms last 1-2 weeks in japan, celebrated annually in spring
aurora borealis — northern lights visible for seconds to hours depending on solar activity and location