on math, ADHD and lawnmowers

how many blades of grass can you count?

So.

I’ve been getting a bit of push back lately.

It seems some people don’t understand how one would go from clown to therapist to handyman.

I’ve been told that I’m making a bit of a leap.

Not really.

Fixing things and figuring anything and everything out in pursuit of perpetual learning has sort of been how I’ve survived all these years.

I glibly tell people that it’s adhd.

Then?

I hear the term polymath.

I like the idea of being a polymath a lot more than thinking that I have adhd. The world just isn’t suited towards polymaths these days.

I had to go deeper to find out why. In order to do so, I began with the beginning of math, or at least the origin of the word.

In the first origin, it’s an abbreviation of the word ‘mathematics’.

That’s about as good as telling me that you’ll know it’s twelve o’clock when it’s noontime.

The second origin story was very cool.

math (n.2)

"a mowing, what is gathered from mowing," Old English mæð "mowing, cutting of grass," from Proto-Germanic *mediz (source also of Old Frisian meth, Old High German mad, German Mahd "mowing, hay crop"), from PIE root *me- (4) "to cut down grass or grain."

This is where the term ‘aftermath’ originates.

If aftermath is ‘after the mowing’ then a polymath must be either a place that’s well mowed or someone who does a lot of mowing?

I’m not sure I’m cut out for this polymath thing. I’m allergic to grass.

You would think that a ‘polymath’ would have something like this in its origin story.

Think again.

Things are not so simple.

polymath (n.)

"person of various learning," 1620s, from Greek polymathēs "having learned much, knowing much," from polys "much" (from PIE root *pele- (1) "to fill") + root of manthanein "to learn" (from PIE root *mendh- "to learn"). Related: Polymathy "acquaintance with many branches of learning" (1640s, from Greek polymathia "much learning"); polymathic.

These versions ‘math’ as a root don’t line up.

Don’t worry though, most stories don’t line up.

Nothing really makes sense.

And math can be connected to both cutting grass AND learning.

Is this why you should never cut another man’s grass?

Where does that phrase ‘you’re cutting my grass’ come from?

What’s the aftermath when someone over steps with you?

What kind of calculations go into your response?

Do you set the blade nice and high to give the grass a chance to bounce back?

Or are you scraping the ground and leaving the earth scorched as you go?