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Reader question: In the following dialogue, what does “preoccupied” mean exactly? Woman: What’s wrong with Sarah? She seems a little preoccupied. Man: Her husband lost his job a couple of months ago and they are desperately trying to make ends meet at the moment. My comments: Well, the confusion may have arisen because the woman speaker never gives a list of things that Sarah is occupied with – she does not know. For example, when Sarah and her companion talked (say, over the phone), Sarah sounded absent-minded. She could not focus on their conversation. She forgets her companion’s words and had to ask “What did you say?” “What’s that again” over and over. Mentally she was not there – her mind was apparently somewhere else. That got the other woman to suspect that Sarah was “preoccupied” with something, something wrong. Her husband lost his job, as the man explains. That’s what’s been on Sarah’s mind. Bills are piling up. He’s looking for but has yet to find a new job. She does not know when he will, if ever, find another job. You know, the way her husband is, “Said he’s too old for working, but he’s too young to look like he is” (from Fast Car lyric, by Tracy Chapman). Alright, I’ll spare Sarah any more unpleasant and understandably unwelcome speculations on her husband and their current family difficulties, but the long and short of it is if someone is preoccupied with something, they have something to worry about. Something’s bothering them. Something’s distracting them. They want to have it dealt and done with before they can engage in any other activities. | 
