Reader question: Please explain this question: "Do you get your second wind after dinner?" "Second wind"? My comments: Do you get a second wave of energy after taking dinner during the evening? That is the question, rephrased. Wind is colloquialism for one's breath. One needs one's breaths when running or doing anything physically exerting. By that I mean one needs to breathe in and out easily and rhythmically. Otherwise, one is known as out of breath. That's when you're probably too tired or too exited or too frightened. When you're out of breath, you cannot function properly, if at all. Second wind, therefore, refers to the situation where you regain your breath, and hence composure and confidence, after initially losing it. Second wind, as an expression, is inspired by what distance runners feel after running for a few kilometers. You know, they get tired after awhile and feel the difficulty to catch their breaths. If they persist, however, even if their legs are heavy, a few minutes later, they suddenly are able to breathe with ease again. And their legs are light again. Now, not only do they no longer feel tired, they feel happy to run on, and on, and on. This is known as the runner's high, in which state runners feel they can run forever. Well, maybe not forever, not happily ever after but you get my hint. In our example, I am sure many office workers can relate to the fact that even though they're dead tired after a day at the office, once they have dinner plus sometimes a wink, they all of a sudden are full of energy again. |