Watershed moment code#

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. A watershed moment is, figuratively, this kind too – it’s a dividing line, something that changes the course of history, that cuts the present off from what’s come before.Ībout a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”: According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a watershed was “a narrow elevated tract of ground between two drainage areas a water-parting.” Shed, in this case, comes from the Proto-Indo-European root skei-, “to cut, split,” like the German verb scheiden, “to divide to divorce.” The Continental Divide is this kind of watershed, because rivers to its east flow into the Atlantic, and to its west into the Pacific. When it first appeared in 1764, the term referred to mountain ranges, hills, or other high areas that divided drainage basins. Originally a watershed was more like a firewall. A “drainage basin” seems too passive to be used, metaphorically, to indicate “a turning point.”

Geologically, though, a watershed is a drainage basin, “a land area that channels rainfall and snowmelt to creeks, streams, and rivers, and eventually to outflow points such as reservoirs, bays, and the ocean,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The news media seem to love the word watershed, “a crucial dividing point, line, or factor” as Merriam-Webster puts it. Senate passed a same-sex marriage bill, The New York Times called it a “watershed moment.” The United Nations biodiversity summit produced a “watershed agreement,” according to The Washington Post.

Two other common elemental words, watershed and windfall, take a little more figuring out. Firewall conjures up either an impenetrable wall made of fire, or a wall intended to stop a fire’s spread. That could stop the meltdown, if not the shutdown.Įven if you’re not familiar with computer firewalls, you could guess from the word that they are meant to stop something dangerous. The least lawmakers can do is look the part, they argue.

Watershed moment code#

Schumer did not drop the dress code for staffers on the Senate floor, few enter the chamber and the standards in the hallways have already changed.)But for others, there’s a feeling that from schools to churches to Congress, America is dropping the standards that cultivate – and earn – respect. Many say such diversity makes for better policymaking, as we wrote about last year. (Though Mr.

Journalists and staffers have happily followed suit. For some, relaxing dress codes – which are expensive to follow, particularly for young staffers – is a step toward greater equity, enabling people from a wider range of socioeconomic backgrounds to work on the Hill. Schumer – wore dress sneakers to the Oval Office. Congressional leaders sparked controversy this spring when all but one of them – Mr. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania has frequently sported hoodies and shorts since his return from being treated for clinical depression, though he would vote from the edge of the Senate floor so as not to break the unwritten rules. There is a language, choreography, and, yes, costumes. The unwritten rules of congressional theater were being challenged well before Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer issued his edict Friday.Flip-flops, wigs, and sweaty gym shirts had already made Senate appearances. It gets to standards, and tone, and trust.So much of Congress is theater. senators can wear whatever they want on the Senate floor, sparking an uproar. Wait, the government is about to shut down, and we’re arguing about outfits?But this is about something deeper than a dress code.