Jeanne Koré Salvato

Origin

Middle English: from Old Northern French waitier, of Germanic origin; related to wake. Early senses included ‘lie in wait (for’), ‘observe carefully’, and ‘be watchful’.

This is How I Wait!

And what are the vagabonds in Beckett’s play waiting for? Obviously Godot. And yet this other meaning, to observe carefully is not often mentioned.

For example, Estragon wants to tell Vladamir a dream. “DONT’ TELL ME!” he says in capital letters, so to speak. Well, Estragon wonders if it’s time for the two to part. But then he thinks better of it. “That would be too bad, really too bad. [Pause.] Wouldn’t it, Didi, be really too bad? [Pause.] When you think of the beauty of the way. And the goodness of the wayfarers. [Pause. Wheedling.] Wouldn’t it, Didi?”

I leave you, Dear Reader, to contemplate the beauty of the way.

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