the old-timers I played with back in Iowa used to say “it’s good enough for folk music” when we got tired of tuning and now it’s entered my vocabulary as an all-purpose useful phrase for beating back perfectionism.
sure, i could make this closer to perfect if i put in more time and effort and there might be circumstances under which that’s a good idea, but for now i’ll get more joy and use out of it if i just accept the kind of wonky version and keep going.
Some variants of this I’ve heard, if folk music isn’t your jam:
Good Enough For Shakespeare (used to justify odd word choices, cliche’d plot devices, and putting Dick Jokes in the middle of serious work)
Good Enough For Government Work (Used when you can’t finagle the math so you round up and get on with your life)
Good Enough For Saint Anthony (used by my Catholic Grandmother, usually when something went wrong in the kitchen)
Good Enough For The Lutherans (Used by catholic great-aunt, usually when we were running late for something)
Good Enough For Fish And Biscuits (Great-Uncle Francis said this all the tie and I have no idea what it means but the man was an overwhelming sucess at life so I guess it works)
The following post was angrily dumped in my notes a few months ago, authored by an 18-year-old who is absolutely convinced that they know how the American economy works better than I do, and wanted to shout at me about it. I began to respond to it a few times, but I felt that it wasn’t kind or productive to burn the poor kid down when I have a platform, and they clearly had a lot on their minds, and as the responsible adult in the situation I should really offer them gentle kindness and guidance instead. But it was so funny. And they came to my house to shout at me.
So I’ve posted their post below, divorced of context (so they can divorce themselves from the post, as they almost certainly would like to do in the cold light of day) because I thought the comic I produced in response had a certain Absurd Fascination.
(LISTEN if we all had multiple adults in every household CAN YOU IMAGINE how we could SPREAD THE PENSION RISK)
i'll apple your turnover 