In the blink of an eye, I decided to add another post to explain the word “blink” as used in the previous post on the post Groups of Three. In the previous post I noted the use of the word “blink” by Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in her dissent on the recent college admissions decision.
The word “blink” comes from the Old English word “blincan,” which means “to close or shut the eyes quickly.” It is related to the Old Norse word “blikna,” which means “to twinkle.” Justice Brown wrote: “This contention blinks both history and reality in ways too numerous to count.” In the legal setting “blink” means to “neglect, fail to acknowledge.” She was arguing against the idea that the law must be colorblind.
I did not know that meaning and use of the word “blink.” But it gave me an understanding to one of my dad’s expressions which I always found intriguing but vague. He offered: “a blink is as good a nod to a blind horse.” Or was it “wink”? Dad was rather flexible with that idiom.
