Blank: what does it mean?

It is midnight now at Bambi’s end. A new day is about to officially begin, thankfully.

Who knows? Maybe like those of you with an emotional connection to Beirut, Bambi’s August 4 was not like any other working day of the year. How could it be? Indeed, it was a day of emotional solidarity, along with grief. The latter was not silent all the time. Yes, tears can be noisy, especially when listening to an interview with the grieving parents of a little one. Of course, Bambi’s collective grief was mixed with more personal gratitude to God for having miraculously protected or healed her loved ones (some of them, who may be reading now, went through a LONG ride from hell; hello to Maya, Bambi’s hero ❤️!).

So, did the spirit of the day make Bambi lack a topic for this new post? Regardless, she still had that daily urge to connect with you, dear readers. To overcome her lack of inspiration, she decided to be randomly creative in coming up with a theme for today’s post.

This is how she googled the terms “random word generator” (or something like it) and convinced herself that she will let the whichever word generated on her screen to be the focus of today’s post. To her amusing surprise, this word happened to be “blank“, just like her blog’s “empty new post page“. Needless to repeat that it is also like her Beirut-related psyche today. What an ironic coincidence!

Now, to begin with, what is the meaning of “blank”? Well, as you likely know better than Bambi, especially if English is your first language, “blank” literally means “empty” or “void“.

First of all, and indeed, “empty” may feel like a white page where nothing is written yet.

Second, “blank” or, rather “empty“, could feel like a house or an apartment we come back to, at the end of a working day, when we either live on our own or we are by ourselves for a while.

Third, and related to food, the “emptiness” could be similar to our fridge prior to a trip to the grocery store. In extreme cases, our “empty stomach” may even start craving any food while producing an unwanted, and likely graceless, music.

Fourth, “blank” or, rather, “empty” may remind us of a temporary yet unpleasant feeling, which we can experience if we are lacking sleep, exhausted, mourning or experiencing loneliness following a break-up (https://shorturl.at/cfpQ6). Sadly, we can chronically feel empty, at least for an extended period of time, in depression, burnout, other mental health conditions, or even in some personality disorders (https://shorturl.at/cfpQ6).

Fifth, one must also bear in mind the financially-based meaning of “a blank cheque” (or “chèque en blanc”, in French). As a reminder, the latter has no monetary value written on it, although it is already signed. By extension, and in a figurative or more symbolic sense, the chèque en blanc expression can also mean a “carte blanche” (or a “white card”) situation. The latter refers to an open-ended agreement (too vague), which is potentially vulnerable to an eventual abuse by one of the signing parties (https://shorturl.at/rsBMV).

Last but not least, the term “blank” can be related to the discipline of psychology, which is rooted in both philosophy and biology, in which the concept “blank slate” refers to the earlier following philosophical belief: at birth, human beings are born with the potential to become anything later in life. According to this view, their mind is “a tabula rasa” (a blank slate), which will be filled with ideas, as they grow up and navigate the world. Of course, the alternative view is the increased role of genetics and biology.

Bearing the above in mind, Bambi will end with questions and a new musical discovery: (1) in general, what does the word “blank” evoke in you in terms of memories? Or of any aspirations or fears?; and (2) have you heard of, and if so, do you like M. Ray LaMontagne? Being a true dinosaur, instead of an up-to-date deer, when it comes to music and movies [as well as top clothing brands :)], Bambi was delighted to discover this award-winning American singer-songwriter and musician JUST NOW (https://shorturl.at/jouL4) while searching for a matching melody. Thankfully, it is never too late in life. In addition to his captivating voice, Mr. LaMontagne has a timely and deep song, which is entitled “Empty”.