Not having started my midterm project for one of my courses, due next Tuesday, last night I canvassed my classmates for help. What I needed what a suitable topic. The instructor decided to list broad, unstructured adjectives at me rather than let everyone else give specific examples. At the end of her description she said, “There, I’ll let that sit with you a while and you can incubate at home. Are you comfortable with that?”
“Sure. Usually I like to incubate for as long as possible,” I answered—to what effect, I’m not exactly sure. Donna burst into tears laughing.
There’s something very funny about the word incubate, I think.