the.com/outage
The universe's way of asking if you've tried turning humanity off and on again.
means A period when power, service, or a system stops working, leaving you temporarily unplugged from modern life.
from A fairly modern coinage, built from 'out' (as in 'out of service' or 'out of power') plus the noun-forming suffix '-age' (seen in words like 'breakage' or 'leakage'). It emerged in the 20th century alongside electrical grids and utility networks — you needed a word for the specific condition of being 'out' of power, so English simply manufactured one to match the need.
- origin
- short for out of service plus age
- root cause
- usually a backhoe, not hackers
- irony
- backup generators fail most during actual emergencies
- group behavior
- everyone checks the same site to see if it is down