the.com/taper
The art of doing less and calling it strategy.
means To gradually decrease something — intensity, amount, or speed — in slow, controlled stages rather than stopping all at once.
from From Old English tapor, meaning 'candle,' which itself traces back to Latin papyrus — candle wicks were once made from the pith of papyrus reeds. A taper candle narrows toward its tip, and by the 1800s that shape gave us the verb: to 'taper off' is to thin out gradually, just as wax narrows toward the flame.
- origin
- candle wax narrowing, not pre-race nerves
- running use
- reduce mileage before race to peak fresh
- finance use
- fed slows bond buying, markets panic anyway
- psychology
- rest feels lazy, performs better than grinding