Look out York – Exercise Obtundity is coming.
How do we know? Well, signs have gone up in and around Duncombe Place advertising the fact.
And they have left people asking the same things: what is obtundity? And what does an exercise involving it consist of?
Here are some of the reactions posted on X:
Police officer, letting me off with a caution for not exercising obtundity: “what part of “exercise obtundity” don’t you understand?”
— Inkwell Paul (@InkwellPaul) January 14, 2024
Me: obtundity https://t.co/iIY3BUBFck
Be careful! You don’t want a dose of obtundity
— Roaring Meg #makevotesmatter (@Megthelibraria1) January 14, 2024
Mmm… 🤔
— Mike Tipping (@TippingsTipples) January 14, 2024
It’s an anagram of TINY DOUBT
Is it a Guardian cryptic crossword clue?
All will be revealed in the fullness of time?! #Obtundity #Rotundity #spelling #meaning #puzzle #prank pic.twitter.com/bLs3qJvPDb
— Paul Vittles (@PaulVittles) January 14, 2024
Early contender for new word of 2024.
— Mark Richards (@fellranger1) January 14, 2024
Certainly, Exercise Obtundity will be quite a big deal. The signs warn that it will close Duncombe Place from 4pm to midnight on 22 January.
Meanwhile, parking will be suspended on the street from 11am the same day.
So what’s going on? We’ve done some digging and can offer these two insights.
What is Exercise Obtundity?
Exercise Obtundity is the name given to a training exercise taking place around York Minster that night.
It will be a multi-agency operation, led by police and involving the likes of North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service, Yorkshire Ambulance Service, City of York Council.
A Monday evening in January was chosen so as to limit the disruption to residents, visitors and businesses.
Those who live and work nearby have already been given information about the timing of the exercise.
What is obtundity?
Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of obtundity, we hadn’t either – and neither has the Oxford English Dictionary!
A search for ‘obtundity’ on oed.com returned no results.
We fared better with Collins Dictionary, which gave us this definition:
“Noun: the stage of having the senses numbed or less sharp.”
So now we all know what obtundity is, and that it will be exercised in York later this month.