Homeless in Vancouver: How do you dig through a Dumpster of construction waste?

Two days ago I saw this apartment Dumpster full of mostly wood construction waste, probably from renovation work in the building, but maybe not. Maybe someone did some illegal dumping over night.

Tucked amongst all the wooden boards and slats and sharp nails was a rather sharp little painting—kind of abstract surrealism with a realist message spelled out in plain English: “Gingerly”.

Add some zest to your vocabulary

It seemed a particularly appropriate thing to read when rooting amongst wood slivers, rusty nails, and broken glass.

And on second thought, it turned out that “gingerly” was an all-around useful “how to” word whenever the task was fraught with peril.

• How to disarm a bomb
• How to brush a deadly tarantula off of your arm
• How to carry nitroglycerin
• How to change the dressing on a serious wound
• How to explain that you’re not from Guildford after all
• How to explain you found the last vial of anti-zombie antidote but you broke it

All things that you should do gingerly.

Of course, not everyone likes their English words quite so spicy.

In any situation calling for “gingerly”, you may substitute “delicately” or “carefully”. The latter word however, is so bland that you should probably also toss in a “very” just ahead of it.