What's a good word for "a good thing before I'm ready for it?"

November 3, 2009 9:20 AM

I'm looking for a somewhat poetic word or phrase (in any language) that describes "a good thing that's happening too soon" or "a good thing that happened before I was ready for it" or something like that.

I'm making a gift for my friends' baby. They conceived before they'd planned, the baby is early, and she prompted several other changes that are good for both of them, but happened before they thought they'd have to make them. (Home remodeling, health stuff, etc.) So "a good thing before we're ready" has generally been the theme of the pregnancy. Are there any lovely turns of phrase that express this concisely?

posted by ferociouskitty to writing & language (12 comments total)

No cliches come to mind but some phrases that did include 'premature joy," and "an unexpected ascent into happiness," a well as as the idea of a very warmly anticipated party guest who arrives a couple of hours before the time on the invitation.
posted by bearwife at 9:33 AM on November 3

Maybe the opposite of "too little, too late" - "just perfect, just in time" ... thoughts of "serendipity" are stirring also, though that's not really right.
posted by lorrer at 9:37 AM on November 3

A snowdrop?
posted by rongorongo at 9:39 AM on November 3

Serendipity/serendipitous: Colloquial meaning is something that was unexpected, but actually works out quite nicely. A nice surprise.
posted by turducken at 9:42 AM on November 3

happy accident?
posted by cristinacristinacristina at 9:42 AM on November 3

a wonderful surprise!
posted by Allee Katze at 9:54 AM on November 3

"Lagniappe" might work, but that is usually used for an unexpected "extra" gift/item/occurrence versus something just early.
posted by SoulOnIce at 9:54 AM on November 3

Serendipity is really good. Also, "forced fortune", "unintended benefits"and "collatoral improvement".
posted by tdalton at 9:57 AM on November 3 [1 favorite]

"monkey's paw"?
posted by A Terrible Llama at 10:53 AM on November 3

I like "unexpected joy" if this is something the child will see when she's older.

"Bewildering baby boon" has also been rolling around in my head as something that would look cute on a onesie. Also, if you had that space-age material diapers are made of and you could make "boon" change to "bane" when the diaper was wet, that would be pretty cool...sometimes my penchant for alliteration goes too far.
posted by philotes at 11:24 AM on November 3

I don't think any of the terms suggested above will work: whatever 'serendipity' used to mean, it doesn't mean the right thing now. And ('langriappe' and 'monkey's paw') included - do you really want to make a gift which you need to sit down and explain the meaning of a pivotal word to have it make any sense?

I would compare it to early Christmas presents. For example, my parents put some presents out before Christmas, because some presents are from them (the Santa presents come on the day), and we would always shake them and peel back little bits of wrapping paper to find out what was inside. I might use that as a starting point.

OR maybe you could use the idea of Santa (slash a stork) getting confused (with the timezones and the leap years and oy vey) and coming early.

Really though it depends upon your intention. If you just want to be heartfelt and sweet, that's one thing, but if you wanna be amusing as well as sweet, then that depends largely on your sense of humour and your friend's. For example, a new yorker style cartoon of the scene from Alien where the thing bursts out of the dude's stomach - with a caption like 'but I had you in my calendar for tomorrow!' would be amusing to someone who isn't offended by the comparison between their newly-born child and an acid-spewing parasitic nightmare.... actually the similarities between babies and the Alien monsters are intriguing.
posted by schmichael at 6:36 PM on November 3

Early Surprise!
posted by mynameismandab at 7:42 PM on November 4