On the matter of the word 'ramfeezle,' the online version of the Dictionaries of the Scots Language (Dictionars o the Scots Leid) does not fill me with great confidence as to its definition.

That's not an opening line I ever expected to write. And yes, I too found it difficult to decide which part of the sentence was most surprising.

And yet each fragment of it is true. If you didn't know it before, that's a real word I was looking up. And the Scots do have their own dictionary. And someone went to the trouble of putting it online.

It's also on Merriam-Webster and a bushel of sites devoted words no one uses any more. The world is weird, but the world of words has always been infinitely weirder. Web searches have made sure we understand this.

I'm removing some references and dates and others bits and pieces that my friends assure me no one either understands or cares about. The Scots Dictionary says, 'ramfeezle: To disarrange, muddle; ramfeezled: confused, muddled, stupefied, spent, exhausted, wearied.'

And 'ramfeezlement: disorder, confusion, the effects of fatigue or exhaustion.'

Put them all together - which is the point of mine and some other exercises - and what you get is a state of disorientation that befalls you when you're so tired, you're looking at tired in the rear-view mirror and it looks like a holiday.

These are the days when we call the people we love if they are leaving the office at 1 am and we talk to them to keep them awake until they get home.

Are you in the habit of losing not just the usual things like keys, reading glasses and phones, but also cups of coffee, sandwiches, mops, the spare mop, the cup of coffee you made to replace the first one you lost? That be the old ramfeezlement.

I know a few people who are not overworked. They are all under four and have devoted grandparents.

Co-founder of the Cropper Foundation Angela Cropper used to say, 'There are 24 hours in a day, not including the night.' That seems about right. She was often ramfeezled.

I do not know how to cure overwork other than through retirement, death or lotto-winning, but I know there are many suggestions in all the things people read about how to relax, how to find me-time, how to organise things so you can avoid burnout.

Clarification: it seems from the above sentence that I do have some idea about how to not overwork.

But that's it. It's just an idea. None of these things have worked for me. So I'm just pointing you in the direction.

Me, all I can do is laugh about it. And cry. I'm also given to crying about it. Less of the tears type of crying and more of a long wail that sounds like I'm baying at the moon. Which makes me laugh more.

When the ramfeezlement sets in, it's interesting to see what makes sense to us and what connects. And what connections we make. I'm a little too fond of a good (or ridiculous) thought experiment, but I do like to try to see if there are patterns in our frazzled minds.

I have never lost my laptop. I am told that sometimes I sleep with it in the manner of