Schools rack their brains as bus driver jobs go begging

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Fri Apr 7, 2017, 10:55 AM - Edit history (1)

Schools rack their brains as bus driver jobs go begging

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I had to look it up:

Rack vs. wrack

Wrack is roughly synonymous with wreck. As a noun, it refers to destruction or wreckage. As a verb, it means to wreck. It is now mostly an archaic word, preserved mainly in a few common phrases.

Rack has many definitions, but the one that makes it easily confused with wrack is to torture. This sense comes from the use of medieval torture devices—called racks—on which victims’ bodies were painfully stretched. So, figuratively speaking, to rack something is to torture it, especially in manner that resembles stretching.

Common rack/wrack phrases

Rack {one’s} brain

Rack {one’s} brain is one common phrase in which rack in the torture-related sense is figuratively extended. To rack one’s brain is to torture it or to stretch it by thinking very hard.

To wrack one’s brain would be to wreck it. This might sort of make sense in some figurative uses, but rack is the standard spelling where the phrase means to think very hard. Wrack {one’s} brain is so common, though, that we have no choice but to consider it an accepted variant (some dictionaries agree with this).

[wcast]

1. Who would have thought

that taking away benefits and lowering wages would produce a shortage? The school district I work for in PA has trouble keeping custodial staff and teacher's aides as almost everyone is part time with no benefits.