While walking down Mission in encountered a man who… certainly had a lot to say to me. I got the gist, despite not speaking Spanish. I’m pretty sure he hoped for quite a bit more from the encounter, but he had to settle for disappointment. I’m safe and unharmed, but I find I’m also disappointed: that this sort of thing still happens, and that no one nearby could be bothered to help.

Incidentally, and apropos of nothing, the English word (an appalling event, situation, or outcome) comes to us from the French , a compound of the Latin trāns & vestis. It got borrowed into many other languages, including Spanish, and has arrived in English more than once.