Caesura: cae-su-ra
noun
(in Greek and Latin verse) a break between words within a metrical foot.
• (in modern verse) a pause near the middle of a line.
• any interruption or break.

From MinnPost: “Are you thinking of “caesura-ing” soon?

In case you don’t get the lingo, here’s the scoop: “Caesura” (yes, it’s in the dictionary) is the latest in a string of words proposed to replace “retirement.” The r-word, according to people who ponder such things, needs to be retired soon.”

Being but a sprout myself, I’m not to concerned with my own retirement yet, but this article is interesting in the way it highlights the need for a change in language. “Retired” folks aren’t terribly retired in their “retirement” anymore; they’re working and traveling and generally being quite tire-less. So the definition of “retirement” has slipped out from underneath the noun itself, and the proposition is that a new noun “caesura,” become the symbol for the changed definition.

“Caesura” is a fun word. It comes from “caes-” meaning to cut, the same root as Caesarian, that slightly disturbing birth process. “Caesura” is a prosodic word; in ancient Greek poetry is was a very specific kind of break in speech, but today it’s simply a
line break – or an interruption – within a thought or phrase. It’s an esoteric and very specific word, which to me makes it seem a strange choice to redefine retirement, when easier words – like “break” itself – are readily available. But perhaps it’s the word’s unknown quality that makes it appealing for reapplication – since most people have never heard of “caesura” before, it’s almost as if the word were invented on the spot simply to define retirement.

To me it seems cutesy and overbearing to use a five-dollar word to describe something so common – at least in the US – as leaving a career job for other pursuits (how about “repursuit”?). Here we have this word that’s meant one specific thing for centuries, and now it’s supposed to mean something else, grabbed by the baby boomers for redeployment as retirement redefinition from the Hallowed Halls of Poetry. How selfish! Well, as a gatekeeper at the Hallowed Halls (you get a gun that shoots metaphors and a really cool decoder ring), I say it’s our word. Find your own. The beauty of English is its uncharted vastness, I’m sure there’s a word something out there that’s perfect and unused. And, since you’re not working anymore, I’m sure you have plenty of time to peruse the dictionary!