A Pregnant Pause

I read the following sentence in a book this week: There was a pregnant pause.

And I wondered what exactly a pregnant pause was. So I went to the handy dandy internet in search of an answer. Here is what I found interesting: the dictionary has several definitions, and the three I found interesting were 1) fraught, filled, or abounding, 2) full of meaning; highly significant and 3) of great importance or potential; momentous.

1) When you're pregnant, you definitely feel "filled" and "abounding." You're either filled with gas, heartburn (or on the other hand, even empty because of morning sickness) and your waistline seems to be abounding every day. Makes sense to me.

2) This is more like it. Highly significant is how pregnant women feel. Like everyone is staring at your belly as you walk through the store. Like you bring out the parent or the people who don't normally invade your space but insist on touching your belly people. Or even the too much information people who either want to give you advice or tell you their horror stories. That's significant, right?

3) Of great importance or potential....the potential to never have your old body back, definitely. Momentous, of course, you feel that if someone were to roll you down the street, your ginormous body would gain so much momentum you could flatten a skyscraper. Now that's momentous.

Wikipedia says: A pregnant pause (as in the classical definition, "many possibilities") is a technique of comic timing used to accentuate a comedy element, where the comic pauses at the end of a phrase to build up suspense. It's often used at the end of a comically awkward statement or in the silence after a seemingly non-comic phrase to build up a comeback. Refined by Jack Benny, the pregnant pause has become a staple of stand-up comedy.

Interesting because I know when pregnant women are talking to non-pregnant people, I find there are many "pregnant pauses." Mostly it's because the pregnant woman is thinking, 'Did they seriously just ask me that? Do they really think I am going to tell a perfect stranger such personal information?' *Insert pregnant pause* Still thinking, 'Yes, they really want me to answer that.'