The term "delayed opening" is a combination of two simple words that come together to form one of the best phrases in the English language.  People that live in snow-laden areas know what this means.  I wonder if southerners or other hot-weather-dwellers have something similar. 

Probably the best thing about a delayed opening is that it's usually unexpected.  When I was a kid and we had a delayed opening at school, my mom would come wake me up at some ungodly hour (because she worked at the school and found out early) to tell me to set my alarm later.  The feeling of sleeping in when you weren't planning on sleeping in is a great thing.  My current employer still has delayed openings (something about it being too expensive to pay the road crew overtime to come in early, so instead they pay all the rest of the employees for time spent at home).  When I get up in the morning and see snow out my window, I call a phone number and hope to hear those beautiful words spoken into my ear.  "There is a delayed opening this morning.  We will be opening at 9am." 

Unfortunately, we didn't have a delayed opening this morning.  When I left my house at 7:30am, it was just starting to come down.  Now, as I'm looking out my window at work and watching the snow pile up on my car, I'm hoping to hear those other beautiful words strung together to form an even more beautiful phrase:  "early dismissal". #psychology