Stephen Mejias

There are currently no "Y" words in the Audio Glossary, so my contribution should induce no unnecessary pushing or shoving.

yoav: (verb) -aved, -aving. to abruptly put an end (either by pressing Stop or Pause on a player, or, worse, by pulling the needle off the record) to a passage of music (especially one communicated through a good high-end system) at the height of its emotional impact, the result being something akin to jilting one at the alter, or, as they say, "pulling out" just before climax. -yoaver (noun). one who yoavs.

Used in a sentence: Each morning, before I leave for work, I yoav myself.

For a fascinating etymology, see: 2005 CES: Stephen Mejias Day Four.

***

What happened was this: At last year's CES, I followed a beautiful woman into a demo room.

Inside, Yoav Gonczarowski of YG Acoustics was presenting his Anat Reference loudspeakers. He would give a bit of a sales pitch before playing some music. He was kind of like a yoga instructor, actually, the way he would talk us through the experience, his calm, controlled voice holding our attention and intoxicating us through the journey.

Then, with a wonderful sense for that precise moment when he had all of us magically floating above our seats, tangled in music like bedsheets, he would suddenly press

STOP.

It was at that moment that we'd all come crashing down to cold reality — sad, frustrated, and deeply hurt — abruptly struck by the absence of music.

His goal, obviously, was to convey the emotional impact communicated by his speakers. It worked.

We had been yoaved.

***

I think of this when I leave my apartment each morning. I wake up, put on some music, and get ready for work.

But I am often ready to leave the apartment before a particular piece of music has come to an end. I hate to stop a CD mid-song, but I also need to catch the train, and I don't like to leave music playing while I'm not in the apartment. [I don't know why this is; Maybe the mice won't like it? Maybe something will explode? I don't know.] So, I am forced to stop the music.

Forced, you see, to yoav myself.

It sucks.