WhatEVER!

I find myself using the same phrases over and over. You know me, friends… I like to talk. Boy, do I like to talk. (stop nodding your head in that smug manner.)

To express my astonishment or my incredulity, I am in the habit of saying, ‘Shut UP!’ (Just FYI: the accent is on the ‘UP’). It’s not very nice, I know, but I can’t help myself. Other people point it out to me, especially my children. When I say it, usually talking to one of my girlfriends on the phone, they will all gasp, and say, “Oh, Mommy… you said the ‘S’ word!” Yes, peeps, at MY house the ‘S’ word is ‘shut up’. Or ‘stupid’. And the ‘F’ word is ‘fart’. Gotta love little kids. ;)

When I would work summers at a daycamp during college, I became practically famous among the staff for the following phrase: “Go wash your face and get a drink of water. You’ll feel better.” That was my magic cure-all for unhappy little campers who were arguing, crying or otherwise just whiny. Get hit in the noggin with a ball? “Go wash your face and get a drink of water.” Heatstroke? Same thing. (just kidding, people!) I must have said that two dozen times a day for one malady or another. The other staffers started using it, and I spent several long, hot summers at that daycamp, with kids who thought that water had medicinal properties.

Other things I say on a regular basis:

- ‘my friend’ (I say this ENTIRELY too much. Both in conversation and in my blog.)
- ‘ya think?’ (Phil just said that I say that a lot. I answered, of course… ‘Ya think?’)
- ‘Love it!’
- ‘Can I get a NO?’ or sometimes, ‘Can I get a HELL NO?’ (um…that’s the ‘H’ word)
- And we mustn’t forget… ‘Omigod…’

But there is one phrase that I wasn’t even aware that I used all the time, until we moved to Colorado, and we met our awesome pals, Jesse and Jen. (Much like you don’t realize you have an ‘accent’ until you move somewhere else, and everyone points it out to you!) Jesse always gets the biggest laugh out of me saying, “Do what?” Who knew I said it so often? It’s just a knee jerk response that means… I guess, “What?” or “Pardon?” or “I didn’t hear you,” or “Excuuuuse me?” Depending on how it is said, it can be a question, an answer, or even a sarcastic retort. Well, Jesse had never heard it before, and even now, when we see each other (not nearly often enough, Levines!), he’ll crack up the first time he hears me say it.

Yep, that’s me, my friends. Do what? You knew all this about me? Shut UP! Really… ya think?