In my life, I have had many “personal” sayings, like “Great idea; smoke dope much?” and other such things. I’ve noticed that, as a culture, we often repeat pop-culture phrases. Spritle is guilty, as charged. Here’s a short list of some of the things I no longer say:
Loooking goooooood - Chico and the Man
Aaaaaaaaaay - Happy Days (Fonzie)
Shwing - SNL (Wayne’s World)
Yeeeeuuuuuuueeeeesssss - McDonald’s commercial
Where’s the beef? - Wendy’s commercial
Wazzzuuuup - Budweiser commercial
I think that most of my speech probably comes from Chandler Bing and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yikes. And people still talk to me! I’d give specific examples, but I need another cup of coffee first.
Unfortunately, I still say “NOT!”. Mostly to myself when I read a particularly stupid idea or page on the Web, but it still happens. And I hate it.
I finally stopped saying “I’m sorry?” for “Please repeat that” (because I’m seasonally hard of hearing). It was brought home to me how much I used it when I was training my replacement at my old job and she became increasingly annoyed at it.
[ul][li]“I hate when that happens.” -Saturday Night Live[/li][li]“You look mahvelous!” -SSNL[/li][li]“Huh Huh Huh…” -Beavis and Butthead[/li][li]“oooooh! oooooh!” -Welcome Back Kotter[/li][li]“Eat my shorts” -The Simpsons[/li][li]“Don’t have a cow, man.” -The Simpsons[/li][li]“Oh TAY!” -SNL[/li][li]“Can you say ________?” -Mr. Rogers, by way of SNL parody.[/li][li]“Jane, you ignorant slut!” -SNL[/li][li]“I know you are, but what am I?” -Pee Wee’s Big Adventure[/li][/ul]
I’m still guilty of saying bad to describe something that’s good.
Still guilty of saying Dude at least 500 times a day (When someone wants to impersonate me all they have to say is “Dude!” and everyone knows who they are talking about)
And last but not least…Me and a few of my closest friends are still guilty, after all these years, of talking like the late-great Beavis and Butthead.
Another Chandler talker here. “Can I BE any more dumber?”
I also use phrases that nobody remembers from T.V. shows.
“What’s this, spaghetti?” From the Brady Bunch.
“Come, come Algebra.” From The Little Rascles (Or Our Gang for you purists.)
“Well shut my mouth and call me a Nigress!” From I don’t know where. I heard it once in some movie and cannot stop myself from saying it when the occasion arises. It made my boss do a double take.
I also drive my children crazy with:
“Mommy, know what?”
“Chicken Butt.”
Don’t worry, Deskmonkey, I’m guilty of “HA!” too. hangs head in shame
Mine:
Yo!
Live in the now!
You lark! (Local Area Retarded Kid–Hey, I was an ignorant little kid)
You’re so cute…hahaha, it’s Opposite Day!!
Did I do that? (wait, I still say that)
Sweet!