Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Pecans. and Formalities.

"Say that again?"
"Super?"
"Slowly."
"SHUUPer?"

I think my circle of friends have disowned me. Is it weird that I've been pronouncing the super- prefix that way for as long as I've been breathing?

SHUUPernatural
SHUUPerstitious
SHUUPer job!

I spent the day asking those around me to say the following spelled-out word:


For everyone else, it's SOOPerman. But it's SHUUPerman to me, so leave me alone! I should start pronouncing that correctly though; next time I find myself abducted by Uxas, Son of Heggra the alien dictator (yeah MHM, I went there), the last thing I'd want to do is offend Superman. It isn't like I CAN'T say it properly, I can. Actually, I normally pronounce "superfluous" SOOPerfluous (not SHUUPerfluous). Same thing with SOOPerlative. I'm just used to saying other words with the SHUU my whole life. MUU SHUU CHIKUNNNN.

Now, the story with pecans is different. I settled with the fact that there are nearly a thousand ways to verbalize "pecan" that it's almost mind-boggling. Peh-cahn, pee-can, pee-cahn, peh-can, etc. Just shut up and eat your vegetables!

Something I don't understand: since when did "how are you" or "what's up" become something we say to every single person we bump into? That's not an issue, but I've noticed that, half the time, the people who toss it around do not even expect a response. This is often something I encounter during work. A customer goes, "How are you?" I say, "Oh, I'm doing great. You?"

The reaction is usually either a sheepish smile, an awkward pause denoting that they weren't expecting a reply, or a total bypass of my reciprocal question. I respond typically to gauge what my conversationalist is expecting from asking me how I am. A simple "hello" or "good evening" is sufficient - why ask me how I am if it doesn't even matter you...or if you don't even allow an answer? It's become habitual for a lot of people. Next time someone does that at my workplace, it should go something like this:


"Hey, how are you?"
"Oh, I'm doing great. You?"
-shoves a prescription in my face-
"I ASKED YOU HOW YOU WERE DOING. DID YOU NOT HEAR ME? THAT QUESTION WAS NOT RHETORICAL, SO ANSWER IT YOU DIMWIT." - puts on my insanity face-


When did sincerity lose its meaning? I never ask people how they are doing unless I give a damn about how they're doing. I never ask them what is up unless I actually care. It's become too much of a formality that those type of greetings seem only to be loose, floating filler words. Plus, the response to "what's up" is 7.5 times out of 10 "nothing." For "how are you," it's "good/fine/okay." I've never heard anyone reply "bad/like shit/terrible/my dog ate my homework," which just supports my headstrong belief that any type of emotional outpouring just causes an EXCRUCIATING AMOUNT OF AWKWARD, so there is a tendency to avoid any articulate answers.

It's a dandy world out there, ain't it?

But it's not in my place to tell others how to act.
On another note, who's gonna be watching the SHUUPerbowl?

3 comments:

  1. LMAO THATS WHAT HAPPENED TO ME TODAY! I asked my neighbor about her wellbeing. She just said she is doing good and walked away. She didn't ask me about me... ughh!!

    People today, just like greeting each other with smiles or nods. I hardly hear people say Good Afternoon, Good Morning, etc.

    Maybe next time we have to remind people that good manners is something that is valued by others.

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  2. At work, I don't say "how are you doing" unless the person is someone that I consider a friend, or someone that I was cool with.

    If they don't fall in that category, then I wouldn't take the conversation past "hello"

    If a customer who i don't consider a friend were to ask me how i was doing, I would say "alright" and keep it moving, unless i wanted to further converse with them. Granted it's proper manners to ask them how they're doing, but i'm aware that they're probably just saying it to say it.

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  3. Indexed it on Delicious: www.delicious.com/Ebey

    ReplyDelete