Or Whatever
My generation has a great equalizer tool. We tend to overuse it, but we do that with pretty much everything anyway. No matter what we do, we still can't make any progress in the area of nerds. People who know the answer to a question, and who are very confident in that fact, are still considered nerds. I've figured out why. It's that confidence. People who answer a question surely and confidently are labeled as nerds.
We even have a built-in mechanism to keep ourselves from appearing nerdy, and that's adding the simple phrase "or whatever" to the end of anything we're saying. I finally conceptualized this phenomenon when I overheard a girl having a phone conversation during our break in one of my classes. She answered some question that was asked by the other person on the line by saying, "Oh, no. It's on the top shelf, or whatever."
She knew exactly where it was, whatever "it" is. However, to save herself from the supposed humiliation of being caught knowing the answer to a question, she covered her own butt by finishing with the qualifier, "or whatever."
Even I do it sometimes. I don't want to look like a total geek when I'm watching a movie with my family and someone asks about the other movies the director has made. So I answer with, "Um... yeah, I think he was the director of 'Once Upon a Time in Mexico,' 'Desperado,' and 'El Mariachi,' which was made for $7,000 that he raised by allowing medical experiments to be performed on his body, as well as the 'Spy Kids' movies, 'The Faculty,' and 'From Dusk till Dawn,' or whatever." I knew exactly what movies he's directed, but I had to save myself by putting that small shadow of doubt over my answer.
I'm just glad not everyone uses that same qualifier. Could you imagine?
"I'm sorry, Mr Johnson, but it turns out the tumor is in fact malignant, or whatever."
"Sally, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?" "Yes, or whatever."
"Michael, you're adopted, or whatever."
"Unfortunately, we weren't able to remove the fishing pole from your father's eye, or whatever."
"Mr Goldstein, it appears that your newborn child, Lamont Jr., is actually half black, or whatever."
"Honey, I think I left my curling iron on, and, well, long story short, our house burned to the ground, or whatever."
So let's all make sure we use it wisely and in moderation. Nothing screws up a serious moment like an inappropriately placed "or whatever."
We even have a built-in mechanism to keep ourselves from appearing nerdy, and that's adding the simple phrase "or whatever" to the end of anything we're saying. I finally conceptualized this phenomenon when I overheard a girl having a phone conversation during our break in one of my classes. She answered some question that was asked by the other person on the line by saying, "Oh, no. It's on the top shelf, or whatever."
She knew exactly where it was, whatever "it" is. However, to save herself from the supposed humiliation of being caught knowing the answer to a question, she covered her own butt by finishing with the qualifier, "or whatever."
Even I do it sometimes. I don't want to look like a total geek when I'm watching a movie with my family and someone asks about the other movies the director has made. So I answer with, "Um... yeah, I think he was the director of 'Once Upon a Time in Mexico,' 'Desperado,' and 'El Mariachi,' which was made for $7,000 that he raised by allowing medical experiments to be performed on his body, as well as the 'Spy Kids' movies, 'The Faculty,' and 'From Dusk till Dawn,' or whatever." I knew exactly what movies he's directed, but I had to save myself by putting that small shadow of doubt over my answer.
I'm just glad not everyone uses that same qualifier. Could you imagine?
"I'm sorry, Mr Johnson, but it turns out the tumor is in fact malignant, or whatever."
"Sally, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?" "Yes, or whatever."
"Michael, you're adopted, or whatever."
"Unfortunately, we weren't able to remove the fishing pole from your father's eye, or whatever."
"Mr Goldstein, it appears that your newborn child, Lamont Jr., is actually half black, or whatever."
"Honey, I think I left my curling iron on, and, well, long story short, our house burned to the ground, or whatever."
So let's all make sure we use it wisely and in moderation. Nothing screws up a serious moment like an inappropriately placed "or whatever."
posted by Vaughan at
11:43 AM
3 Comments:
Quite possibly your most perceptive post ever.
Lol, you know, in all honesty I do do that sometimes. Not to avoid seeming like a nerd, but because I don't like to seem like some pompous jerk... =P
Same thing.
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