Catch Phrases

Say again?

I believe we say meaningless things out of habit, useless to us and to people with whom we speak.

My first flight instructor kept a generous distance between himself and his wife.

After twenty-two years of Navy flying, most of it at night and over water, he was medically retired. He started flying and instructing in slower airplanes while his wife maintained the home fires in eastern Kentucky.

Following every statement, she added “honestly and truly.” It was unconsciously repeated and soon everything was honestly and truly by everybody.

In the South, people visited as often as possible, but many people moved a day’s journey from home. Transportation was slow, and there were chores on the other end.

After long goodbyes with hugs, shaken hands and passing jars of preserves through the car window, someone of the departing party might say something similar to “Ya’ll come go with us.”

It wasn’t an honest invitation, but sometimes a family member would pile into the vehicle and go visiting until the next weekend.

I just finished an annual check-up and noticed there is an up-tick in the number of office and clinical workers who employ the same phrase in giving instructions.

They all do it without being aware of using this phrase but it is contagious.

“Please sign in using the kiosk “FOR ME” or “climb up on that shaky, old examination table FOR ME.” It is those last two words that are ubiquitous in the medical field.

Nobody knows where it came from, how it spreads from office to office, nor how easily new hires pick it up and start using it.

It is almost the same as asking someone to do you a favor.

People often greet others with ”How are you?”

Nobody expects a truthful answer because nobody really cares, or at least they don’t want to hear about it.

The Kansas Woman has an elderly relative who takes more time than you want to spend hearing about her new and old symptoms.

One of her very old friends, if asked how she is getting along, begins a tiresome, rhapsodic inventory of her ailments, medical history, test results, and when that is depleted, recites her sister’s medical history.

I’m not permitted to join these conversations because I once asked if “her things were in order.”

Honestly and truly.

joenphillips@yahoo.com