DISCLAIMER
As a result of my affiliation with and within different organizations, businesses, groups and institutions it is imperative that I make the following clear:
The thoughts, words, opinions and views contained in this blog do not represent those of the aforementioned associations and should not be attributed to them. This from THAT Guy stands alone as a separate communications and multimedia piece for the purpose of expressing what’s on MY mind.
One more thing: If at any time while reading This from THAT Guy, you get the feeling that I’m being overly critical, insensitive and/or judgmental, suck it up, because I AM…
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Self admittedly, I am not the best person to talk about the usage of popular culture vernacular. For the most part, it gets on my nerves. It’s a big pet peeve of mine. I can’t stand any of these idiotic phrases that make their way from movies and hip hop music into daily conversation, in my opinion, only made famous because a famous person used them. Once again, I may not be the best person to talk. I still use the word “dope,” occasionally use “fresh” and would think it was critical, if “critical” made a come back! So yeah… I’m outta the loop. But some of these new words and phrases are just plain nonsensical.
Tell me, what kind of greeting is, “What’s good?” And what kind of response is, “What’s really good?” The truth is that every time a friend of mine says, “Real talk,” I really want to smack the stuffin’ out of them. And the one that gets under my skin the most is the use of the phrase, “No homo.” That phrase is often used where there’s no real contextual value, but for whatever reason makes the speaker feel better about whatever statement made prior to or immediately after. I even remember calling out one of my cousins/co-hosts from our online talk show on it. The brother said something to the effect of, “…yeah Jon, no homo, but you know I love you like a brother.” WTF! One thing really has NOTHING to do with the other! It was just a mindless use of a popular phrase.
This all brings me to my most recent experience. Facebook’s Honesty Box can truly be a hilarious experience. For those who aren’t familiar, Facebook has an application that allows visitors to leave anonymous messages, so long as you have an Honesty Box in your profile. It goes without saying, since these messages are anonymous, all types of things are written. The only edge you have in the Honesty Box experience is that you can tell the gender of your messenger. If their statement is in a pink box, they’re a woman; blue, then they’re a man.
Like I said, it can truly be a hilarious experience. If you think having conversations with people drunk off that liquid courage is funniest, then you’ve never had an Honesty Box. In my experience, women have said all types of things. And now I can say, so have the men… Yes. Men.
I have recently received an Honesty Box message that was surrounded in a blue box, meaning it came from a man. The message simply read, “Sexy as Sh*t! No homo…” And there it was… another completely mindless use of a pop culture phase. I was perplexed, and at first couldn’t figure out what perplexed me more. The fact that some dude told me I was “sexy as sh*t,” or that the same dude tried to throw out the phrase, “no homo” like that was supposed to mean something.
It wasn’t like he said, “You rock a mean suit. No homo.” Or, “I think you’re a good speaker. No homo.” Both of which can be taken as compliments too. No, this brother said I was sex-say… No homo. Oh, the hilarity…
And I kinda felt sorry for ol’ dude. How could he NOT know that if any guy sent another guy that anonymous message, it can’t help BUT look suspect? Even the most sexually secure of us would look at the that scenario and be like, “No homo? Are you sure???” Ladies, I know you love us to be secure in our manhood, but for real; what would you think if both you and your man looked at Trey Songs and shouted, “He’s sexy as sh*t.” Immediately followed by the bonehead “no homo” statement. Would you scratch your head?
When it’s all said and done, DO YOU… (another silly pop culture phrase.) I only ask that we all think before we speak and definitely think before we act. Back to my main concern, think before we swallow down and regurgitate every little pop culture phrase. Think before we abandon common sense in order to be down with the in-crowd. Think before we open our mouths as to ensure that there is consistency between our thoughts and our words. And for Christ sakes, PLEASE think before we stuff some foolishness in a poor guys Honesty Box! No homo, of course.
What's good witchoo? You got it...
LMAO always found that funny too!
Posted by: Patty (MD) | 07/20/2009 at 11:05 AM
This is too hilarious. And while I'm not one to judge, I would DEFINITELY raise an eyebrow if a guy referred to another guy as "sexy as shit!" I mean, you just don't hear that every day.
Meanwhile, I think the overuse of these phrases comes from people not really having anything substantive to say. Somehow they keep the conversation going without actually adding to it.
Posted by: Veronica | 07/20/2009 at 11:09 AM
People have limited vocabulary. Those phrases are space fillers.
Posted by: Ms. Smart | 07/20/2009 at 11:51 AM