Friday, January 18, 2008

give this one a try


I think I'd like to coin a phrase. I want to get one started and see if it'll ever make it onto 60 minutes or Lost.

This phrase doesn't have to make sense to everybody on the surface (like "coin a phrase" who says that?) but it'd be good if it did.

The thing is, I know that we already have a lot of phrases. You may be thinking right now, "aren't there too many phrases as it is Sean?" It's the old, why would you go out and plant a church when there are already a zillion of them out there? Good question. And one that deserves an answer.

You also have to understand the responsibility you carry when you start a new phrase. I can't imagine the sleepless nights of the guy who started, "don't go there".
Some day the guy who invented aspartame is going to find out that he gave millions of people cancer, and another guy is going to find out that he's responsible for seventh grade boys asking, "do you want tickets to the gun show?"

I'm just not sure I could live with that...

but....No risk, no reward

I'm going to take a crack at it.

I'm thinking, "gutter ball"

It immediately lets people know what you're thinking. It's a sports expression - but one that's not really used unless you're wearing polyester and smell of Pall Malls. I figure you start ahead of the curve when you pick a sports term or phrase.

For those visual learners - well you're out of luck because this is a verbal phenomenon we're starting today.

For those of you who need examples - please follow.

Guy asks a girl out, "Hey, Leah....um....nice shoes. I was just thinking that maybe you'd like to go out with me to the movie theater and then maybe we'd make out during the boring parts"

"yeah right"

"so you'll go!!?"

"no"

"oh..."

friend off to the side, "gutter ball"

wa wa...
and so it begins

9 comments:

  1. I'm behind this 100%! I'll start the wave down here in Clifton.

    This is a good revolution in coined phrases and I see it going places.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I started a word one time. I started calling anyone who did something stupid a "jackie." Basically means jackass, but without the use of cursing. (Try it, it becomes addicting.) I was looking for a way to let small children know they didn't measure up. I guess you could say I've been searching for ways to do that my whole life.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:55 AM

    This post....gutter ball...

    ReplyDelete
  4. i've been calling people "huckabees" lately. its not really my word, but i think people know what i mean.

    i'll get on board with the gutter-ball thing. i live in a pretty blue collar town so it should have some traction.

    ReplyDelete
  5. i'm on board with "gutter ball" as well. loved your example. really broght it to life i thought.

    i would also like to submit "real men turn left" as my new catch phrase. it's a nascar thing. and i'm already getting excited about the daytona 500 in feb. so, it works for me. try it...go ahead!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was hoping "real men turn left" was a function of liberal thinking.

    Oh well

    Go Green! (coming from a guy who flies airplanes that run on low-leaded gasoline...)

    Oh, and anonymous posts are gutter ball.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes, when the term "gutter ball" reaches the dictionary, A picture of Anonymous should be next to it...oh, but we don't know who they are do we?

    I see this as an international word...first used by our news anchors and then our comedy shows, if they ever return to the air and the Writers don't have another month of gutter-balls.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Before I could buy into your phrase, I had to do some research and check the most reliable of sources to see if, in fact, this was an original thought. Apparently, it was.

    http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gutter+ball

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm in. My friend Doug Citizen invented the word "langry" ten years ago and I use it often. It basically means lame. Like, My blog is langry these days because I don't know what to write about.

    Question on gutter ball - what is the proper way to use the phrase as a verb? Do you say, I just gutter-balled that one. OR I just rolled a gutter ball. Alos, I-is it too early in the evolution of it all to "GB" something. I'm actually a little worriend that I'll GB this weekend's message, for instance.

    ReplyDelete