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Affectations that become, well, you

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14:11 / 29.01.03

I'm in the habit of coming up with sayings/mannerisms that are completely out of character for me, and then using them incessantly to annoy/amuse my close friends/relationships. Usually they're derived from a habit of speech a friend and/or acquaintance has exhibited that has amuse me or struck me as peculiar.

For instance, the use of the word "score!" (said with a slight surfer twang) to denote a fortunate happening - e.g., finding some change on the sofa, getting a good parking spot, or today, at work, the installation of a new coffee machine.

Now,"score" as employed as above is ironic, because I'm not the type of person to say "score", and these aren't the type of things that a person who says "score" would say "score" in repsonse to.

However, I've noticed to my horror that this affectation I used to annoy my girlfriend has become an ingrained response, so that I use it as in the last example, at work, in front of an audience who is more or less oblivious to the fact that I don't use that expression as one would normally use that expression. You see? Now, I am stuck in my habit of saying "score," in response to stupid little victories, and it's become horrible to me, this - abyss - of vacuous, unexamined responses over which I am seemingly in no control. I have become "the guy who says "score", instead of the guy who makes fun of the guy who says "score."
"Score" is not an isolated case, either. I'll try to think of some more things I do/say that fall in this category, but in the meantime, I am alone in this? Has this ever happened to anyone else? Have you ever developed an affectation/mannerism in spite of your best intentions?

Hattie's Kitchen

14:19 / 29.01.03

I have developed the annoying habit of saying "Result!" in the same manner as "Score!"..my bus came on time today - result! I got paid on Monday - result! I'm starting to feel like one of those god-awful lad-types seen in lager commercials. Have also started saying things in the manner of the "Black People Love Us" website, i.e. you go girl, ho, bitchin', etc...I'm basically a twat with other people's vocabulary. Sad.

Whisky Priestess

14:21 / 29.01.03

I do this all the time. The mask becomes the face. Tear it off before it's too late!

14:24 / 29.01.03

Yeah...happens to me, too. Can't think of a specific example off the top of my head. My Jamie Oliver impression is currently probably most in danger of becoming a regular response, but thankfully it's been running quite a while and I still only say 'Top!' And 'Pukka!' in a highly ironic tone.

A

14:29 / 29.01.03

I almost always reply "not too shabby" when someone asks me how I am, which is starting to annoy me. I've also taken to using the word "wack" rather a lot. It's hard to stop once you get started.

14:34 / 29.01.03

One word: dude.

15:17 / 29.01.03

Am guilty of many of the above. Years ago a flatmate and I used to use "choice bro" a lot in honour of our kiwi cousins. Except he was a lot more secure in himself than me and quite enjoyed saying it to total strangers without a hint of ironic distance, while I had a special placard saying "I'm being ironic - see!" to beat people with while I said it. I kept feeling the need to point out to people that he was being ironic, although after a year I think the mask definitely became fused to his face. He was a very postmodern lad however and loved unsettling people with his breakdancing on the mat of irony. He did that kind of thing a lot.

15:19 / 29.01.03

'Choice bro'? Whassat mean?

15:26 / 29.01.03

Well, bro is, you know, bro, brother. Cuz also gets some usage, short for cousin, generally used to refer to friends. It actually has a Shakespearean precedent, not that that's any excuse. Choice generally just means good I think. As in, that's a choice piece of ironic language. Used interchangeably with sweet or suchlike terms.

Warewullf up North

17:52 / 29.01.03

I've been meaning to start a thread on this very topic.

My problem:

"Ah, you didn't see it, but..."
"Did you go, but..."

Gah! Ending every sentence in " but..." is very annoying!!!

17:55 / 29.01.03

i totally know what you mean! i curse the day i started saying the word "dude".

18:51 / 29.01.03

Christ, I started saying "dude" as an ironic rejoinder to everyone who said I'd end up speaking like an american (as in "No, I'll never do that, dude") but now I say it all the time. Well, actually, I don't say it that much, because I don't talk to people very often. But I write it all the time.

The Apple-Picker

19:03 / 29.01.03

Some valley speak. I started out using totally ironically, but now it's ingrained. Fer shure has so totally not become a part of my regular vocabulary, though.

Dude feels a little more natural than it used to, but towards the end of the pronunciation, I feel a slight twinge of "Oh my god, I'm actually saying this!"

The Return Of Rothkoid

21:49 / 29.01.03

The word rock. It's so versatile.

21:51 / 29.01.03

It's been pointed out to me that I'll open every counter-positional sentence with "Be that as it may..." Which is shit because sometimes I won't be able to get the entire sentence out due to people mocking me "be that as it may, be that as it may!"

I've also developed a strange habit of agreeing with people by starting sentences with "Yeah, no..." as in "Yeah, no, that's exactly what it is."

I have found that I'll find a word or phrase I like and then abuse it and run it into the ground. Some stay forever, some hang around for only a couple of weeks. Everything was "ace" for a couple of months, people were and continue to be "dude", "maan" and "buddy" - usually as a suffix to their name.

I also hated the way I wrote the numeral 4 - with an open top - so consciously changed it.

Those aren't exactly ironic, but they are affectations that have become a part of my speech. What started off as a jokey "duuude" has become just another word.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

21:57 / 29.01.03

I'm with Rothkoid on the whole "rock" thing. I swear that was a joke once.

22:04 / 29.01.03

Dude.

I've never said "rock" ironically - maybe "meta-ironically." Kind of aware that it was ridiculous, but glorying in it anyway.

The one that I find annoying is that I salute people now by instinctively throwing the goat.

You know.

\m/

Rock and ro-hole, dude.

Somehow, recently, I've also come into the habit of saying, "Right on," as a vague assent with something, showing that I'm listening and I approve. I'm not entirely sure where this came from, but I think it may have started out as intentionally goofy and is now part of the lexicon.

Right on, dude.

22:07 / 29.01.03

it happens to me all the time. but why should it be a horror? get postmodernism on the horn: irony is unsustainable. in sociolinguistics we talk about accomodation theory, for when we pick up the speech of people we like or respect or spend a lot of time around - maybe the horror is what you deserve for continuously mocking other people's speech habits. just kidding. dude.

Matthew Fluxington

22:17 / 29.01.03

Oh, I've picked up a lot of vocal mannerisms and catchphrases, I tend to shamelessly appropriate whatever I like. A good example would be picking up "fucking hell" mostly from listening to a lot of Eddie Izzard, which has become such an ingrained part of my speach now that I've actually passed it along to my girlfriend unintentionally.

22:30 / 29.01.03

I have recently found myself saying 'jolly hockeysticks' as a perfectly serious term of approbation. I don't mind 'chaps', 'splendid', 'marvellous', 'I say', 'ghastly', 'perfectly beastly' and all the other things that make me sound like someone from the Barbelith Club for Jolly Spiffing Chaps thread - not even 'what ho, chaps', which has cropped up... but 'jolly hockeysticks'? That's just absurd...

The Return Of Rothkoid

22:46 / 29.01.03

I swear altogether too much. For fuck's sake.

00:47 / 30.01.03

Many of the above, though I'm not all that horrified.

But the really weird one is that, somewhere, somehow, I incorporated "y'all" into my grammar. My dad's family comes from Alabama originally, but he was born in California, and I've never been to the South. Apparently some part of my soul was crying out for a second-person-plural pronoun.

Could be worse. I've been told that folks from Jersey use "y'uns", but I don't believe it.

01:15 / 30.01.03

Funny that. When I try to do anything, I end up not being myself.

03:24 / 30.01.03

I pick up things from television - wish I didn't, especially when my friends see the same shows. I just know that everyone's twigged to the fact that I started saying "Godalmighty!" around about the time I started watching Father Ted. It's all I can do not to add "... Dougal!" at the end there.

Plus dude as well. Got it from a friend. Accidentally used it during a business phone call. Bah!

Cloned Christ on a HoverDonkey

03:29 / 30.01.03

Me and a few friends started abbreviating words, then suffixing "oid" onto them: "mate" became "moid"; "fancy a pint?" became "fancy a poid?"; "crazy but true" became "croid boid troid".

All very fine and dandy. If you're a bunch of post-ecstacy idiots in the pub after a heavy night's clubbing, that is, but not the best thing to take to work with you. For weeks I found myself calling my boss, Steve, "Stoid" and asking for a "ham sandwoid" in the canteen, especially on a Monday with my head still fuzzy from the weekend's excesses.

There are many other totally insane manerisms like this that I have donned and cast away over the years, most of them "invented" during prolonged substance abuse sessions with a close circle of friends. Whilst imbued with meaning and humour to me and my friends, to everyone else I just sounded like a twat.

wembley can change in 28 days

06:16 / 30.01.03

From my friend's stoner roommate, I got dude. Now people look at me as "that girl who says dude," and I swear that can't be doing anything good for me.

From my grandmother: good gravy. I say it all the time. They're bombing Iraq again? Good gravy!

I blame Rothkoid: I'm trying to curtail the number of times "Jesus fucking Christ in a blender" comes out of my mouth in a day, and I say "motherfucker" a lot as well, which has recently shortened to "mother". If I stub my toe, that's the first word that comes out. Happily, my finnish roommmate has started using it! I'm going to convert a nation...

10:09 / 30.01.03

I'm with you rakehell on the whole 'Yeah, no' thing. Not really sure how or when it happened but I catch myself saying it on an almost daily basis and it really annoys me.

I also salute people all of the time. It started off because it amused me to be militaristic (is that a word even?) and now has become me.
In an attempt to even things out I've started offering the two-finger peace sign but it's fast becoming attached to me. Not sure whether to nip it in the bud though because it is at least stopping the salutes...

11:59 / 30.01.03

When I was 16 I wanted to be Irish (don't ask.), so I started with the 'shite', 'arse', 'jaysis' etc. and of course it stuck.
I always end sentences with 'but', or after being in London, 'then?'. Hee hee. For some odd reason, I always greet people with "mornin'!" no matter what time it is. I never realise it, but people always look at me wierd if it's 6pm and I just yelled mornin'! at them...

The Apple-Picker

12:49 / 30.01.03

Well, I don't know what's so odd about it, but I say "evenin'" to people, and friends I've been with have laughed at me 'cause they thought I was trying to be humorous. I still don't understand the humor. I was sincere.

I also sincerely say "golly" and "gee whiz" and "gee." I put those on, and I quite like them. They're comfortable. I never say "golly gee whiz," though, or "golly gee," and I never use "willikers" in conjunction with any of these other sayings. That's just a bit too over the top.

Whisky Priestess

13:03 / 30.01.03

warewullf: "ending every sentence with but"

I would have thought that's merely protective colouration if you're oop North?

Warewullf up North

13:56 / 30.01.03

Not up the Norf of Ireland, it isn't.

Oh, also, my repeated use of the word "like" bugs me, I can only imagine what it's like for people who have to listen to it.

I have started using "Silence!" to indicate my displeasure at a particular line of questioning/conversation.

"Yeah, but what did you do?"
"Well, I, uh, SILENCE!"

It amuses me but will get very old, very quickly. Must keep an eye on that.

15:45 / 30.01.03

I have to ask: do the non-American "dude"-ers pronounce it with the full Californian "DOO-uhd" or does it come out more as "DJEW-id"?

The Apple-Picker

16:39 / 30.01.03

It amuses me but will get very old, very quickly. Must keep an eye on that.

It's probably too late. My younger brother does this. It's never been fresh, the way he says it.

20:06 / 30.01.03

maybe the horror is what you deserve for continuously mocking other people's speech habits. just kidding. dude.

It's not mockery! It's hommage, I swear. dude.

21:02 / 30.01.03

"Marvellous," as an affirmative response.

"Bastard" with a short 'a', even though I am quite RP. I don't know, it just sounds better. To me.

Grant -- "Dude" is pronounced "dood" everywhere, as far as I know. I'm guessing it was first imported via Western movies etc. and would be incomprehensible if anglicized. Some English accents wouldn't "squish" it much anyway, e.g. RP "tube" is "tyoob," but cockney "tube" is "choob".

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