I am Linguistically Significant

So...secretly? I start trends.

Like, linguistic trends.

You know when you have a quirky way of speaking or an abbreviation you use all the time and then the people around you start using it? And then those people take that way of speaking to the people in their lives and then suddenly you see someone on the internet speaking the way you've been speaking for years and then it's a national trend?

Here, let me give you some examples.

Thanks to my friend Jennifer (with a little help from Austin Powers), I (and probably you) now use the word "honestly" as an all-purpose word to indicate mild irritation mixed with disbelief.

Let's use it in a sentence.

"Honestly! Who throws a shoe?" or "Honestly! Why is that girl wearing stilettos and a tube dress in 5 inches of snow?"

Also, I am unsure how this trend actually started (whether I brought it with me or got it from someone here--like some kind of infection) but there is a large contingent of people in the Northeast who now use the terms "P.S" and "slash" to preface non sequiturs.

Such as, when two people are having a casual conversation about their homework, and one person suddenly says, "P.S. I totally have to take a dump." Or, "Slash, I totally had a sex dream about this kid in the play I'm working on."

You get the idea, I hope.

And, finally.

This was originally a combination of several factors: an Italian man my friend became one evening while drunk plus the task of nicknaming some other friends.

Anyway, we eventually started pronouncing the word "face" as if it was an Italian word: "FAH-chay."

We called each other "poop fah-chay," instead of "poopface" for no real reason. And, hilariously, the movie Office Space became "Oh-FEE-chay SPAH-chay."

Yeah.

But check it out!

This is Seth Rudetsky, a New York City-based musician, musical theatre columnist, blogger, and radio personality.

(I apologize in advance for his face and voice, but watch the video anyway. I'm actually a really big fan. His website is kind of amazing.)



I am so famous.