#welcome to the marty's list arc of my blogging apparently

[vim-flam]

marty beller's list discussion on "the brian lehrer show", WNYC (2009).

transcript:

BL: so, what's the main criteria for landing a phrase on this list, of banned words and phrases?

JL: um, Marty? do you wanna - explain?

MB: uh, it started out with "phone tag", that was sort of the grandfather of it all, which I thought was really clever at first - a lot of these phrases are really clever at first--

BL: -- let's play phone ta- oh, we're playing phone tag?

MB: yeah. really - you know, someone thought of that, many, many years ago - really clever - but, I feel there's an expiration date... for these kinds of phrases, and it gets so worn out, and it also stops people from communicating. I'd rather someone at this point say, "hey - I'm sorry we're having so much trouble getting in touch". [JL laughing]

BL: and, Jan from Hoboken suggests, "if I hear same old, same old again, I'll scream". and David from Short Hills says, "24/7 drives me nuts".

JL: interesting, yeah! well, "same old, same old" seems to refer to itself, at this point. it's one of those - it's uh, it's like a lot of phrases where the initial spark of it is gone, and it takes on this kind of zombie life, where - people are not actually even thinking of the humorous content of it any more, it's just kind of a - just kind of a rattled-off phrase. that's I think one of the things that puts stuff right on to the list.

JF: I think the subtlest one is uh, "no worries," which I think, most people in the band They Might Be Giants actually don't wanna give up, and Marty was so gracious as to actually give us a special dispensation [laughing] to continue using "no worries" in a workplace environment. I don't know if that includes when we're talking to each other, in the band--

MB: -- it depends if we're talking, uh, about work, or talking personally--

JL: --ahh, yes--

MB: if you're talking on a personal level, I wanna hear more about your feelings than "no worries".

JL: I think the key to- part of this thing about this is, Marty has his own fine-tuned idea of what goes on the list, and what doesn't go on the list, and it's taken many conversations on the tour bus for us to even start to work out what- you know, how something gets membership.

BL: I guess so. well, and maybe we'll get into, you know, what happens when one of you uses a banned word and phrase? and slips up [band chuckling] - but Emily in Cobble Hill would like to add to the list, hi Emily!

Emily: hi there, Brian!

BL: whatcha got?

Emily: uh, well what I've got, and like to see the end of, is: "at the end of the day" - and it usually comes at the end of, uh, someone who's pontificating about something, and, I hear it an awful lot, and - I'm just tired of it.

BL: at the end of the day, you wanna hear something else?

Emily: I do.

JL: Marty--?

BL: Jenny in--

MB: -- excellent.

BL: Jenny in Brooklyn - whatcha got, Jenny?

Jenny: "it's all good!"

BL: that's like "no worries".

MB: that's on the list.

BL: that's on your list.

Band in unison: yes, that's already on the list.

BL: "all good ..." and that's not that old, I feel like I only started hearing "all good" - 5 years ago?

MB: yeah, same with "it is what it is," that seems a new one, too, which ... I'm still trying to figure out what that actually means.

BL: Joel in- it's very zen.

JF: yeah, I was gonna say (laughs).

BL: Joel in Briarcliff Manor, whatcha got?

Joel: yeah, hi, uh - a couple years ago, I went on a blind date, and um- or a set-up date, and she kept- this woman kept on using, uh, "back in the day?" and, it started - all through the date, she would say that--

JL: -- it's very good; Marty's pumping his fist in the air right now--

MB: I love that, 'cause that also speaks to this, uh... idea of, the past was always better than the present, which is ridiculous.