According to Sam and Jim Commenting on things that irk us off, make us laugh out loud or just seem too weird too believe According to Sam and Jim: "Oops!" Is One of the Most Useful Words In Our Language

Monday, April 15, 2013

"Oops!" Is One of the Most Useful Words In Our Language

Have you considered the word “oops” lately? As Groucho Marx might have said, “it’s a common word, one you hear all the time.” Too bad Groucho isn’t still around to give us $100 every time we say oops. Some of us would earn a pretty good stash by the end of the day.

Sam and I are pretty sure that you will say oops at least once today (sorry, we’re not going to give you $100). You might say, “Oops I spilled ketchup on the floor,” or “Oops, I cut my finger slicing ham,” or “Oops, I dropped that little sliver of soap down the drain.” How about, “Oops, I didn’t know that kid’s tricycle was behind my car,” or “Oops I thought that danged ladder was sturdier.” A favorite of mine is, “Oops, I forgot that I had an appointment with you.”

Surely you can think of many more oops occasions. Some people try to make an oops cute by saying “oopsie,” or “oopsadoodle.” But oops is not cute. It’s actually a very powerful little word that makes you go “Uh-oh” every time you hear it. Our reaction to an oops is kind of like a Pavlovian Dog response - we may not automatically drool, but we always react.

Sam and I think “oops” has way more power even than those other four-letter words like “F - - -“ or “S - - -“ or “D - - -“ or “H - - -“. You get our drift, right? The reason “oops” is so powerful is because it’s such an innocuous little word; it’s almost polite, certainly not overbearing or aggressive. “Oops” is more apologetic than anything else. Sam probably would say “Oops” if he could when he pukes on the floor. At least he always looks apologetic.

What do you say when you forget to mail a birthday card on time? What do you say when you accidentally allow your car door to swing open and ding someone else’s car? What do you say when you break a friend’s favorite china tea cup? I like to use an oops when I realize I’ve said something stupid to someone.

Guys are prone to say oops when they discover their flies are still open (stupid jeans!). Women are prone to say oops when their bra strap accidentally falls out of their sleeveless blouse. Grocery clerks often say oops when they overcharge you for an item. That’s not supposed to happen, but the barcodes sometimes don’t get changed to reflect the sales price. I say oops when I'm looking at apples and one rolls out of the bin onto the floor and I surreptitiously put it back in the bin.

Oops is just a heck of a useful word. Oops is what the bozo who shoots you said when he didn’t realize his gun was loaded. Boy! If we just happened to send a missile over to North Korea and bomb the crap out of them before they bomb the crap out of us, maybe we could just get on the old red hotline phone and say, “Oops.” Wonder how you  say oops in Korean?

No bags of poop on “oops” because it’s just too good a word to poop on.

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