Personal catch-phrases

What a revoltin' development this is.

Chester A. Riley (William Bendix) on The Life of Riley

Among the earliest catch-phrases I remember from television is the one above often heard on The Life of Riley, an NBC comedy that ran from 1953 to 1958, although there was an earlier version of the show starring Jackie Gleason that I never saw. Soon Gleason would have his own catch-phrase ("How sweet it is!"), as well as others as Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners.

Many other television series generated popular catch-phrases. Those on situation comedies always drew laughs, no matter how many times they were repeated. Other kinds of shows, such as Superman, Dragnet and The Lone Ranger had them, too, and they are repeated to this day even by people who have never seen the programs. Modern shows have their own catch-phrases, such as The Big Bang Theory ("I'm not insane. My mother had me tested.").

As entertaining as these TV catch-phrases can be, the fact is that many of us have our own personal catch-phrases, and most often they are just annoying, at least to those who have to listen to them. I had some X-rays taken last week by a very nice woman who prefaced almost every request for a change of position with the words "do me a favor." This was endearing at first, but soon I cringed each time she said it.

I am a fan of The Great Courses lectures, and I often have one playing in my car. One course I thought I would enjoy was about the books written by C.S. Lewis, a favorite of mine. Unfortunately the lecturer is one of those people who repeats the phrase "but guess what" again and again. I had to force myself to complete the course.

On a Great Courses podcast recently I heard a philosophy professor talking about his course. He kept saying things like "The truth should be valued in and of itself, right?" and "What good is that, right?" I don't think I want to invest in that course, right?

In our conversations we can hear speakers inserting expressions such as "like I said," "you know what I mean" and "first of all" into everything they say. Others punctuate their speech with their favorite profanities. Maybe these kinds of things don't bother you, but they bother me. But I am also bothered by the thought that I may have my own personal catch-phrases I am not even aware of but others are.