Monday, June 19, 2006
EXACTLY. EXACTLY.
I'm surprised we haven't seen a band yet called Exactly. Exactly. The name would be on everyone's lips. In fact, it's been on people's lips, for at least two years, don't you think? Exactly...Exactly. It's such an oddly ubiquitous phrase, uttered when there is any opportunity to express even the mildest agreement with something another person says.
"It sure is hot today."
"Exactly. Exactly."
"The Mets are something this year."
"Exactly. Exactly."
"We'd be renting a villa in Tuscany this summer if we could afford it."
"Exactly. Exactly."
I've been fooling around with the punctuation. There has to be a pause between the two "exactly's." No one says "exactly exactly" unless they are out of breath from running away from an alligator. "Hey, did you almost get eaten by a gator?" "Exactly exactly." A semicolon is possible; then, I thought, it has got to have an ellipsis...Exactly...Exactly. But the ellipsis turns out to be too long a pause. Of course, I ran it through the colonoscoper, but a colon didn't exactly look right:
Exactly: Exactly.
Since the repetition of each "exactly" is always so distinct and rhythmic, I think the logo for the band, the brand, as it were, would look best with the two periods. Exactly. Exactly.
Don't you agree?
—Wayne Robins
I'm surprised we haven't seen a band yet called Exactly. Exactly. The name would be on everyone's lips. In fact, it's been on people's lips, for at least two years, don't you think? Exactly...Exactly. It's such an oddly ubiquitous phrase, uttered when there is any opportunity to express even the mildest agreement with something another person says.
"It sure is hot today."
"Exactly. Exactly."
"The Mets are something this year."
"Exactly. Exactly."
"We'd be renting a villa in Tuscany this summer if we could afford it."
"Exactly. Exactly."
I've been fooling around with the punctuation. There has to be a pause between the two "exactly's." No one says "exactly exactly" unless they are out of breath from running away from an alligator. "Hey, did you almost get eaten by a gator?" "Exactly exactly." A semicolon is possible; then, I thought, it has got to have an ellipsis...Exactly...Exactly. But the ellipsis turns out to be too long a pause. Of course, I ran it through the colonoscoper, but a colon didn't exactly look right:
Exactly: Exactly.
Since the repetition of each "exactly" is always so distinct and rhythmic, I think the logo for the band, the brand, as it were, would look best with the two periods. Exactly. Exactly.
Don't you agree?
—Wayne Robins
