There are many trends in the modern lexicon that bug the
dickens out of me. “That NEEDS FIXED”
for example. That
needs TO BE FIXED. Or TO BE washed . .
. or TO BE spoken correctly, for that matter.
Sometimes, I just don’t get it and I have to get my kids to explain it
to me. For example, “Kk.” Or “KK” or whatever it is. Is that OK?
And why are we now at “Kk?” Did
something happen to the letter “O?” And
does “Kk” mean something different than “KK?”
I’m pretty hip for an “old” chick. I can adapt. I mean, OMG,
I’ve got 2 kids teetering on the brink of teenager-hood. Thus, I am contractually obligated to maintain
some sort of connection with the world in which they live. So far, I have successfully supported the
use of being verbs. I am working on the
pronunciation of the double “t” sound . . . . MITTENS instead of mi(some
swallowed sound I don’t know how to spell) ens. I am sure "DUH" grated similarly on my parents' nerves.
Don’t even get me started on the subject of ADDING these atrocities to the dictionary. Seriously? We can’t get anyone to speak correctly, so we will change the English language? Reverting back to caveman is right around the corner and we will grunt and throw poop at each other to communicate. Makes me "tot's cray cray."
All of this aside, there is one newcomer to the scene that
I’m glad to see. It bugged me at first,
but upon further reflection, I realize its positive contribution. The phrase in question is “SO . . . THAT
HAPPENED. . . “
Mindfulness. In one
phrase, Eckhart Tolle and
all his thoughts about shrinking awareness down to the current moment without
judgment or evaluation. Maybe he was
the first to say “that happened . . .” and somehow it caught on with the
younger set.
“That happened” removes the need to assess the intrinsic
value of every situation. It wasn’t
good or bad, it just happened. Now I
get it, common use of the phrase implies something shocking or usually
distasteful, but for someone who is 25, it seems (sweeping generalization ahead
... if you are not of this ilk, it doesn’t apply to you so don’t get offended)
EVERYTHING IS DISTASTEFUL. These days,
I have a job because these Gen Y and millenials think ALL THINGS are bothersome
and beneath them. In my office, I often
have to pause for a long moment before I find something professional to say . .
. like “you are not doing (insert retail outlet here) a favor by coming to work
for them.”
"That happened.” Let it become your mantra. Obviously you’re going to have "feels" one way or another about WHAT happened, but practice not getting carried away with them. “That happened” is about the lost art of acceptance. There’s nothing we can do about it after it’s already happened. So wrap your head around it, and start to move on.
What I see is an enormous amount of effort going into
mentally trying to make things UN-HAPPEN.
We roll it around in our heads 400 different ways. What if I had said this, what if he hadn’t
said that? What if I hadn’t been late
that day? What if I had just checked
that door? There’s an old adage about closing
the barn door after the horse has run away.
All those mental gymnastics are just about as effective.
YOLO, so take all that energy and point it forward? What if we were to experiment with thinking about changes to make NEXT TIME we
get the chance to try?
Dear Mr. Webster:
If I have to accept NEEDS FIXED and the lost art of the double “t” in
order for people to embrace fully the art of “THAT HAPPENED,” I guess I’m down with
that!
