I always hated that.
I mean, of course we were all going to at least try to have fun, weren't we? After all, we had come to an amusement park, hadn't we? It wasn't like we had come to "root canal land," or "tax audit town." I always wondered why the forced merriment. Now, though, I have figured it out, largely because I have stared saying it too.
It started as a joke. When a reporter would head out the door to cover a particularly gruesome, or mind numbingly boring story, I would tell them to "have fun." Depending on their religion they would flip me off, or groan. Over the years though it moved from being a joke, to just being how I say good-bye -- and I have found it annoys some people almost as much as it did me at the amusement park.
My husband in particular isn't fond of it. When he has a meeting he doesn't want to deal with or is heading back from a school break it makes him especially grumpy. I try to tell him I'm not mocking him, that it's just something I say, but he doesn't buy it. Once I tried to tell him that it was just my way of reminding everyone that life is precious, and that we should look for the fun in every moment. He looked at me like body snatchers had taken his wife and replaced her with an automaton.
So, now I need to find a new good-bye. I want something catchy, but not too "slick." Maybe something with an ironic twist, like "hello, or is it?" That seems to wordy though. Maybe I could stick with the amusement park thing and tell people to "hold on tight" or "please don't puke."
So many possibilities.
Until a new one is found though -- have fun.
I mean that.
14 comments:
My go to phrase is, "suck it, bitches." You can use it if it would make you feel better.
Cate's is pretty good. I usually just end conversations without a proper farewell. It drives P batty. Batty! That *may* be why I keep doing it.
"Be careful out there."
I suppose "have fun" is a little less irritating than "Have a nice day".
I traveled to Root Canal Land a few years ago and while the pain and suffering were tremendous the happy gas fun fest ride on the edge of Fantasy Land was a great way to end the night
My mom always says "be good." even now, as a grown adult. I kinda like it. It makes me feel like I have the capacity to be a little bad, but because my mom told me to be good, I'll abstain.
I always say, "Make good choices." To my kids, and husband anyway. My husband and Mack think I'm annoying. I may have said it at work a few times, and people look at me weird.
Started saying this as a goodbye, when D lived with us. It just kind of stuck.
I'm with Cate.
How about "remember who you are" or "return with honor"? ;) Personally, I like Cate's.
I've always liked "smell you later" or, if someone's about to embark on a journey, "don't get dead!"
My husband always says "Be good" as good-bye phrase. It bugs me. For once, I'd like him to tell me to "Be bad."
My husband is another member of the "have fun" club and it's always driven me crazy. I have a habit of saying "take care." What the hell does that mean, anyway? Take care of yourself? Take care of the lost baby bunnies in the road? Take *care* and stockpile it because there's a shortage in the world? Now I'm self-conscious of my parting words.
I don't have a go to phrase for saying goodbye, although I do have one that I use at work whenever I have something seriously mind numblingly tedious to do.
"Filing can be fun".
This is, as matter of record, something that newbies used to do when they started on their first day of work, especially in payroll.
Because our pay periods start on a Friday, this usually means that everyone was busy spending the next five day doing payroll, thus the only thing that one was really allowed to do was filing.
So you can well imagine how spending 8 hours per day for five consecutive days goes over.
My boss used to be a fan of "Peace out." It sounds weird coming from a guy who's almost 50.
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