Remember the Seinfeld episode in which the doctor tells Elaine she’s “breathtaking” and then turns around and describes a very ugly baby (remember Kramer’s reaction the first time he sees the baby?!) as also being “breathtaking.” Yeah – not sure what “breathtaking” actually means to this guy, nor am I sure what the word “stunning” means anymore either…
Friday I ordered some food from the coffee shop below my office. The server delivered the food about 15 minutes later and on his way out he stopped, looked me straight in the eye, and emphatically said, “You are stunning – you know that? Simply stunning.” Let’s be honest – bro made my day – I actually think I went and looked at myself in the mirror so as to capture this “stunning” moment.
An hour later a very nice-looking, older woman in our meeting went downstairs to grab some food and when she returned her face was glowing. It turns out the same waiter told her that she, too, is a “stunning” woman. I about fell out of my chair – should I tell her that he called me “stunning” too? (I didn’t – I thought only one of us should know “stunning” doesn’t mean what it used to.) I couldn’t help but wonder – aloud, all evening and into the early morning – who the “ugly baby” was in this scenario.
although the orgin of the saying “the odds are good, but the goods are odd” may be hard to pinpoint. I believe it was coined in Alaska. Where HONESTLY the term applies. Yout think “your goods” here in Wyoming are odd, then you should visit Alaska.