A personal peeve is that phrase "buckle up!" - as prefacing something metaphorical like "We're in for a wild ride!"*
This always strikes me as lame; in the same way as those signs in dull offices that say: "You don't have to be mad to work here - but it helps!"
The same kind of pseudo-jollity and false bonhomie; which, in practice, always seems to be affected by those most conspicuously lacking in either.
*Or, in an earlier incarnation: "Fasten your seatbelts..!"
Mea culpa
ReplyDelete@Wm. I'm not Angry with you; just disappointed.
ReplyDeleteAlso: used of a very methodical colleague, "there's method in his madness". A variant, spotted at NatWest: "Mark is our mad professor... Except that he's not a professor." =Groan=
ReplyDeleteIn an even earlier incarnation: "Gird up thy loins."
ReplyDeletecompared to the (relatively recent) trend of 'dad-jokes' and 'puns' that line about being 'mad to work here' is brilliant and witty.
ReplyDeleteAnyone in the workplace of today who makes jokes about madness would be called in and punished by the HR head girl, and complained about by the neurodiverse community.
ReplyDeleteIn The US version of the Office, Steve Carrell's at one point says, in a very affected voice: "Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy one". It's become a sort of running joke or slogan with me and a friend. But for some reason thinking of it always makes me happy. I like "hype" of every sort.
ReplyDelete@M - Ah, but you are "quoting" the phrase, not using it "seriously"... irony.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you're collecting and referencing catchphrases, which is often a spontaneous way of bonding and making life more enjoyable.
There was a stage in my life when my group of friends would be generating catchphrases on an almost daily basis - snatched from TV adverts ("why does it taste of baked beans?"), or funny incidents in lessons ("n'oublie pas les bas").