On Fridays, Keith Olbermann always reads one of James Thurber's great stories. Today's story—"The Black Magic of Barney Haller" (1935)—was particularly good. Really. You'll love it.
It's about Thurber and his hired man, a German or Scandanavian, evidently.
At one point, Barney says, "I go now." Anyone who knows my family knows that simple phrase well.
Inspired by my late grandfather, "Opa," whenever it becomes advisable that someone at long last leave the premises (in my family, that situation obtains much of the time), one of us simply walks into the middle of things, looks straight into the eyes of the miscreant, and, with a fake German accent, bluffly declares, "I go now."
Works every time.
2 comments:
It's a great phrase that has a universal application.
It also has excellent application on the phone, when talking with someone who has trouble getting off of the device (or even when that someone is oneself). We will be forever indebted to Opa for it. (Do you suppose he read Thurber? naaaaaaah....)
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