Say it again...and again.

Why is it that those little moments of revelation pop up when least expected?

They always happen when you’re typing up something completely unrelated, or you’re 5 minutes into "The Daily Show," and POW: "OhmygodItotallyforgotaboutMom’sbirthday!" hits you right in the face.

Today it was at work, which, in my mind, is totally out of bounds.

I was was perusing my evaluation sheets: feedback from people rating how well I am doing my job. This necessary ‘eval’ sounds worse than it is, it’s merely a tool to pinpoint if there are any flaws in your job performance, and serves a space for people to compliment your service. Today I noticed that for the umpteenth time someone had written something like : "Katie is ‘AWESOME!’" or some other variation (i.e. "Katie is ‘cool beans!’").

POW! Late hit.

Could it be that I am using these interjections too often in my interactions with people?

I mean, I’m articulate. I have a wide and varied range of vocabulary at my disposal. I’m an English major for pete’s sake, it’s my business to make things sound pretty (attractive, beautiful, charming). I didn’t think I sounded like a broken record, but in the case of what comes out of your mouth, the best judges are those whose mouths are shut.

My Dad has always said to my Mom and me, "When you open your mouth your ears close!"

Ha ha, Dad.

It’s true though. While blabbing away, your mind is full of myriad other things, like what you are going to say, and how you are going to say it, and "Jeez my mouth is dry," and is not listening to what actually comes out of your mouth. But your audience is concentrating only on what you say, flaws and all.

Those-with-their-ears-open are the ones who can easily identify any nasty little lingual habits (AWESOME! Cool beans!) of she-whose-ears-are-closed. Which in turn allows them to write clever little remarks on she-whose-ears-are-closed’s ‘eval sheet,’ which consequently throws her into paroxysms of self-reflection and doubt.

She-whose-ears-are-closed thinks that it is high time to revamp her vocab and manner of speaking and get rid of those tired old mainstays.