Central Snark

The following is an absolutely true story. As far as you know.

Normally there are very few things that get my goat, but last Friday my goat was got.

I was sitting at my desk battling a software upgrade from hell. For whatever reason, my connection kept failing during a major file download and crashing my browser session. Things had gone from bad to worse and I was quickly getting fed up when my download errored for the third time.

“Oh for Pete’s sakes!” I blurted out.

That’s when one of my co-workers decided to challenge me.

CW: I believe the proper phrase is “Oh for Pete’s sake.”

Me: What?

CW: You know – without the “s.”

Me: What?

CW: Jeff, you said “Oh for Pete’s sakes” and it’s supposed to be “Oh for Pete’s sake.” Singular.

Me: Really.

CW: Yes. Just “Pete’s sake.”

Me: And how the hell do YOU know that Pete didn’t have more than one sake? What if he was a collector of sakes and he had a whole box full of them? What if he owned a company that made millions of them every day? What if Pete had 15 children and he named every one of them Sake? HAVEN’T YOU EVER HEARD OF A NAMESAKE?!!!

CW: Uh… ok.

Me: And what are you anyway, the friggen phrase police?

CW: Ya. Say listen, I need to make a call here. You gonna be ok back there?

And it was precisely at that moment (and unbeknownst to my co-worker) that my download crashed again.

Me: SON OF A BITCH!!!

CW: ! (with eyes as wide as saucers)

Me: Oh I’m sorry, did I say that wrong too?

Of course as soon as I said that I apologized and explained why I had flown off the handle. But for some reason, when I asked her if I could have my goat back she just looked at me like I was insane.

Working with me must be such a joy.

~ Jeff

For the sake of Pete’s children, stop over to Humor-Blogs.com NOW!

*This website contains the origins of commonly used phrases, but I’m warning you… unless you have a spare afternoon to kill, do NOT go to there!