Whittier neighborhood street, after snow
At Safeway two slender girls, sisters by their pretty sloe-eyed faces, perhaps seven and nine. The elder points to a large jug of juice and the younger reaches for its handle, then turns: “who’s going to carry it?” Pause. No reply. “Me? Me?” Her elder sister stares steadily at her. Still no reply. The little one removes her hand from the handle, says, definitively: “I fuckin’ think not.”
“I think not” has long been one of my favorite English negative expressions. It has power and tartness. In some contexts, snobbishness also, as follows: Are you going to see Cats? I think not: I hate musicals. The expression just got punched up. By a seven-year-old who has blocks to go to get home.
Your writing prompt, should you choose to accept it: What is one of your favorite expressions and can you tell a story using it in 150 words or less?
Thanks for the chuckle!
Laughter is still good medicine!
“How dare you.” Not really a question, and so strong neither a question mark nor an exclamation suffices. Though I’ve had few occasions to use this one, I’ve always liked how, in three short words, it expresses high dudgeon. I loved hearing Greta Thunberg use it at the climate conference.
Bravo, Bob, that’s a great one!
It’s problematic to translate mishmash folk language like Yiddish, a mix of German, Hebrew, and other slavic languages, into English. My Jewish mother threw phrases around that friends’ Jewish families pronounced differently, or changed the word order in, but we still understood basic meanings.
“Vay sak nischt” was the catch all response to questions you couldn’t, or didn’t want to answer. To my older sister’s query, “Where’s my red blouse you borrowed?” Vay sok nischt. To my dad’s constantly whining, “where’s my car keys?” Vay sok nischt. To my best friend asking if she should cut her hair short. Vay sok nischt. To the kid asking why the sky is blue or if the cookies are done yet. Vay sok nischt.
But you could use it to deal with the serious questions too. Is Russia really going to bomb us? Vay sok nischt. Why are Jews persecuted? Vay sok nischt.
Deb, I love these bits of heritage that stay with you!