I am not the worlds biggest advocate of watching television...it sometimes acts as a distraction from watching the world around you, eventually leading to alienation from reality. Programmes from "Eastenders", "Hollyoaks", "Coronation St." to "Cribs", "The Fabulous Life..", "My Super Sweet 16" - paint a false depiction of what the world is really like on the grander scale. But, a little over three months ago, I stumbled on this programme called "How I Met Your Mother" (before you leave a comment saying "dude thats an old show"...I am aware of that). I was blown away by the fact that the whole idea of the show is out of the box compared to normal sitcoms. There aren't overwhelmingly predictible plot lines or romantic overtones to the same extent as "Friends" and other shows. It rings bells in the tone of "Frasier" and (as much as I hate the show) "Everybody Loves Raymond". You can watch an episode from any part of the season and feel like you have watched everything up to it.
Anyway, to the point of this blog post! I was watching an episode, don't ask me which one it was cause I can't remember, and the character "Barney" invented something called the "Lemon Law". He invents the term, uses it on a girl and eventually hears it said back to him by another girl a couple of days later. The phrase caught on in NYC pop culture. I thought this was hysterical because it shows that the show is obviously written by smart people, one of whom may have even studied sociology, because there are theories regarding Consumer Culture...trust me, you are all aware of them. Think of fashion designers, and their power over buyers. You the buyer doesnt pick what is 'hot' this season, the powerful designers and fashion magazines do. The result is, people will buy their stuff cause it is said to be 'in'.
So, back to the Lemon Law, after watching this show, I laughed at how possible it would be to make something popular with little or no effort. So I 'borrowed' a phrase used in 'Mother' and decided I would test this out in my hometown. It is a small place with just over 3,000 people. The term is 'Steak Sauce', meaning awesome, great, really cool, brilliant etc. etc. The emptimology (not sure if I spelled that correctly) comes from, I believe, some American steak sauce called "A1", which in context means awesome, very good, A1 grade etc. In my local bar, I put this to the test, I was careful about how often I used it, I didn't want to get too much attention over it...and have people think I am a psycho with a learning disability. So I chose my subjects wisely, people who I knew would either find relevance in the term or would at least just accept the phrase as meaning 'good'. I think in total, I used the term about 9 or 10 times and decided to leave it there and forget about it for a few days. Next thing I know, I was in the city nearest to me, Limerick, and was in a cafe with some friends. I ordered the coffee, went to the cafe bar to pay. Paid, and gave the waitress a tip, a foreign girl whom I have never met before. I think I gave her a €5 tip and she replied "Steak Sauce, thanks!". I was in a mild form of shock. I never actually believed that it would take off to the extent that I would hear it from a foreign waitress in a place miles from where I live. It was awesome....I mean Steak Sauce...say as it may sound, this to me was a very important ratification of how susceptible people are to influence.
If you have any stories like this, pleace leave a comment. Remember to be nice and keep the bad language to a minimum, comments are open to all but if there are too many "anon" entries filled with swearing, I will limit comments to registered members of the blog....not that I have any yet.
Peace
