literality does not cleverness make
Originally written 11-14-2023
I began saying a new phrase this summer, which I found hilariously witty, apt, and entertaining (if I do say so myself 😂) and was especially proud both that I came up with this phrase myself and that it started to stick, causing my husband to also adopt it and our friends to laugh and join the humor. (Though, to be fair: my husband and I affect each other’s language, terminology, and general habits greatly, as spouses do, so that may not be such a high honor, yet it feels like one, just the same! And of course our friends would laugh along and join the fun – this is what friends do! EVEN SO…)
When I am tired…
When I have exhausted my resources, but in a playful, adventurous way…
When I’m feeling spent but cheerful about it…
When the fun has reached its end…
When it’s all been so much…
When I’m overdone with happy activity…
When my body or mind are all used up and ready for rest…
When I just must stop and take it all in, relishing, because I can’t add any more…
I’m a piece of bread and butter!
…toast!
You know how people say, “I’m toast!” after a big day or draining venture?
I don’t know how this elaboration came to me, but it tickled my funny bone in all the right ways! I think I made this verbiage discovery while we were camping this summer and proceeded to spend that string of days in the woods proclaiming myself “a slice of bread with butter” after each dirt bike ride, the whole group of our friends “a slice of bread and butter” after a big day on the trails or packing or unpacking our gear, my camping-loving dog “a slice of bread with butter” at the end of each happy day, as she curled up, dusty, content, and demanding bed and snuggles because of how much energy she uses running and playing and exploring in the mountains. The pup could, quite literally, just not go on anymore, and this is a perfect embodiment of a slice of bread and butter! She was toast!
Jake and I still use this phrase, though I think maybe it had been a while since I’d said it or thought of it, and I heard him saying it about Blue a couple nights ago and cracked up with the reminder.
We started talking about the funny phrase, and Jake told me he doesn’t even know why I say that, because a slice of bread and butter actually ISN’T toast – it’s just buttered bread!
Toast requires toasting. It requires being a bit crisped. It requires a transformation stage!
AND, he argued, toast doesn’t HAVE to have butter on it! It’s still toast if it’s plain! Or if it holds something else, like jam or avocado (and with this mention of avocado, have I cemented myself squarely in the demographic of “California girl??” 😉😂)
At this, I good-naturedly informed Jake, as if to say he’s missing the point: literality does not cleverness make!
“A slice of bread and butter” is funny because it hints at something, because it isn’t precisely factual, because it’s whimsical and out of the ordinary, because it’s goofy – a fun turn of phrase that makes you think.
Also simply because I giddily created this saying and have felt much delight with every use! Isn’t that the whole point?? 😉
