Overheard at Work

Today, while I was on lunch in the breakroom, I saw one of those workplace exchanges of which I love to be a part. There is nothing I like quite as much as someone that I don’t talk to asking me what I’m eating. Why do they care? I’m not sharing it, that’s all they need to know.

At least today, I was just an outside observer.

So, this woman walks up to this guy and asks what he’s eating and he shows her. She goes into a bit of an orgasmic fit over it, and then asks him if he could write the recipe down for her. (Keep in mind, she never actually tasted the stuff, so I found this slightly odd.) He responds, “It would be an honor.”

It would be an honor.

It would be an honor?

Doesn’t that seem kind of extreme. I mean, it barely even makes sense in context.

This leads me to believe that the guy is one of those word-of-the-day calendar owners, the type who chooses a word or phrase because he thinks that it sounds more sophisticated when in fact it may just sound wrong. Not every sort of synonym can offer an equal exchange.

For more on this issue, see this post on Using a thesaurus. It really drives the point home.