I was having a conversation with my son Zach a couple of weeks ago, and it went, in part, something like this:
Me: How was football practice today?
Zach: I mean, it was okay. Nothing special.
A conversation a few days later with my son Tyler.
Me: Did you speak with the counselor today about colleges?
Ty: I mean, I did but she said she'd have to check into a few things.
A conversation with Zach one night at dinner.
Me: Is dinner okay?
Zach: I mean, it's good, it just needs something.
Me: "I mean..." "I mean..." You mean what?
Zach: What, what?
Me: You started answering my question by saying "I mean" when you hadn't said anything that needed to be clarified yet. Why did you say "I mean"?
Zach: I mean, I was just answering your question.
Me: You just did it again. Why do you keep starting your sentences with "I mean"?
He was clueless as to what I was asking him. I went on to explain that "I mean" is generally used to clarify something that has already been stated and possibly misunderstood. For instance, someone asks you a question but your answer doesn't make sense to them so when they ask for clarification you'd start by saying, "I mean..." and then go on to restate your answer differently. He understood then but told me that it's just an expression and that a lot of kids use it.
He's right about a lot of kids using it. I've heard it umpteen times on the school bus when students are talking with one another. I hear it every time I turn around these days. It doesn't make any sense, though, and I don't understand why it's becoming a "thing" as a way of speaking.
I even heard it on a TV show today, and it was two adults who were speaking.
Lady: My brain is fried [from all this research].
Man: I mean, we could take a break and find something else to do for a while.
Seriously? I think the point was perfectly clear without the "I mean". Nothing needed to be restated or clarified so why start the sentence that way? Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just getting old and don't understand the language of today's youth. It sounds extremely odd to me for a person to start a sentence that way, as if I didn't understand the original unspoken thought.
I know we all had our own language in our youth but I don't ever recall speaking as if I'd been asked to explain my original answer when I hadn't even answered the question the first time. Clarifying yourself before you need to sounds a little ridiculous, and every time I hear it I roll my eyes so hard I almost give myself a headache. I'm not sure how this trend started but it really want it to stop. I mean, I wish people would stop saying "I mean" at the beginning of a sentence when there is no reason for it. See what I did there? :)
Until next time...peace to all.
I do it the way I like. That's just the way it is. I don't judge them on the way they do it; there is no reason for them to constantly tell me I'm doing it wrong. It seems to be a big issue around our house. My kids always have something to say about it. They tell their friends. Their friends want to discuss it, or see it to make sure it's real. I don't get it. Why all the interest? It's just cereal, for crying out loud!
I don't like soggy cereal, with one exception. Raisin Bran is the only cereal I'll eat soggy and I deliberately let it soak until it's complete and total mush before I eat it. But that's not the issue. The issue my kids have is the way I eat every other cereal - Cocoa Puffs, Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, or whatever other cereal I choose.
I have a food consistency problem and soggy cereal makes me gag. If it gets too soggy I end up throwing it away and I don't like wasting food. They've done it numerous times and they don't care. They usually don't even finish the milk after eating cereal because it has soggy bits in it. They dump the milk! That ought to be illegal in and of itself. Milk is the world's greatest beverage whether plain, chocolate, or with bits of cereal or cookie in it. It makes me sad to see them casually toss it down the drain. But I digress.
Cereal. It's crispy. It's meant to be eaten crispy. And while I don't eat it very often I have devised a way to eat it so I never have one soggy bite of cereal, plus all the milk gets eaten until there's nothing left. My kids think my cereal eating method is weird. "It's just wrong, Mom." "That's not how you're supposed to eat cereal, Mom." "You're just weird, Mom." I disagree on all counts; I think my cereal eating method is very creative.
My kids insist that I'm supposed to pour the cereal into a cereal bowl, and then pour the milk over it. I don't like that method. It makes a wave causing some cereal, and possibly milk, to spill over the side - which they never clean up, by the way. And it also causes the entire bottom portion of the cereal to sit in the milk too long. By the time they get to it, it's completely soggy and that's just nasty.
My method is different, and quite simple, actually. I get a small, square storage bowl, a two-cup container so as to avoid spillage. I grab a spoon, the bag of cereal, and the gallon of milk. I also grab a napkin because I'm not a heathen. I get it all to the table where I'll be eating and make sure everything is easily accessible. Then the process begins.
First, I pour about a 1/2 cup of milk into the bottom of the bowl. Then I add just enough cereal to cover the top of the milk. I eat it. Five or six bites and the cereal is gone. But every bite was crispy because it didn't rest in the milk long enough to get soggy. But you're saying, "There's still milk in the bottom of the bowl and you've barely eaten anything." And you would be correct. So I again add just enough cereal to cover whatever milk is left. I eat it - still all crispy bites.
After the second round of cereal the milk has diminished to nothing. Guess what! I start the process all over again. Milk, cereal, eat, cereal, eat. And if I'm still hungry, which doesn't happen very often, I do it one more time. If I do the whole thing three times, I've had about 1 1/2 cups of milk and a cup of cereal in total, and I'm full, and I never have a soggy bite of cereal. It's simple, it's efficient, and the cereal gets eaten as it was intended - CRISPY.
Think what you want. Maybe it is weird. I don't care. They can eat their cereal their way and toss away the soggy mess at the bottom along with all the milk still left. I'm going to eat my cereal my way and it'll always be nice and crispy. Every single time. And I won't still be hungry when I'm finished with mine because I'll get to eat every bite of it. YUM!
Until next time...peace to all.
