Native New Yorkers, especially women, are not easily impressed. We've shown ourselves inclined to suspect any rave of perfection and preemptively dismiss it. That's because we're reared to question life experiences with a shrewd appraisal.
Asked to opine, many of us respond with a shrug and (some claim) Yiddish expression that hardly meets the category of vocabulary. Instead, it implies by body language that the subject of discussion is a possible candidate for spitting up or, at least, indigestion.
For instance:
"So, what do you think of that new restaurant?"
"meh."
"How was your blind date?"
"meh."
"Would you say it was worth going to that Broadway show?"
"meh."
For those who see life that way in general, a handbag manufacturer stamped "meh ..." on the front of a clutch, allowing women to forego conversation and just wave the little bag at inquiring friends.
I'm waiting to see a "meh" bumper sticker, probably during the next election cycle.
(The house cats I know act out "meh" as a rejoinder to most of life and would say it if they could. I have detected "Meow" altered in certain situations.)
On top of the skeptical human response to life's supposedly fantastic, awesome, excellent wonders, the language we use when we are impressed tends to slide toward the dark side. A few examples:
"The musical was to die for."
"It was death by chocolate."
"I could kill for a diamond like that."
"I love the kid so much I could eat him."
Say, again? What's all that about?
It's the flip side of "meh." Ferocious certainty is what it is. And, when people who are not native New Yorkers engage us, some step back - literarily or figuratively - as if we might devour them. Fear not. The opinions expressed do not represent a physical threat to anyone. You might see us good-naturedly raise a brow at your opinion. Like that of my hero, the brilliant Jon Stewart of The Daily Show. Think "meh."
Literary types familiar with poet W.H. Auden might expect to see the variant "mneh" with its similar pronunciation. According to Ben Zimmer writing for Slate in a September 6, 2013 article, "A History of Meh, from Leo Rosten to Auden to The Simpsons," Auden concluded "mneh" when he failed to be impressed by the understandable hoopla surrounding the historic 1969 space mission to the moon.
Basically, Auden said he preferred quiet, lush gardens to the moon's austere surface. Now, that was a poet who was tough to impress. Then again, Zimmer fast forwarded to fans of The Simpson's who heard it said in 1994, fitting snugly into their wickedly jaded view.
Given global, interactive and continuous networking and communication, the New York "meh" model now fits everywhere. (Los Angeles and Florida have always been suburbs of New York, so they were first to fit.) Humans are universally hard to impress:
- Certain I overheard a 'meh" exchanged in 2011 between two stylish women at a Parisian café, accentuated by a flick of their slim cigarettes, but, of course.
- Saw two men in a Venice fish market in 2014 whose body language conveyed it, hands outstretched for emphasis.
- Think I detected a guarded "meh" passed between Belizean father and son crewmen aboard a sailing vessel loaded with snorkelers and anchored along Hol Chan reef in 2013 - that as the two spooned out lunch to the day's tourists. Not sure if the "meh" was meant as a comment on the food or the tourists.
- I would not be surprised to hear "meh" uttered in an Asian rice patty as a farmer clenched his cell phone between ear and shoulder and turned down a mediocre offer for his crop.
Finally, a "meh" was not so much said as implied in my all-time favorite failure to impress. On a jet ascending over the range of snow-capped peaks of Switzerland in July 1971, a passenger turned from the window to her seat mate and sighed, in typical New Yorker fashion, "Seen one Alp, you've seen em all."
A good one, huh? No? Not that good? Hmm.
Bet you've got far better encounters with "meh" to report, especially if you are from the Big Apple or its far-flung suburbs. Feel free to share them - other than when referring to this blog, if you would be so kind.
Alps