In the middle of the afternoon yesterday, somewhere in the labyrinth of crumbling concrete parking areas and Gaza Strip stand-ins outside, I heard someone shout with genuine enthusiasm, "Yippee!" I couldn't hear whatever else followed, but it made me realize that I don't think I've ever heard someone use the word "yippee" in its intended context. A lot of the time people use it wryly, but rarely do they use it to express "wild excitement or delight" as defined in the dictionary. I can think of a lot of words I would go to first if I won the lottery before I would get to "yippee." It got me wondering what this person was so excited about. I couldn't tell if it was a child or a maybe a teenager. What would make them so happy? As I left the house to run errands, I thought about it. For some reason I was channeling Shel Silverstein:
The ice cream truck broke down- yippee!
The ice cream truck broke, it sputtered and choked,
Now it's free choco tacos and free frozen cokes,
Hurry, you'll get first pick out of the smoke.
It's all melting and the man canceled the fee.
Yippee!
Yippee!
In other news, I have just discovered a recipe for choco tacos. Oh dear.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.