remember when you read this blog?

learn to speak our language: lesson 1

bassi, eel and i have this adorable (sometimes annoying) habit of overusing the phrase "remember when...?"

"remember when" comes in handy not only when reminiscing, but also when you want to subtly point out something that's happening in the present. let me give you an example:

let's say bassi, eel, and i are at artu for dinner. bassi orders the fusilli with sausage and broccoli rabe (as usual) and then tells us a story about the time she walked a blind man into a hand railing.* bassi says "remember when i walked that blind man into a hand railing?*" eel and i laugh and nod. let's say that while bassi is telling her story, i notice that she has broccoli rabe in her teeth. i say "hey bassi, remember when we were at artu and you had broccoli rabe in your teeth?" bassi quickly rights the situation, then we finish our bottle(s) of wine and go to mike's pastry for dessert. the end.

see how it works?

i'll admit, we went a little overboard with the "remember when"s during our last few days at tufts, when we'd walk around our apartment saying "guys, remember when we were graduating on sunday?!" and then we'd cackle madly. you see, "remember when" can, in fact, be used for the future tense, but only by trained professionals or manic-depressive college seniors.

if there was a point to bringing up the "remember when," i've forgotten it. oh yes, it's funny. and i plan to use the "remember when" many times in the future, so now you'll all know what the hell i'm talking about. sort of.


*bassi swears this was an accident.