Short post today, I’m sorry to report.
My Deal Me In cards turned up spades afreakingain, sending me to Daily Science Fiction afreakingain.
This time, the Random button took me to:
Triumph
by Robert Reed
His bio reads:
Robert Reed has sold a couple hundred stories and won a Hugo among myriad other honors. This is his third story for Daily Science Fiction.
Whatever.
I know some readers, like Dan and Cheryl, detest the expression, “Whatever,” but I find it quite useful. In the present circumstances, it translates into the phrase, “Robert, if you tell me you’ve sold a couple hundred stories and have won a Hugo, I’m not going to call you a liar, but I thought this story was one of the lamest stories I’ve ever read. But that’s just me. Obviously, I’m in the minority.”
Sell people the idea that they are in the hands of an unseen, unknowable power and they conquer themselves. The end. Oh, you mean like religion?
Yeah, or something. You know. Whatever.
I haven’t sold hundreds of stories, nor have I won a Hugo, but if YOU need a short story to read, I have free ones here on my Free Reads page. I also have four collections for 99 cents each linked from my Short Stories page.
A WRITING PROMPT FROM ME TO YOU: How do you feel about “Whatever”? Why?
MA
Mitchell Allen
April 8, 2019 at 7:28amMy first exposure to “Whatever” is muddled. I recall two, distinct cultural inflections: the stereotypes in the movie, Clueless; and the sarcastic office underling being given a dressing-down by a self-important, but otherwise, toothless supervisor. In the first instance, it was just part of a litany of meaningless interjections. In the second, it always felt like a verbal middle-finger salute.
Either way, I love it! I get a kick out of uttering it in an exaggerated Valley Girl falsetto. In the rare cases that I find myself irritated by someone, a terse “Whatever”, stated in a subtle undertone, signals my lack of interest in furthering the discourse–and keeps me from cussing somebody out! LOL
Cheers,
Mitch
Marian Allen
April 8, 2019 at 7:59amYes, it’s infinitely meaningful, depending on circumstance and inflection! Like “Well,” in Kentucky.
Ally Bean
April 8, 2019 at 8:18am“Whatever” is a perfectly good way to express yourself. It’s a cold cruel world out there and sometimes “whatever” is the only way to keep the coldness at bay. I’m with you, use the word when necessary.
Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt
April 8, 2019 at 11:57amDon’t think I’m enough Valley Girl to utter ‘whatever.’
But you’ve planted a seed. I wonder if it will sprout.
Possibly I’m too intense to use it.
But I can hear it in my head.
Marian Allen
April 8, 2019 at 12:22pmYou don’t have to Valley Girl it. I’ve heard “whaddever” and “WHAddever.” It’s multi-functional. 😀