NO, THANK YOUUUU

I have watched "Saturday Night Live" since it began in 1975. At that time, Gerald was laid off and we needed to curtail entertainment expenses, thus our entertainment was television, card-playing, library visits and bicycling; it was wonderful the amount of "free stuff" we found to do!

Over the years, it's been surprising to see the far-reaching influence of SNL on the popular culture and to hear the number of catch-phrases from SNL which crept into the slang of America . Several times I have quizzed younger people whom I have heard use some of the phrases, but they had no idea the sayings were from SNL sketches. The fact that the words were pronounced with the correct inflection and emphasis verified that they had probably learned the phrases from their parents. From the characters Emily Litella, Mr. Bill, Church Lady, Wayne and Garth, et.al. we have a wealth of rich phrases, such as:

"BUT, NOOOOO!"
"NOT!"
"OOOOH, NO!"
"NEVER MIND!"
"WELL, EXCUUUUSE ME!"
"YOU LOOK MAH-VELOUS!"
"EXCELLENTt"
"I'M NOT WORTHY!"
"WELL ISN'T THAT SPECIAL?"
"MORE COWBELL!"
"I CAN SEE RUSSIA FROM MY HOUSE."
"STRATAGERY"

My brother Les and I say "BUH-BYE" which stems from a skit about airline attendants saying that to departing passengers.

My brother Les and I will not allow the other to be the LAST to say "thank you". We have a routine when one says "thank you" the other responds in an exaggerated voice with, "NO, THANK YOUUUU!" which also is from SNL.