Phenomenal!

In an earlier post on things that annoy me I mentioned the word "phenomenal" and added that it was a long story...well, ladies and gents, today is the day that that story must be told. Why today, you may ask? Simple: because I just spent three hours in a meeting with the person that made me hate this poor word.

A few years ago I was selected to go to a convention (for lack of a better word) in Pennsylvania. I live in Kentucky and, silly me, thought that we would fly. Nope--we were driving. And not only were we driving, the "we" that would be in a car was a guy I didn't know from our central office and me...for six hours...in a car...to Pennsylvania. I am not a huge fan of long car trips UNLESS I can sleep--car rides have made me sleepy ever since I was a baby (and for those of you worried--that doesn't apply when I am driving--only when I am riding). But, considering this guy was from central office I didn't think it would be a good idea to sleep, so I stayed awake. And I have regretted it ever since because here is what I heard the whole way up there:

"Look at those trees--aren't they phenomenal?"
"Look at the bridge over there--isn't it phenomenal?"
"I saw this show on Broadway once--it was phenomenal!"
"Look at this little town we are going by--isn't it phenomenal?"
"We've been driving for over three hours--time has gone by phenomenally fast"

And it went on, and on, and on--the whole time we were in Pennsylvania ("this state is phenomenal") , when a group of us went to dinner ("this view is phenomenal"), when we were in training ("what a phenomenal idea!", when we were at the bar (it was so bad that a colleague I was with took one look at me and was like "I think we both need a drink." He couldn't have been more right), when we drove home ("look at how the leaves are changing--isn't it phenomenal?", when we got home ("Doesn't it feel phenomenal to be back?")

ARRRRGGGGGGGGG!!!!

So, today when I arrived at training, imagine my surprise to be met with the man himself--and I thought to myself "If he says 'phenomenal' at any time today I will scream."

Luckily for me (and for those around me) the word did not appear.

Isn't that phenomenal?