At one of my past jobs several years ago, I had some of the dearest friends/co-workers a girl could ask for. When you’re forced to participate in the daily grind, it’s really important to find people you can take a break and laugh with, otherwise all you have to look forward to is TPS reports and your favorite red stapler.

The three of us would go to lunch everyday, talk about our lives, and laugh and laugh and laugh. When spending so much time together, eventually you have some go-to sayings. One of the most prominent, that I still use today is:

“Not to be a whale-gutter, but…”

Definition: When someone tells a story and you can totally relate with your own but you don’t want to seem like you’re trying to one-up them, so you start the sentence with, “Not to be a whale-gutter, but…”

The origin is that we worked with a very under-qualified, really obnoxious woman, whose biggest skill was having a well-stocked candy bowl on her desk, and every time anyone told a story, she would top it. One day over Friendly’s Kickin’ Buffalo Strips, my friend proclaimed, “Ugh, she’s so annoying! I could say I went whale-gutting in the Antarctic and she’d say she did it too and caught a bigger whale.”

And the rest is history.

To this day, I can’t stop myself from blurting it out. Initially I have to explain it to the person I’m speaking with, which turns into me telling them how the whale-gutter also used to dance around the office singing the Johnny Carson Show theme song. Then I have to show them the song and dance (obviously). But after explaining it the first time, I shit you not, they start using it too!

When Jon Hein coined the phrase “Jump the Shark” by comparing a TV show that wasn’t good anymore to the episode of Happy Days when Fonzie jumped a shark on his motorcycle, I’m sure he had no idea it would become a catch phrase for all to use while discussing shows past their prime.

I’d love nothing more than to hit ‘em with the Hein and make “Not to be a whale-gutter” a common phrase when trying to show you’re not being a one-upper!

And if you happen to be reading this, my dear friends from work, I miss you guys and think of you all the time. 😊 xo