There’s a pet expression that too many people use if they’re excited and delighted about something very positive that’s just happened — meeting an old friend, running into a good friend by coincidence on the street, hearing good news, etc. They open their mouths, bug out their eyes, put their hands to their faces (or the sides of their heads) and say, “Oh, my Gawd!” Except they say it almost like a question, as if to say “if God is listening, will He/She hear my immense joy?”
I didn’t really mean “people” because I’ve never once heard a straight guy say this — ever. The expression is used solely by spirited, open-hearted women (younger women mostly, Carrie Bradshaw types, not very educated mall women, 20 something borough girls) and…I was going to say gay guys but now that I think of it I’m not sure they use it either. Do they?
I’m not exactly putting certain folks down for using this expression, but every time I hear it it’s like chalk on the blackboard. I literally convulse. I look over at the person saying it with daggers in my eyes and say to myself, “I’m not going to mention this to your face, but you’ve just given yourself a huge demerit in my book.”