Codewords

Valentine's Day. The one day of the year where a grown man can buy a woman roses, chocolates, underwear, and a giant stuffed animal without getting a restraining order in return. Speaking of Valentine's, did you know that St. Valentine was not actually one person, but the name given to several martyred saints of ancient Rome? Interesting fact, huh? Which brings me to the Story Of The Week.
Let me begin with yesterday afternoon. Bubba called me on his lunch break to see how The Kid was doing, how my day was, etc. During the course of this conversation I asked "Did you see my Facebook status? I finally started my blog!", to which he replied "I saw that. That's interesting." "What does that mean?" I reply. "Nothing. I haven't even read it yet." he says. (Note: He really did mean 'nothing'. Bubba does think I'm a nerd, but he's a nerd too, so we're made for each other.) Ok. No big deal, right?
Later that night, Bubba and I conned my parents into letting The Kid stay with them so we could go out and have a nice dinner. Since misery loves company, we invited Bubba's next-to-oldest sister and her husband to join us. I love Bubba's family, and his sister and I are pretty close, so we always have a good time. I'm very excited about the fact that I'm no longer 'computer retarded' so I ask sister-in-law if she's seen the Blog. "Not yet" she says. "I told Bubba about it" I said "He said 'That's interesting'." "Oh no." she says, and laughs. She laughs and so does her husband.
"What?" I say.
"When you say 'that's interesting', well, that's codeword for 'that's lame'."
What?!
When did this happen?!
So, I got to thinking. 'Has interesting always meant lame? What if it has? When I did miss the memo? Was it that one day in Kindergarten when I was late because Dad had to get me ready for school because Mom was sick and I went to school in a sweatsuit with a sideways ponytail? This is all his fault!' Then I calmed down, stopped talking to myself like Mark David Chapman and began to really think. I thought of all the times I told someone something I thought was really awesome or informative and was answered with a "That's interesting".
"Did you know it takes 10 gallons of water to make one t-shirt?"
"Did you know Harley-Davidson made their first motorcycle in a shed in 1903?"
"Did you know that the polar bear is the heaviest breed of bear?"
"Did you know that hummingbirds can fly backwards?"
"Did you know that you can perform an emergency tracheotomy with a ballpoint pen?"
..."Wow. That's Interesting."
Now that I've thought a little harder on it, I realize that being 'interesting' isn't bad at all. Usually the people who tell me that only say that because they don't understand what I'm talking about. Like that kind of people who don't now what apartheid was or don't get most of the obscure references on Family Guy. So, I think I'll keep being 'interesting', and go around with the wonderful air of self-importance that comes with the knowledge that I rock at Jeopardy! because of it.