“Yeah yeah, sure sure.”

The Movie: The Hudsucker Proxy, 1994 (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen and Sam Raimi, screenwriters; Joel Coen, dir.)
Who says it: Paul Newman as Sidney J. Mussburger, second in command and heir apparent to the top job at Hudsucker Enterprises
The context: Mussburger says this frequently to interrupt colleagues and employees who are wasting his time.
How to use it: To move on to the next subject. My friend Anna says this a lot, actually, and I hope it's not just to me.

Late blog posting today -- it was a busy day. First and most important, happy birthday to the radiant and wise Carla Forbes-Kelly, although it is no longer her birthday in Singapore (where she lives).

Carla was one of my very first friends in college. I can no longer remember how we met, but it's an interesting case study of recovered-memory syndrome. For years I was sure we'd met in Father Schall's class on Elements of Political Theory; I could even remember where Carla sat, a couple of rows behind me, Eileen, and our friends Nancy and Chris.

A year or two, though, I mentioned this to Carla, and she said, "I didn't have Father Schall for Elements of Political Theory." "You didn't?" I asked, flabbergasted. "No," she said. I started to argue with her about it, then realized that was absurd; she'd know better than I what courses she took 20 years ago.

Still, my mind's eye sees her in that classroom. Weird.