I am lucky enough to work with quite a variety of characters in my freelance writing journey. I develop solid working relationships with many people around the country, many of which I have never met in person. We spend time on Skype or talking via phone in order to get our assignments.
One of my very favorites is a project manager and graphic designer who is also a web developer in Chicago. Her name is Jessica Rosengard and I always look forward to our visits because she is just a riot on Skype. She usually spends a lot of time talking and I usually spend a lot of time laughing while we are on our project calls.
But a few weeks ago it was me who made a comment that stopped the entire show.
Jessica was venting to me about her day. She was very frustrated and I could understand where she was coming from. When she relayed to me one of the comments someone said to her, I blurted out, “Oh fer stupid.”
After the words left my lips I thought, oh that was not very professional. When there was a long pause on the other end of the call and Jessica wasn’t saying a word, I became even more worried.
Finally Jessica broke her silence and she asked, “Did you just say ‘oh fer stupid’?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m sorry – I’m from Fargo.” That was the first thing that came to my mind and I only hoped that it was the appropriate response.
Jessica started laughing hysterically and said, “That’s ok – that’s just what I needed today!”
She said she enjoys picking up phrases from around the country and she likes to incorporate them into her vocabulary and every day conversation. I couldn’t really imagine her taking that phrase with her around Chicago and blurting it out whenever she felt like it, but I felt honored that she would consider it.
A few days later I saw an article that Jessica posted on her Facebook page. It was about a topic that she was not happy about and sure enough, in the part where you can list comments, she ranted and at the end of that rant she wrote, “Oh fer stupid.”
While I would have preferred our “Oh fer cute” or “Oh fer funny” comments would have traveled to the Windy City, rather than “Oh fer stupid,” it’s something I can’t change now. And Jessica will be able to culture many of her other clients on our cute dialect from the North land.
Oh fer North Dakota.
This is ‘Oh Fer Awesome!’