Message received and acknowledged. My senior year of college I was a SafeRide driver with Public Safety, and I went a little overboard memorizing Ten-codes. Also, after working on a few movie sets that used crew radios, words like "10-4" or "copy that" have taken up permanent residence in my vernacular.
Indicates general displeasure with a situation, particularly when things don't go according to plan. Confer Potter Puppet Pals' "Wizard Angst" video at about 1:20.
Assail
Freshman year at St. Olaf, in my Intro to Psych class, my wonderful professor said the following:
"See, the trouble with babies is they can't communicate. You can't ask them things like 'Do you see a doggy?'
'Do you just hear a buzz?'
'Are those entrails you're being assailed with?'" - Gary Muir
Automagically
Typically describes the inner workings of a computer; this makes the user feel less ignorant, by reassuring them there is some element of magic happening that even the tech guy doesn't understand.
Citation needed
Used frequently on Wikipedia articles, I also use this phrase whenever I or someone else makes a claim that seems questionable, and requires additional corroboratory evidence.
Context
Early in my budding love for Apple, I watched some online tutorials for their video compositing software "Shake", in which the presenter kept describing how the app kept video elements "in context" within the workflow. Also, when Apple introduced their Core Data framework (and I started writing a program that used it), there were "managed objects" within a "managed object context". For some reason, this word has stuck with me through the years.
Copy that
See "10-4".
Core ____
Like "context", this word joined my vernacular as a result of my exposure to Apple's Objective-C programming environment, in which one comes across framework names like "Core Foundation", "Core Data", "Core Image", "Core Audio", and so on.
Don't Suck!
It started as a joke on the set of my first movie, Harry Putter 1: I'd yell "cut" after a take, then tell the actors "do it again, but don't suck this time." This has become a running joke on just about every production I've worked on, as well as real life: my friends all know the first words of encouragement I'll give them before any major task/presentation/life-event are, "don't suck!" At my morning church even, when we have a guest worship leader or speaker, my pastor will turn to me during the pre-service prayer circle and ask "Jeremy, do you have any advice to give so-and-so?" at which point I calmly turn to our guest and encourage them: "don't suck!"
Fetch
From Mean Girls. I keep hoping it will happen.
Get off my lawn!
A friendly jest about someone's age or curmudgeonliness. It started at work, when a coworker recounted a story from a time before I was born; they suddenly realized the age gap and suggested I respond "tell us another one Grandpa!", but instead I replied with another phrase I associate with the elderly: "Get off my lawn!" It has since become widely used in my circle of friends at work.
Homegoing celebration
I heard this phrase to describe a funeral in August 2006 on KTIS radio, and the words resonated with me.
How are you doing?
When I ask this, I want an honest, real answer, not just a walk-by "good" or "I'm fine". (If I don't want to know the real answer, I won't ask)
Howdy
When I started working in retail at age 14, I commonly greeted customers with a mere "Hi". But that didn't have enough syllables for my liking, so I awkwardly started using "Hello". That's okay for in-person encounters, but it's way too formal for the intrinsically impersonal email, so I stole the word "howdy" from good friend and mentor Peter Jerde. (Peter always used "Howdy there" because it has three syllables, and thus helped cover up when he forgot the person's name to whom he was speaking)
I don't disagree
Used in two contexts: when I don't completely agree with what someone just said (though neither do I very much disagree), and also when I do completely agree with what was just said.
It went
Said with some exhasperation, for when a task / meeting / event has not gone particularly well (though not necessarily as badly as possible). As in, "the show is over, it didn't go as well as I'd hoped, but I didn't completely fail, either."
Judge judge judge
I'm not actuallya very judgy person, but I "pretend judge" incredibly frequently. This phrase is almost always accompanied by a hand gesture, in which I flick all five fingers on one hand toward the person I'm pretend-judging. Occasionally, when someone says something particularly shameworthy, I'll flick both hands, and this becomes a "double judge." I'm delighted to have friends in multiple states who have picked up this phrase and gesture; I'm hoping it wil catch on, because I think it's fetch.
Kerfuffle
I adore this word, and use it at every opportunity.
Minor details
Used as an attempt for humorous recovery when I realize some required action is actually more substantial or important. For example, if I invite someone to see a movie, but they reply they've a ginormous test for which they need to study, I might reply "minor details," indicating I understand the necessity for them to study.
Pretend Computer
My way of describing a Windows machine.
Simplistically put
Stems from a text in my first-year religion class at St. Olaf. This phrase is generally used in a sarcastic sense, the reason for which you will understand after reading the original quote:
"Simplistically put, reality is composed of an unending stream of transient, constantly changing, unreliable, contingent, and conditioned entities/forces, which are seemingly oppositional in nature, yet simultaneously harmonious, inseparably unified, and interconnected with their opposite and with all other reality in an interdependent, interpenetrating web of existence." - Lyn Bechtel
St. Mattress and Bedside Baptist
Terms used to describe mornings spent in bed instead of in church. An example usage might sound like this: "I worshipped at the Church of St. Mattress / Bedside Baptist this morning" or "I was practicing my horizontal prayer to St. Mattress."
Stand by
Hold on while I check some information, or do something I just said I would do, or am otherwise engaged but I'll get back to you soon. I'm not sure where I picked up this phrase, but I use it ALL the time.
Sufficiently awkward
Another Mean Girls reference. Used by the math teacher in describing her out-of-school encounter with her students.
Welcome to the adventure
Jon Anenson, who started AWAKEN, the mime dramam ministry I was involved with in Iowa, used to close his welcoming speeches to the performances with the phrase "Welcome to the Adventure." At first it became a joke amongst the cast and crew, because we heard the same speech at every venue. Over time this grew to become one of my life's mottos. Because I have no idea what's coming next. Welcome to the adventure.
What do you want it to be?
I think I started using this phrase in 2001 on a group trip in Europe, though where I heard it originally I can't recall. The context is, if someone asks a question like, "what is this?" and I have no idea, I'll answer "What do you want it to be?". Variations include other "wh" questions, for example, "where is my umbrella?" in which case the answer is "where do you want it to be?"
When a Mommy ___ and a Daddy ___ love each other very much...
Used as a reply whenever someone asks "where did ___ come from?", especially as applied to inanimate objects. Example: Someone asks, "Where did this book come from?" My reply: "Well, when a mommy book and a daddy book love each other very much..."
Person #1 then glares at me, and the conversation is over.