I was taking notes on my 2 hour conference call [webinar!] today when I noticed a peculiar verbal oddity that the speaker had.  He was showing us the many features of an H.R. Information System.  As he walked us through the myriad data fields, showing us the boundless possibilities, he would periodically finish a sentence with, “or, whatever – whatever.”  This is akin to the famous Seinfeld, Yada-Yada-Yada episode.  Basically a glorified, emphasized “etc.”

I pulled out one of my index cards and started a gate tally.   Much to my surprise there were variations to this theme!  There was the “what have you – what have you”, and “who, who, who” and one lonely “quick, quick, quick” (which almost went by me).

Here is my index card replete with a sketch of the “who, who, who” owl.  By the way, “whatever – whatever” was used six times.