Talking in Code

Scrolling through my Facebook feed tonight, I came across a status update from one of my friends complaining about the fact he felt out of it because everyone was updating about the latest ep of Game of Thrones.  He is holding out watching on a weekly basis so he can watch the entire series in one sitting.  He has no idea what anyone was referring to and he felt a little excluded.

I don't watch Game of Thrones. Never have. It's up there with Mad Men and the Twilight saga on the list of things I feel I probably should watch, but likely never will because I just don't get the fuss surrounding it.  It does make me feel a little like Ann Perkins in Parks and Rec when she's talking to Donna about that very topic:

You can't see Ann's blank-faced response in these pics, but you get the idea. She's as clueless about GoT as I am.

Which kinda segue-ways me into the point of this post.

Everyone has their own language. Pop Culture language, that is. And they have certain groups of friends who understand this language, and if they're lucky enough, can speak that language.

Case in point. My friend M and I. We've only known each other for about a year, but we figured out pretty early on that we were separated at birth. Why? We speak the same language. A language that revolves around the quirky things which we are (some would say obsessed) fascinated with, such as:

• US politics (specifically Hillary Clinton running for President in 2016. We are willing to campaign on her behalf)
• Awards shows (our preferred hosts are Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, closely followed by Neil Patrick Harris)
• Anything written by Aaron Sorkin (especially The West Wing and The Newsroom)
• Doctor Who
• Arrested Development
• Saturday Night Live
• Parks andRecreation

Our fascination/obsession with the last one in particular, manifests itself in our ability to retain huge quantities of trivial information and random dialogue which we delight in using to confuse those around us. It's like our own secret language. We throw around seemingly benign comments about waffles, calzones and bacon and use phrases like "Treat Yo' Self" and "LITERALLY" in general conversation. It's like our own little clique. I was never in the cool clique in high school and I'd hazard a guess that M wasn't either, so maybe this is our grown-up way of compensating. In a rather juvenile way, of course.

It still feels like I'm on the outside a little, though, when the 'cool kids' start referencing GoT.  

But I guess the difference now is that I'm not trying to keep up with them because I have my own 'cool' language that they don't get. Plus I've found a friend who does.

Which is even cooler.

LITERALLY.