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One of the Most Dreaded Phrases in the English Language
Nothing good follows after, “By the way…”
3 min readNov 6, 2020
Type “most dreaded phrase” into google and you will come up with a plethora of articles written about the phrase “We need to talk”. But for me, the most dreaded phrase is “By the way…”
This phrase gets used frequently in my house but somehow it is never followed by anything good. I have never heard the following:
- By the way, I got 100% on that test I studied for.
- By the way, I’m leaving work early tomorrow to come home and take you to lunch.
- By the way, I loaded the dishwasher for you since I saw you were busy.
Instead the “By the ways…” in our house sound more like this.
- By the way, I need a check for $200 for band.
- By the way, I need to go in to work early tomorrow and I probably won’t be home for dinner.
- By the way, all of my underwear is too tight and/or has holes so I’ve been wearing the same pair for a couple of days. You should probably buy me some new pairs.
A classic of the genre came the other night at 9:00 pm when my youngest said to me, “By the way, I need assorted candy.”
