This story has no meaning or purpose, except that it has been making us laugh for nigh on 5,000 years now.
A bunch of us were sitting on the Fullerton Rocks, staring at downtown Chicago across the sweeping curve of the lake. It was a summery day. We ate ice cream.
The famous “Drake Hotel” stands on the curve of the shore – staring northward – its sign as recognizable as the golden arches. The DRAKE.
Only on this particular day, the neon “E” in “DRAKE” was out.
And Mitchell said, a propos of nothing, to no one in particular, “There’s no ‘e’. It says ‘DRAK’.”
(Okay, see? I’m already laughing out loud …)
And Jackie turned to Mitchell, shocked, and said, “What???”
It seemed like kind of an odd over-reaction to what was a benign observation from Mitchell. It was as though he had said, “The Drake just exploded into flames.”
So Mitchell, confused at her response, repeated slowly, “Uhm … there’s no ‘e’. It says ‘DRAK’.”
Jackie, relieved, said, “I thought you said, ‘Ez no-eee. Oo say Drak.’ ”
What???
We are STILL laughing about this, and ‘Ez no-eee. Oo say Drak’ is now part of our collective vocabulary. It has also morphed beyond all recognition from the original. It helps if you put on a vaguely Serbo-Croatian dialect when you say it. It also helps if you drop your voice down an octave when you get to the ‘Oo say Drak’ part, and make everything growly and monotone. Roll that last R. Make your eyes go dead, arch your eyebrows, use a Balkan dialect, and you’ll understand where we have gone with “Oo say Drak”.
It literally can mean ANYTHING, but we use it mainly as an expression of vague annoyance spiked with worldlywise philosophy.
As in:
“Dammit. The movie’s at 7. Stuck in traffic. Oo say Drak.”
You need to say it though not in a rage – “Oo say Drak” never expresses rage. It’s more of a, “Oh well, it sucks, but what can you do” attitude – very Chekhovian, philosophical, a semi-melancholy Balkan acceptance of the unfairness of life.
You are faced with an enormous traffic jam. You sigh tiredly, shrug hopelessly, and say, “That is how life is. Oo say Drak.”
I.
Love.
You.
Guys.
I was not even THERE and I say this all the time. And yet, no one understands what the hell I’m saying. And then I try to explain it. And then I give up. At least now I can send them to your blog! :-)
Ann – I know!! The thought of you completely taking on “oo say drak” and making it your own is something that makes me so happy. I think you were the one who was in a traffic jam and you said to yourself, “Oo say drak” – like, “what are you gonna do …” hahahahahaha
anne…u do it so well that i forgot until reading this that u weren’t there!!! in my memory i see u there with us!..i miss those times!
this just made me guffaw at Starbucks. i’m appropriating it into my own vocabulary.
Erik – HA!!! Yes – run with it!! Let me know how it goes. It really does work well in certain situations.
Heh. My friends actually have a different phrase with the same sort of meaning, done in the same tone: “What you can do?” It can be resigned, it can mock others, it can defuse tense situations – so I can totally embrace the illogic.
But I actually came in here to pledge that I won’t steal “oo say drak.” I don’t want to be the “mee too!” kid. It’s enough to be laughing at the thought of all of you guys randomly tossing out fake-Serbian expressions of fatalism.
Why would she think that he said that????? I am dying right now!
Jean – hahahahahahahaha I know! And why would she be SHOCKED by it? Like, was she shocked that Mitchell was suddenly, apparently, speaking in Serbian?? hahahahaha It was the funniest moment ever.