![\"TheDrake.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/TheDrake.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThis story has no meaning or purpose, except that it has been making us laugh for nigh on 5,000 years now.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The famous “Drake Hotel” stands on the curve of the shore – staring northward – its sign as recognizable as the golden arches. The DRAKE.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Only on this particular day, the neon “E” in “DRAKE” was out.<\/p>\n
And Mitchell said, a propos of nothing, to no one in particular, “There’s no ‘e’. It says ‘DRAK’.”<\/p>\n
(Okay, see? I’m already laughing out loud …)<\/p>\n
And Jackie turned to Mitchell, shocked, and said, “What???<\/i>”<\/p>\n
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.”<\/p>\n
So Mitchell, confused at her response, repeated slowly, “Uhm … there’s no ‘e’. It says ‘DRAK’.”<\/p>\n
Jackie, relieved, said, “I thought you said, ‘Ez no-eee. Oo say Drak.’ ”<\/p>\n
What???<\/p>\n
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”.<\/p>\n
It literally can mean ANYTHING, but we use it mainly as an expression of vague annoyance spiked with worldlywise philosophy.<\/p>\n
As in:<\/p>\n
“Dammit. The movie’s at 7. Stuck in traffic. Oo say Drak.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
You are faced with an enormous traffic jam. You sigh tiredly, shrug hopelessly, and say, “That is how life is. Oo say Drak.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 … Continue reading