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'30 Rock,' get out of my head!

Oct 19, 2007, 04:04 PM | by Dawnie Walton

Categories: Television

Blerg_l Verging on three years ago I made up (or, uh, I thought I made up) a magic word for use during stressful times at work. (Bear with me, readers: I'm not gonna complain too much, because yeah, I do realize that working at EW.com is crazy-awesome — especially when it involves leading discussions about, say, the Ultimate Hottie-ness of Clive Owen.) Anyway, back to the word, five little letters that on any given day somehow sum up my feelings of annoyance, exhaustion, shame (usually after I've eaten a sloppy and/or saturated-fat-packed lunch), inability to concentrate, and lust for the weekend:

"Blurg."

As Slezak is my witness, I have been uttering/IM'ing this word to him for-freakin'-ever. (For the record, his equivalent? "Mrrrrrr.") So last TV season, I'm eating dinner and watching 30 Rock on DVR, and I hear "blurg" — my word! — come out of Liz Lemon's mouth, with the same inflection and connotation! I thought maybe it was a one-time thing, but then, on last week's episode, the camera lingered on a junky pile of boxed-up furniture from an Ikea-like store that Liz had been too lazy to put together. And what did the label say?

"blërg."

Okay, so they're spelling it differently (the umlaut is a nice touch, I must admit)... but still! I'm really freaked out! (Also: dreaming about the alternate reality in which I copyrighted the word and receive a writer's credit/fat check.) I say all this to ask, has something like this ever happened to you? Has a TV show/movie ever gotten into your head in a really creepy, specific way?


ieyupbqka niavfpjz Sun, Feb 24, 2008 at 12:39 AM EST

pfaqiczxg pyqrhn fuqta mplvsugij xsfrg tlqrgpu ceqgaisx

Megan Long Wed, Oct 24, 2007 at 07:01 AM EST

My favorite 30 Rock exclamation is "By the hammer of Thor!!" Although, I say "Blurg", too.

mrehula Mon, Oct 22, 2007 at 07:32 AM EST

Dang! blurg.com is taken. But blerg.com is still available! Don't know what I'd do with it, though . . .

strepsi Sun, Oct 21, 2007 at 04:24 PM EST

I would swear to you that I invented the word "chesticles" from my own head -- although used it originally to describe the small yet still sagging breasts of a woman of a certain age. Then last week on CSI, a wiseacre forensic analyst used chesticles to describe moobs, or man-boobs! I'm not proud of the word, but Get out of my head, CSI!

dan Sat, Oct 20, 2007 at 06:30 PM EST

Blurg is used QUITE a bit on 30 Rock, if I recall... I've caught myself saying it too now. I don't mind really -- it's got a ring to it.

pookie Sat, Oct 20, 2007 at 04:45 PM EST

My friends can attest to the fact that I purchased a Tweety Bird Pez dispenser two weeks before the Pez Dispenser episode of Seinfeld.

Also, my father ate a stray CoCo Puff off the kitchen floor in the mid 80s. I friend of mine and I witnessed him doing it and it has become a long-running punchline in our circle. On an episode of King of Queens, Arthur sarcastically told Carrie that he didn't need her to provide any meals for him because he could just eat a stray CoCo Puff from off the floor.

mike Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 10:29 PM EST

When the NBA ref scandal broke with Tim Doneghy, I immediately thought of Alec Baldwin. When he claimed Tim as a cousin last night I was rolling on the floor.

Richard M. Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 10:06 PM EST

I use ennui, to the same effect.

donner Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 09:23 PM EST

YES YES YES!! Just last week, on Pushing Daisies, when Emerson pulled his gun outta his newly knitted gun holster, I said "sweet" and about 2 seconds later HE says "sweet", like he heard me...it was an awesome tv connection between me and him...sweet...

Daryn Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 07:05 PM EST

LONG before Grey's Anatomy, if I saw a handsome gentleman, I would refer to him as "Hottie McHot". Can't do that anymore...the Mc- is dead for me now. Thanks Shondra.

mikey Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 06:48 PM EST

One Sunday night I grilled up an extra thick steak and sat down to watch what was a new epsiode of "The Simpsons." In this one Homer goes into one of those steak houses where you get your ridiculously ginormous steak for free if you can eat all of it. At the exact moment that I looked down at my plate and decided that I could eat no more, I heard Homer give voice to my thought: "I don't understand. There's still food on my plate but I don't want to eat it."

Ellipsian Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 06:32 PM EST

Oh, and RayT? I'm SO with you about the whole DVD-square-in-the-corner thing! I have totally done that before and it made me roll to see the "Office" cast following suit. Just goes to show you the kind of minutia and random commonality that, with the right writers, can be mined for comic gold.

Ellipsian Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 06:28 PM EST

Sorry to deviate further... but Richard, are you serious? I thought "Earl" was one of the funniest half-hours of TV I've seen in ages (and I've been telling my friends that very thing all day)! I haven't laughed out loud that much over a TV comedy in a long time. It was genious: well written, creative, witty, random and fun as hell! How could you hate that??

Aaron Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 05:29 PM EST

Cartman's "Everybody assumes I love 'Family Guy' but I Really Hate It" speech from the "Cartoon Wars" episode of "South Park." I have delivered sentences of that speech VERBATIM for years. I'm pretty sure I remember yelling, "They stole that from my brain!" I have never been so honored.

MojoMom Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 05:01 PM EST

I know this isn't exactly answering your question but I just have to say that if "The Office" were a drug, I'd be headed to rehab right now. It has gotten into my brain in a serious way.

beentheredonethat Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 05:00 PM EST

friends and I were saying fiddy (as in 50 cents) back in the late 80s.
cutting edge baby, cutting edge.

RayT Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 04:54 PM EST

Twice:

First, I totally thought it would be a hilarious idea to have a NAAFP (National Association for the Advancement of Fat People) and then several years later, Family Guy did a whole episode about it! Then, on last weeks episode of The Office there was a an entire scene where the staff is watching a screensaver waiting for the DVD logo to hit exactly in the corner of the TV. I do that all the time!

djay Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 04:14 PM EST

in middle school a friend and i wrote this script making fun of all these movies about killers, we specifically made fun of the matrix fx, and then about six months later we were shocked to see the scary movie previews making fun of the matrix too

j-dizzle Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 04:14 PM EST

I remember someone telling me about how they jog to keep in shape. They asked me, "Do you run?" My response: "Not unless someone's chasing me."

10 years later, I come across a movie I've never seen before-- "Real Genius"-- and wouldn't ya know? Val Kilmer's character has the exact same exchange with another character. Get out of my head, Kilmer!!!

ninjac Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 04:04 PM EST

the dr. who episode 'the empty child' totally stole "are you my mommy?" from me. I don't know how they happened to be in the same metro car with me after that particularly drink filled evening while I was making fun of my friend who was dating a divorced dad. Somehow I came up with his son being british and 5 (real son is neither)and I kept repeating "are you my mummy?". My friend didn't like it one bit and years later when we saw the episode she made me turn it off right after she heard the little kid. Of course, I still do it to bug her. he he he

Richard Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 04:00 PM EST

Forget 30 Rock, did anyone watch Earl last night? That may have just about been the worst 30 minutes of television in the history of its existence. That episode was a true "jump the shark" ep if ever I saw one.

Kevin Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 03:39 PM EST

Dang you, Slezak! Mrrrr is MY word!

Kathleen Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 03:36 PM EST

Ewps. How 'bout "get out of my head." I can pretty much guarantee that "gwt out of my head, John Goodman" has never been said before.

Jeffy Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 03:29 PM EST

You sound like my college roommate. She was also a boring braggart who loved showing how ahead of the pack she was.

Kathleen Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 03:28 PM EST

When I don't know the words to songs, I sing "meow" in their place. Don't know why, just thought it was funny. Years after starting this, I saw John Goodman do the same thing in "True Stories." My index finger flew towards the screen and I looked wide-eyed at my friend and said "GWT OUT OF MY HEAD, JOHN GOODMAN!!!"
*snicker* I wonder if that sentence has ever been said before.

Brainiac Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 03:27 PM EST

The Will Ferell movie, "Elf", after Will's character belches extremely loudly and declares "Did you hear that?" That was so totally mine! I felt so ripped off when I heard it there......


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