Don’t Make Me Your Escape Goat

One of my favorite bits from Friends was when Joey said “…this is all a moo point.” Unlike some language purists and English professors that get their panties in a wad when people abuse the language, I find it endearing and hilarious. I’ve been guilty myself of mixing metaphors and assaulting analogies.

I know and love my own Joey. A friend of mine just can’t help but have these jumbled word and thoughts pour out of him, and I LOVE to hear them. I never correct him, preferring to keep the opportunity to hear them again in a phone call or meeting. The down side is I find myself actually disengaging from the meat of the conversation and keeping my ear out for the next misused word or phrase.

Some of my recent favorites:

“I’m telling you, they way they’re talking about this project its all gonna get blamed on me. They’ll make me the escape goat and move on to the next thing.”

Yesterday it was this…

“I just said some things that were cuff, whatever popped into my head.”

And while he hasn’t used the classic Joey line exactly, he has said…

"The whole thing is a mute issue. No one wants to talk about it.”

Love him.