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Wow � and I do mean that most sincerely

May 21, 2002 ~ 11:39 p.m.

The man who runs the coffee and newspaper vendor told me this morning that the Queen is making an appearance in our neighborhood as part of her 50th Anniversary Jubilee tour. �Fancy that,� he said, beaming.

I smiled back. �Wow,� I said. And that�s all I could manage. That�s the best I could manage. An all-too-simple �wow.�

What a great word. Americans invented it. It�s the all-purpose word for excitement (�Oh, wow!�), sarcasm, (�Like, wow, dude!�), non-committal assent, as when you�re hearing someone talk but not really listening, but you want to appear that you�re listening, (�Yep, uh-huh � wow.�) or just filler to show that you are genuinely listening but merely stumped for words, (�You don�t say? Gee � wow.�)

And it was in this last sense that I relied on this native, ubiquitous word to express my surprise at the notion that Her Majesty herself would grace our humble little corner of South London. Words just cannot express it. In fact, that is the ultimate place for a word like �wow.� When no other word can come to mind, when you�re stumped for adequate vocabulary, �wow� serves as one�s savior, the word that can set things right when otherwise you�d just be there, mouth open but no sounds except for some monotone noises like �Uhhhhh�.� My gratitude to the monosyllabic genius that is the word �wow� cannot be underestimated.

God save the Queen, and God bless America for the word �wow.�

� M.E.M.

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Copyright � 2001-2007 by M.E. Manning. All material is written by me, unless explicitly stated otherwise by use of footnotes or bylines. Do not copy or redistribute without my permission.

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