WHO IS EMILY?

There are phrases that we all pick up over the years that stick with us and we let them slip fluidly into regular conversation. For me, and a lot of my friends, these tend to be witty or goofy movie quotes. Or they are phrases we pick up from friends & roommates we've spent a lot of time with.
"Bad news, Emily" came from an experience I had, which became a story I told, which became a phrase I use often, which became a phrase my mom, sister, brother, and a number of friends use (my brother even made me a t-shirt with the phrase on it for Christmas!). It's really amazing how language travels. (I almost named this blog "Language is Dynamic" because that's a phrase I adopted in college, declaring my linguistic credo, and have since passed on to friends who have passed it on to others. I confess there's a bit of pride involved, but it's also just plain fun.)

Now back to Emily...
When I was in high school, I spent summers working as a teacher's aide in K-1 summer school classes. The 4- 5- 6-year-olds were a source of endless entertainment. I came home with funny stories about them almost every day. One year at Escondido Elementary I was the primary "Yard Duty" for the class, as in the threat "I'm going to tell the Yaaaard Dutyyyyy!" This meant that I not only had to keep the kids from killing themselves or others, but I also got a front-row seat to the silly things they said and did. Now, there was a boy named Andrew who had a girl who chased him around trying to kiss him - every single day. Her name was Emily. He'd run away from her, screaming at the top of his lungs for her to leave him alone. Apparently her cooties were the worst of them all and she was bent on giving them to him. One day, during recess, he approached her as she was swinging on a swing. He was six years old, which meant he was not only taller than the other boys, but he thought he was a pretty cool cat. He folded his arms, leaned against the pole of the swing set like the Fonzz, gave his head a shake to toss his thick, mushroom-shaped hair back, and looked at her as though he owned the world. In an arrogant tone he says to her "Bad news, Emily. I'm not going to be here tomorrow, so you won't be able to chase me."
It was classic.