Why is everyone suddenly saying: ‘I say’?

once scattered ‘.nl’ everywhere (when that movement was in vogue, I really took a very hard run-up and jumped over it as high as I could) or all indulged in the words ‘piece’ and ‘happening’ (a piece of relationship happening, oh boys, the sourness already comes up just by writing it down), a few months ago we suddenly went ‘everywhere very nice’ and we just collectively left out the noun. ‘I find that very interesting.’ Uh yes, an interesting what exactly?

Now there is a new phenomenon that strikes me and that is the introductory phrase for almost every sentence that goes: ‘I say’. It works like this. You clap your colleagues on Friday afternoon, close your laptop with a triumphant gesture and say: ‘I say: weekend.’ Or your daughter has given her presentation for you and you say: ‘I say: don't change anything.’

I still remember that Margriet van der Linden received some criticism when she said to her guest at the end of a broadcast: ‘I am going to thank you.’ ‘Yes, do that then,’ the critics said. It feels a bit like that with ‘I say’. I understand yes, that you say it. They are words and they come out of your mouth.

The worst part is, being a follower that I am, that I also have to give myself a corrective slap for several days because I distribute these two words as if they are lollipops at a children's party.

Let's learn from the great Godfried Bomans. Writing is cutting, he preached and I think this also applies to speaking.

I say: stop it. And quickly a bit.