Interesting!

"Interesting!" ... Somehow, more often than not, the word seems to be in paradoxical usage: when I hear people respond to my statements / ideas / lectures with the phrase "Interesting", I almost always get the sense that a) Whatever I'm droning on about is not interesting at all or b) I'm not making any sense in the conversation. Its almost a conversation killer to me ... I'm having to make a conscious effort to stop my irritation appear in my face. What is really interesting is that, it can be used as a filler word for several situations. Sample a few of them:

I go to Tech Support with my problem with a certain operating system and explain my woes ; he tries his hand at what I've been trying, fails, frowns, looks hard at the screen and says in a high-pitched tone: "Interesting!". Of course, what it really means is that he has no idea at the moment what the hell is wrong and he is attempting to convince me that he thrives on solving such problems. I am left wishing that he understands he doesn't need to have a conversation while he solves the damn thing.

I try to explain to a representative at a career fair what I'm trying to do in a project and why it would be great for his company to have me - he keeps nodding his head all the while, makes random notes on my resume, and finally says "Interesting!" .. So I think I've done a great job of impressing the person, thank him for his time, pick up a few goodies the company has brought and I keep waiting for the call-back that never comes ..

I talk to some acquaintance regarding my career plans and stuff, and the guy sizes me up and goes .. "That's an interesting choice! .. You know, most people actually blah blah blah" ... Well, I suppose I should acknowledge the element of politeness the word brings into situations, but all the same, its still annoying.

I suppose English language has these things designed for the purpose. Another couple of them come to my mind ... How about the response "That's a good question!"? .. Most of the times, the reason it is used is because the answer is unknown and it presents a better package than an upfront "I don't know!" .. Here's one I've seen in the movie Donnie Brasco.. Its interesting how many ways they use the filler :)



Hail the English language and Forget about it!! :-)