I Was Just Thinking That

Have you ever sat next to someone who was doing a crossword and they ask you to fill in the answer? And when you give them the answer, they say “That’s what I was thinking?” Not once, but every time?

My wife and I will occasionally play the game as well; I will espouse an idea and she will say: “That’s what I was thinking” to which I will say “Oh no you bloody well were not!” And then she’ll say in a canned voice: “Fine you’re right… what a GREAT idea!”

Now in my wife’s case, chances are if it’s a good idea then she’s already thought of it but hasn’t thought up how to broach it to me; if there’s a good idea to be had in the household its probably hers.

But at work I sit with this little mini-clique that likes to do crosswords on a daily basis; and as I’m a guy who knows a lot of pointless shit I get asked for answers on a fairly frequent basis.

Originally it pissed me off because they kept asking me all the nerdy questions (Who was the Black Prince who fought with Aragorn at the Battle of Gondor?) but then I realized I had no right to be pissed: I knew the answers.

Then there’s this one woman who every time she’s asked me for an answer says the very words above when I supply the answer: I was thinking that.

Now there’s a couple of possibilities why she has to say this every time:

• Perhaps she’s literally thinking “That” all the time. It’s possible. I once had Suzanne Vega’s Tom’s Diner stuck in my head for six months (not the word of a lie, if I wasn’t thinking something else, I was playing the music for Tom’s Diner in my head). So maybe she’s just sitting in her lunch chair thinking: “That That That That That That That That That That” ato the tune of Tom’s Diner…
• Perhaps she can’t admit that someone might be smarter than her; most of us tend to huddle down when we hear smart folk talk (me I just turn on the Tom’s Diner theme song in my head).
• She may have been actually thinking what I was thinking in which case she should get the bloody hell out of my head because it’s crowded enough in here.

My point is, if you already know the answer to the question but need that much constant affirmation of your knowledge – you’ve got issues… but I know.. you were thinking that already.