Back when I was a little guy, my siblings and I hit on the idea of trying to change our language. To be honest, it was more them than me, but I was happy to join in. The idea was to start using the word “adequate” when something was amazingly good.

At the time, people were saying things like “awesome” for every little thing (“Ice cream? Awesome!”) and we wanted to fight back by establishing “adequate” as being better than awesome.

We tried for a while and then the idea faded. Years later, however, that usage of “adequate” started showing up in movies like Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

My eyes were opened. Did we really change the language? Probably not. But maybe… Ever since then, I’ve been trying to introduce more changes.

My most blatant attempt is the answer to the question “how are you?”

It started when a friend asked me how I was. Things were going astonishingly badly at the time, but I really didn’t want to talk about it, so I said “Marvy.” My friend took the hint.

Having stumbled on such a great success, I decided to try to stretch it into “Marvy, Marvy.” It had a weird Austin Powers feel to it, and could be delivered with either a laugh or an eye-roll. People reacted well to it, usually with a laugh or a smile.

In the middle of that, my sister-in-law (Hi Yanna!) called. At the time, whenever you asked Yanna how she was, she’d give an Eeyore answer, something like “oh well, you know” or a depressed “I’m okay.” So, to compensate I added “Bang-Bang” to the end of my “Marvy Marvy.”

“Marvy, Marvy, Bang-Bang.” It’s the ultimate answer to the question of how you are doing. Depending on your delivery, it can mean anything from “great” to “terrible.” Or at least, that’s what I thought.

Unfortunately, no one else seemed to agree with me.

No one, that is, except for my oldest. He loved it, especially when we added “whoop whoop whoop” to the end of it, turning it in to “Marvy Marvy Bang-Bang, whoop whoop whoop.” I don’t use that extended version too often, though. It’s just a little too far over the top.

He’s in Texas right now, visiting relatives with the rest of the family. I called my wife yesterday to check in, and she handed the phone around.

“How ya doing, big guy?” I asked my oldest when he took the phone.

“Marvy Marvy Bang-bang, Rakawatchalooloo!”

Heh. That’s my boy.