Extremely Not Bad
My father-in-law was the quintessential English Gentleman. Not only was he a kind, unassuming sort but he embodied those English qualities of self-deprecation, understatement and an exemplary use of the English language. The stories of growing up with this man as a father carried a common, underlying theme. No drama, no hyperbole, just straight forward honesty and brevity. He was a doctor, who emigrated from England in the early sixties with his wife and two small boys. He was a child during World War II. Among his experiences growing up was being sent out to the countryside, away from London and his parents, to avoid the German bombing in the city. I bring this up only to shed some light on one of the reasons he became who he was. He knew what was important. He knew what was REAL drama.
You can imagine the reaction to an instance, let's say when one of the boys would jump off of a snow mound and into a few feet of snow that contained a long lost shovel and came running inside crying with a cut or a broken bone. (and there were many of these types of instances, with three boys in the household!) There was no reaction at all! No drama whatsoever! A calm, no big deal, go about your merry way kind of attitude greeted the boys at every turn. "Take two aspirin and call me in the morning" could have originated with this dad/doctor!
We all tell family stories about our childhood, sometimes ad nauseam, but we tell them just the same:) My husband's stories revolve around the aforementioned as well as those that go something like this: The family going to an ice cream shop or restaurant or a play or a sporting event and experiencing something, by most standards to be quite good, even superb. But all that would be uttered in response from his father was something in the realm of "perfectly adequate" or "highly reasonable". No AWESOME, no GREAT, no exclamation points; period. Needless to say, he is quoted by us often to this day. And we know that it is, indeed, a compliment, maybe even praise, when we say it.
Fast forward, years later, my husband and I were able to add to the list of phrases with one that takes the sentiment to a higher level. We went on a cycling tour in Switzerland with a local company that supplies routes, food, drinks and most importantly for us Americans, English-speaking guides. These two young men showed up and began to put us through our paces; explaining where we would go, what we would see, where we would stop, bike handling, etc. When we took our places in line behind this twosome, we first saw the motto of their group emblazoned on the back of their t-shirts. There, staring us in the face for the next five hours were the words "EXTREMELY NOT BAD". My husband and I looked at each other and smiled. Thinking of his dad, we knew it was going to be an AWESOME day! LA