yada yada yada

The way we shape our stories, by including or omitting details, can completely transform their impact. In the 1997 episode of Seinfeld, “The Yada Yada,” the character George and his girlfriend abuse the phrase “yada yada yada” to gloss over details they really don’t want to bring up in conversation. At one point, George’s girlfriend, Marcy, tells George that her ex-boyfriend had visited her the night before "and yada yada yada, I'm really tired today."

Give it a try. Abusing this phrase is fun.

• I went to the park, yada yada yada, my cat died.

• I was born, yada yada yada, the stock market crashed.

• The big bang happened, yada yada yada, heat death of the universe.

The more significant the gap in time, the more absurd tying the first event to the second event becomes. The stories we tell and the gaps we leave speak volumes about our perspectives and priorities. So, the next time you find yourself tempted to gloss over the details, remember to start with the end in mind, and yada yada yada, you're done.

Notable Links

• Interview with Michael Feathers (author of Working Effectively with Legacy Code)

• Book Overflow discussion of Web Scalability for Startup Engineers by Artur Ejsmont

• A solid argument (from the left) on why candidates should be democratically chosen

• The history of the high dive record is wild.

• A great breakdown of infinity paradoxes