What is the deal with the phrase "get your [hobby/pasttime/sport/favorite activity] on?" I must hear or read this now-cliched phrase at least twice a day now. Gapers' Block seems to be a common abuser, with the phrase appearing in headlines at least twice in the past week and no less than seven times since August 12, 2003, by my inaccurate estimation. (Gapers' Block can't be blamed for the August 12 headline, since it was in reference to an actual website called 'Get Your War On,' but still, there have been six after that.)

Of course little cultural idioms have been around since humankind began to speak ("Stop saying 'ug!' I'm so sick of 'ug!' Don't you have anything else to say?") and will continue to prove our lack of originality and herd mentality until our race dies out, but somehow that doesn't invalidate my annoyance every time I hear the television telling me to "get my baseball on tomorrow afternoon on WGN" or whatever. Maybe I should just chill out. I'm sorry, I meant "get my chill on."

Still, the first time I can remember hearing this instant lingual icon was in the song "Get Ur Freak On" a few years back. I'm assuming, perhaps incorrectly, I don't know, that this is where it came from, and that scares me. Sorry, it "gets my fear on." I mean, come on, people, couldn't we find a phrase that will inevitably and unavoidably permeate our thought processes and collective consciousness from something a little less... idiotic? Do we really have to lower our collective intelligence quotient by raising Missy Elliot to a level above pop icon into, I don't know, something that would eventually be accepted by Webster's? I mean, everytime I see or hear those words, I almost expect some greasy lounge lizard wearing way too much cologne and gold jewelry to pop out of a corner making obscene and wildly indecent hip thrusts.

So what I want to know is, will this phrase replace other phrases? When mobsters go into hiding to avoid being killed or jailed, will they be "getting their lamb on" instead of "going on the lamb?" Instead of "putting the kettle on," are the British going to "get their kettle on," now? Are we "getting our web on" when we go on the internet?

Okay, I'll stop. But maybe you see my point. I mean, how far is this going to go? If we take it any further it could become as ubiquitous as punctuation. Before you know it, common English usage will dictate that we put "get your ... on" around everything we say. Won't that be fun. And inefficient. And pointless.

So if you'll excuse me, I have to go get my food on now.

Listening to: the beatles and troubled hubble. NOT missy elliot.
In my sink: nuttin'.