I am happy and proud to say that I have a catchphrase attached to myself. Maybe it has been used somewhere by other people, but as far as I am concerned, a lot of people got to know the phrase through me, and anytime they come across it, Kingsleyy always appears in their mind. Isn’t that lovely? 😊
"Once you’re fine, I’m fine."
Some years ago, when 'body was catching me' (if you know, you know 😄), I never allowed this phrase to rest. I said it anywhere and to anyone. Sometimes, it even attracted billings because some people, when I said it to them, would reply with, "I’m not ooooh! Please send me a little money to be fine so that you can be fine."
Once it goes like this, especially when my siblings or very close friends are involved, it becomes very hard to dodge the request… just to make them fine.
These days, I have been using the phrase less because I got tired of the billings that come with it. I only make use of it with people I know will not twist it against me, that is, people who will not turn it into an excuse to collect money from me, and also the new 'calm' people I just met. I would have emphasized the word 'calm', but as it stands, use your sense to understand it. Lol 😂
It also became a very sweet and entertaining thing between some of my friends. Anytime we want to chat, they just summarise the whole “hi, hello, how are you?” greeting into something like:
“Hi Kingsleyy, good morning. I know you’re fine because I’m fine, because you said once I’m fine, you’re fine.”
Now, do you want to know the origin of this phrase?
Yoh! It was during NYSC. There was a crying baby we had in our midst, someone who would cry at the slightest emotional disturbance. We were very close, and because she always cried, anytime I saw her, I would start asking in an elongated manner just to be sure she was good and that nothing was bothering her that could make her cry in the next few hours.
She would always reply, "Don’t worry, I’m fine. Don’t bother about me. Once you’re fine, I’m fine."
But that was a lie. She always said that just to prove she was strong and would not cry again… but that was a lie. She would still cry 😂
Thanks for reading.
Photo: Screenshot