The Power of Alrighty

By Jim Hagarty
2018

I can’t exactly say why, but I like people who say, “Alrighty.” Especially young people. They don’t have to say, “Alrighty, then,” as Jim Carrey did in his Pet Detective comedies. A short “Alrighty” does me just fine.

I can’t think of any explanation for why “Alrighty” gives me a good feeling. It just does. Tonight, in a restaurant, the waitress said the magic word when my wife and I gave her our order. And there is a clerk in a variety store I go to regularly who also always says it when she is tallying up my bill. Both these people are young and I think this is connected to why I like them using what I suppose might be considered part of an old person’s lingo. An old farmer, for example.

“Alrighty, boys! That hay ain’t gonna bale itself. Let’s get going!”

So the kids are changing so much these days. We hear it all the time. Or maybe they aren’t.

And that’s alrighty with this old farmer.

Author: Jim Hagarty

I am a 72-year-old retired journalist, busy recovering from a lifelong career as an unretired journalist. This year marks a half century of my scratching out little fables about life. My interests include genealogy, humour and music. I live in a little blue shack in Canada and spend most of my time trying to stay out of trouble. I am not that good at it. I also spent years teaching journalism. Poor state of journalism today: My fault. I have a family I don't deserve, a dog that adores me, and two cars the junk yard refuses to accept. My prized possessions include my old guitar and a razor my Dad gave me when I was 14 and which I still use when I bother to shave. Oh, and my great-great-grandfather's blackthorn stick he brought from Ireland in the 1850s. I have only one opinion but it is a good one: People take too many showers.