VLVL(8) "There it is," DL said, "Check it out."

[Toby G Levy]

Every time I read Vineland, this passage hits me like a ton of bricks and
I am transported back to 1971 and my time spent in Vietnam.  Even beyond
the prominence of vulgarities in the vocabulary of  the enlisted military
 I was a part of,  the two brief sentences were endlessly repeated all
day, throughout the day, every day.

"Check it out." 

"There it is."

They were used so often that any type of meaning or context was
obliterated by the mind-numbing repetition.  And no matter the level of
education, how careful a wordsmith one thought of oneself, every one of
us found these words spilling out of our mouths.

I remember contests with friends as to who could go the longest without
saying either of the phrases.  We would also while away the time
recalling the most outlandish and surreal usages of the phrases.

I believe that  a semiliterate solider could get through an entire tour
in Vietnam without uttering anything other than the two declaratives.

"There it is."

"Check it out."

Toby




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