Tell Us How You Really Feel

The expression "tell us how you really feel" is said in sarcasm and irony after someone has said an anger or hate-filled statement, drawing attention to the anger and hatred (and implicitly mocking it).

Example: I was reminded earlier that on the American television show "The View," a guest made a statement about Nevada senate candidate Sharon Angle, calling her a "bitch" and concluding that "she's going to hell, this bitch." As these words were recited to me (I had earlier read them at the link here), I expressed, "Tell us how you really feel!". This is a popular culture way of expressing, wow, if that's what Joy Behar will tell us on network television, what would she say in private?...

Of course, this statement is likely exactly how Joy Behar actually feels. My reply was sarcastic and full of irony that Joy Behar would actually say it on television. No surprise at all that certain people feel that way about a female conservative politician opposing a linchpin of the Democratic Party in Congress during a very heated election battle.

Jumping The Shark

The phrase "jumping the shark" began as the expression of a single person's opinion as to where the once extremely popular American television show, "Happy Days," began a permanent decline away from its peak until the moment it ended. 


In this show, a major character became involved in a water-skiing race. A shark in a netted area of the ocean was to be jumped over as the tiebreaker for the race. This was seen by many as completely ridiculous, and a vivid sign of the declining creativity of the writers of the show. When shows become fully mature, their story lines tend to have already exhausted the best material, leaving second-rate material until the show mercifully comes to an end.

Example: "I think that ____ jumped the shark when..."

Just replace ____ with a given television show, and the idiom is being used correctly.

Rarely, some television shows are considered to have never declined, and maintained a high level of quality right until their final conclusions.

Digging It

An idiom popularized in the 70's, to "dig something" is to like that something very much.

This is often used in reference to music or film or other parts of pop culture.

Example 1: "I'm really digging that dress you wore to the party." "Oh, thank you."

Example 2: "I dig that new film. Has one of my favorite actors in it."