“We were on a break!”

From: Friends

Genre: Television

Who said it?: Ross Geller

The story behind the quote: This is going to be my third quote from Friends, the hit sitcom from the ’90s. Even if the show did end a little over a year ago, Friends is still being shown in syndication in the United States and various parts of the world.

The quote is actually a recurring gag from the show. Rachel Green (played by Jennifer Aniston) is tired of her boyfriend Ross Gellar’s (played by David Schwimmer’s) continuous bouts of jealousy has finally had enough. She then tell Ross that, maybe, they should “take a break” from the relationship. Ross, thinking that the relationship is over, sleeps with another woman. Ross and Rachel do make up shortly after but, when she finds out that Ross did sleep with someone, the two have a heated argument regarding what it exactly means what being “on a break” means.

Geek wisdom: Both sides do have a legitimate argument to make regarding the situation. That’s because both Ross and Rachel interpreted the situation differently because no clarity was given.Terminologies can get a little squirrely at times. Entire sentences can be interpreted by different persons in different way.

It’s always best to clarify and get details when something is pretty vague.

“‘Unagi’ is a state of total awareness.”

From: Friends

Genre: Television

Who said it?: Ross Geller

The story behind the quote: The quote comes from the very popular sitcom Friends. The show focused on a group of friends (pretty obvious) with rather different personalities yet managed to stick together for a long time. The show launched the careers of many of the actors and actresses involved in the show.

The quote comes from Ross Geller (played by David Schwimmer). The episode starts out with Rachel Green (played by Jennifer Aniston) and Phoebe Buffay (played by Lisa Kudrow) commenting about a self-defense class they took and how they can pretty much defend themselves. However, Ross, who mentions he’s taken “kara-teh,” they actually won’t be able to protect themselves from attackers because they do not have, what he called “unagi.”

Trivia: What Ross probably means is “Zanshin,” which means pretty much what he thinks the word “unagi” means.

Geek wisdom: Even the smartest people can be wrong at times. In Friends, Ross is supposedly the most educated of the group. However, he flat out gets the word wrong and, even when confronted with different people commenting that “unagi” is an eel, he still never bothers to actually check if he was wrong since he “knows” he’s correct.

Ross’ mistake can happen to anyone, even you. Make sure to double-check your facts once in a while and be ready to admit when you’re wrong.

“How you doin'”

From: Friends

Genre: Television

Who said it?: Joey Tribbiani

The story behind the quote: Friends was a extremely popular NBC sitcom during the 90’s. Even today, all 10 seasons of the show are still replayed in syndication throughout the world. Each episode revolves around 6 friends: the fashion conscious Rachel Green, free spirit Phoebe Buffay, the sarcastic Chandler Bing, the perfectionist Monica Gellar and her somewhat arrogant brother Ross Gellar, and the struggling actor, Joey Tribbiani.

Please take note that the rundowns for each character is a pretty barebones description for all of them. One of the things that made Friends so memorable is that each and every one in this group of friends are all different yet interact well with each other. Not only that, they all grow to some degree and some of them even get romantically involved with each other.

The quote comes from Joey Tribbiani. He has an uncanny knack of picking up beautiful women because of his confidence. All he has to do to hook up with a girl is to walk up to her and say the quote in the way he says it and they will (most of the time) fall for him.

Geek wisdom: There’s actually two pieces of wisdom you can pull from these simple three words. First, let’s talk about the words themselves. Sometimes, simply asking someone how they’re feeling can make them feel better. It’s a simple act of concern that we tend to forget to do in our daily lives.

The second piece of wisdom we can derive from Joey catchphrase is by the way he delivers it. The reason why Joey manages to use these words so effectively when meeting women is not because of the words themselves. Rather, it’s the confidence he displays when delivering them. A lot of times, when you present yourself as a person with confidence, you can gain much needed respect from others. This in turn will also increase your self-respect.