Inside jokes outlive the situation that started them. Some friendships are just one long callback.

A joke that stops making sense to outsiders turns into shorthand for shared history. Nobody remembers exactly what happened on that bus, and the phrase still works twenty years later because it is no longer about the bus. It is a way of saying that you were both there. Friendships build their own private language over time.

Use the stupid phrase on purpose with an old friend this week, since it restarts a conversation faster than asking how they are. Then make a few new ones with whoever is around now. Today’s nonsense is next decade’s shorthand.