Same here ;-)

We use "Same here" every day - spares us the agony of repeating the other person's mannerisms or words all over again. We preserve our energy. Its almost like using a pronoun instead of a noun.

View this: Mohan had to go to Mohan's friend Sohan's birthday for which Mohan decided to buy Mohan's friend Sohan a beautiful umbrella!! [err... umbrella because I could not think of a better gift... brain jam, you know]. Anyone who has been to elementary English classes would know that use of pronouns would improve this sentence.

Now, view this: The use of "same here" or "same pinch" or "same to you" goes on similar lines. We wish someone Happy New Year and he/she replies... "Same to you". Yeah, right, it would have taken much more energy to say.. "Wish you too a lovely new year ahead" :-)

So, energy conservation is the order of the day. Personally I never liked "Same pinch". Oh come on why the hell would you want to pinch me only because I tried to wear a colorful shirt today and as luck would have it, you happened to wear the same color!! Then there would be a "New pinch"... why coz. I had made the mistake of wearing a new shirt as the old shirt was stinking already. I mean - Do you want me to stink even more by continuing with the same damned faded old shirt? :-D And not to mention -- "Ooh it hurts!" During the school days, people used to look for opportunities for "Same pinch" and "New pinch". If the opportunity was to pinch the guy who had complained about me to the teacher a week back, NOTHING LIKE IT!!! :-P :-P :-D

[don't think I did it... :-P :-D]

Now, back to the topic "Same here"... imagine the following conversation between two people...

A: How are you?

B: Good and you?

A: Same here.

B: You know something, I watched the movie "Gili gili foo" yesterday and absolutely loved it.

A: Same here. Lets go to the nearest coffee joint and sit and discuss. Need some coffee... had a hectic day today.

B: Yeah... same here.

A: Arreh I did not notice you are wearing the kurta I gave you on your last birthday!! New pinch!! **pinches B hard**

B (almost numb with the pain inflicted by now): Ahh.. yeah.. hmm.. ok..

Now... why do we need a same here, here? We could replace Same here with say, alpha. Only Oxford dictionary would need to define Alpha as :

Alpha(n/v): Implies 'same here'. When a person notices his emotional state or dress or belonging is same as the person to whom he or she is speaking. So, the same conversation would now look like:

A: How are you?

B: Good and you?

A: Alpha.

B: You know something, I watched the movie "Gili gili foo" yesterday and absolutely loved it.

A: Alpha. Lets go to the nearest coffee joint and sit and discuss. Need some coffee... had a hectic day today.

B: Yeah... Alpha.

A: Arreh I did not notice you are wearing the kurta I gave you on your last birthday!! New pinch!! **pinches B hard**

B (almost numb with the pain inflicted by now): Ahh.. yeah.. hmm.. ok..

However, in the good old days of 20th Century, when "same here" had not been invented (in all probability), the conversation would have gone in the following manner:

A: How are you, B?

B: I am doing good. How about you?

A: Yeah, I am doing all right too.

B: You know something, I watched the movie "Gili gili foo" yesterday and absolutely loved it.

A: Yes, "Gili gili foo" has a wonderful story. The acting and direction were simply top class. Lets go to the nearest coffee joint and sit and discuss. I badly need some coffee... had a hectic day today.

B: Yeah... it is terrible these days. The work pressure gets onto you and often, you find it difficult to handle.

A: Oh I had not noticed before. That's a new Kurta that you are wearing tonight. And how lovely! Is it not the one I had gifted you on your last birthday?

B: (with a mild smile) Yes, it is..

PS. The movie "Gili gili foo" does not have anything to do with Adam Gilchrist's retirement from Australian International Cricket! :-D

PPS. Let me tell you a secret. Someone once wished me "Happy Birthday" and I replied "Same to you" in the flow, although it was not his birthday that day! :-)

Note: If you thought this was an entirely useless post, well, you are not alone, I too think on similar lines. In fact, "Same here". :-D