“Heh. Indeed.” A love-hate relationship.

Heh.  Indeed.

A classic blogging construction, oft put down in jest, which is owed to the Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds (I never read him).  And yet it makes me feel strange, because one of the words is among my most favorite and the other is one of my worst pet peeves.

We’ll give you the bad news first.  Heh.  I hate heh.  I usually tell people this whenever they use it, and most people are polite enough to stop using it when I tell them.

Why do I hate it?

It’s patronizing and more than a little rude.  Basically what it’s saying when someone uses it online is “what you said is supposed to be funny, I understand that, but it really wasn’t and I have nothing worth saying about it.”  Am I wrong?  And that sentiment just seems rude.  I much prefer “hehe” or “hee” or just “yeah.”

Indeed, on the other hand.  Indeed.  I’ve loved this word for a long time.  One of the greats in the pantheon of television, Mr. Spock, had this as his catchphrase.  All you need to do is raise one eyebrow and say this word and you are the most logical and cool, calm, collected dude there ever was.  I thought Spock made this word as awesome as it could be.

Then, Omar started using it.  Omar Little, the character from The Wire is even more cool, calm, and collected, and when he says indeed you take notice.  He is another member of the pantheon, but he doesn’t say it anything like Spock did in my youth.  He says “Oh, In-DayEEED” in that Ballmorr accent.  So awesome.

So, my least favorite word and my favorite word are paired up on the internet.  These things happen.  What words are on your list of pet peeves or must-haves and why?