The Nothin' Trilogy

The Nothin' Trilogy. You've read about it under other names in such places as the funny pages (think Family Circus) and if you've been in charge of boys for any length of time, you've experienced this phenomenon in person. This trilogy consists of the three phrases: Nothin', Who me?, and I dun know.

For example, if you hear suspicious noises, or no noise at all (even more ominous), coming from a group of boys just out of eyesight, and you ask them, "What are you up to?", you are going to get one or more of the trilogy responses (usually with a look of wide eyed innocence and/or the shoulder shrug).

The Not Me Trilogy is directly related to the Nothin' Trilogy . The Not Me Trilogy responses are: Not me!, I dun know, and Whut? used to answer the question "Who did that?"

These customs are not confined to one region of the country or one socioeconomic group. I have heard the trilogies used across the country by totally unrelated groups of kids and the responses never varied. No matter what accent a kid normally uses, when responding "I don't know", it's pronounced "I dun know." and “What?” becomes “Whut?”

Age is not a common factor either. 4 or 24, it doesn't really matter. My own nephews vary in age by at least 20 years and they were all proficient in Nothin’ and Not Me trilogeze. I have even heard adults use one or more of the six responses to deflect questions from bosses and spouses.

I, myself, would never use one of these colloquial phrases to respond to a a serious inquiry. Nope. Not me.