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The way Rob Lowe pronounces the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153literally\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on Parks and Recreation <\/i>is nothing short of magic. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like when people say nuke-u-ler<\/i> when they mean nuclear<\/i>; that just makes us stabby. When Chris Traeger says LIT-ruh-lee<\/i>, <\/i>it takes on great importance, underscoring just how excited he is about literally everything. (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Every time I cleanse, I can literally <\/i>feel the toxins leaving my body!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) So how did this signature word come to pass? We cornered Lowe during a recent visit to the Parks and Rec<\/i> set to demand his origin story.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think I just leaned into that word really hard a couple of times and it made [showrunner Mike Schur] laugh,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Lowe. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The next thing you know it just became one of Chris\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s things, but it was never designed that way. It was merely a word in a sentence. I think I just took a really big, probably very embarrassing swing at it and it stuck.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And did he know specifically what he had done differently? That, in fact, he was ignoring the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153e\u00e2\u20ac\u009d entirely? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s funny, I have no idea what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m doing when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m doing it \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very exciting to be so far down the road in this business and to finally have a catchphrase. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one thing I can tick off my career to-do list. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s as good as \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWhat’chu\u00c2\u00a0talkin’ ’bout,\u00c2\u00a0Willis,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s up there.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Lowe knows it’s made it into the lexicon because people won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop saying it to him. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They point at me and they say their full name. They say \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcLiterally!\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 They say \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcAnn Perkins!\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I dropped my son off at college back East this week and every person that came up to me, they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to talk about The West Wing<\/i> or Austin Powers<\/i> or Tommy Boy<\/i>. Every single one wanted to talk about Chris Traeger. I figured out who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s watching Parks <\/i>and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all in college. We own the campus.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Of course he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s become a bit sensitive about using the word when he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not in character. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I find myself going, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m telling you, that guy is li\u00e2\u20ac\u201d \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 absolutely<\/i> the worst person I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever seen.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve tried to banish it from my personal vocabulary for a while,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says. It seems to require some real effort. When we asked about his new Lifetime movie, this one about Casey Anthony<\/a>, Lowe said: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not what you expect. It is lit\u00e2\u20ac\u201d \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 did you see what I did there? Did you? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve developed a mid-life stutter!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Read more posts by Denise Martin<\/a><\/p>\n Filed Under:
\n rob lowe<\/a>
\n <\/strong>,parks and recreaton<\/a>
\n ,tv<\/a>
\n ,creation myths<\/a>\n <\/p>\n