that's what she's been saying when the sayings were said

"That's what she said."

Four words. That's all it takes to encapsulate the very meaning of man. This combination of words reflects the eternal struggle to feed our internal child as he tries, desperately, to free himself from the shackles of a man-suit thrust upon him by the ravages of puberty. Granted, the bonds can be slackened somewhat by a state of inebriation, or at least the inclination towards a state of inebriation so often found upon college campuses, but he can never be completely free. 

So powerful are these words that they have transformed, over time, from a reference to the person responsible for uttering a statement and into a mantra, a battlecry for the youth-lusting, beer-slinging, Y chromosome-bearing masses. 

Plus it's hilarious as shit.

The evolution of the words took time, though, as any evolution does. At first, the phrase was harmless enough:

A: The house looks like it needs some tidying up.

B: Yes, yes. That's what she said. 

A: Annabel?

B: Yes, quite.

A: Mm, so she concurs. 

B: Indubitably, old chap. 

Besides being British for no apparent reason, the phrase is very straightforward. Annabel had said, at an earlier time, that the house needs tidying up, which person A later unknowingly reiterated and which person B thought prudent to point out. 

Eventually, though, the phrase took on sexual connotations, but was still only applied to very sexual contexts:

A: Man, I want to have a crazy night of sexual activity.

B: That's what she said!

A: Oh man, that was so clever - let's make out. 

At first, it was just a gimmick - another way to mix up an already impressive repertoire of ways to demean women and talk about sex and penis size. It was thrown into a conversation once in a while, but only taken out and dusted off when "I'd insert my Slippy Frog into her Cantankerous Clam, if ya know what I mean" got old. 

But nobody was prepared for the revolution. 

As fraternities and beer kegs gathered more attention in entertainment, so did "That's what she said," though at the same time, the "I'd insert [this] into [that]" schtick was still childish comedy gold. 

And then, Michael Scott started using the phrase on the show "The Office." This was the extra push the phrase needed to burst into mainstream culture. 

Now, not only is it everywhere, it applies to everything. Everything can be considered sexual. Out of these three examples, which ones might people say "That's what she said" to? 

1. Ew, this meat's really greasy.

2. I think I'm gonna gag.

3. I rather like socks. 

The answer, of course, is all three, and then some. 

And amazingly enough, the insemination of the phrase into popular culture has done little to dilute its effect. It is still everywhere - so much so that it, as I stated in the beginning, encompasses, nay - justifies - the fraternizing male with a few brewskies in his stomach and a lack of shame and dignity. 

And it doesn't stop there. Over the past couple years, it's been steadily seeping out of the confines of the keg and into, dare I say it, the female realm. Even women are now slapping the phrase upon implicitly sexual statements. 

Will there ever be an end to this phrase? Perhaps it'll just wither away like other trends. Or perhaps, with even more time, it'll grow into something too big for us to handle. 

...And yea, that's what she said.