Ryan Lochte Should "Just Say No" to 'Jeah'

Where there is a grill and a pending ‘Jeah’ trademark, there will be headlines, especially when a newly crowned Olympian brings the buzz. So here goes Ryan Lochte, fresh from the London medal bounty to a pop culture low. Glimmeringly clear, the diamond-encrusted mouthware and bound for nowhere expression ‘Jeah’ have his feet fast track-planted for Ghetto Fab Gold.  

During the Olympic hoopla, I caught an up close and personal glimpse of the mildly cocky American swimmer who easily qualifies as a ‘to die for’ female catch. Yet, his mannerisms hinted the possibility of a hipster wannabe lurking beneath the buffed bod. The suburbanite's imitation of urban swag is all too common so Lochte’s sneakers and grills fandom, well, uh, no biggie. Grills, really? That’s so 2006. Ask Nelly who popularized the rap tune 'Grillz' if you don’t know.                  

However, it was Lochte’s idea to trademark the catchphrase that put many on pause. One Twitter user went Reaganesque, likely leading the ‘Just Say No’ to ‘Jeah’ chorus of Lochte’s English teachers. Even 90s rapper MC Eiht surfaced to claim first dibs on the term’s coinage.

Should we care about the swimmer’s grammatical lane violation or let it ride as part of his fun-loving nature? Although Lochte isn’t the first and won’t be the last, adding to the litany of communication crippling trash to which today's youth are overexposed doesn’t exactly yield role model credibility. Instead, if Lochte says ‘jeah’ to anything, let it be to a branding consultant. ‘JEAH’!