I used to have a daily ritual with an awesome co-worker, ages ago.  We used to come up with a "word of the day", which had to be something most people didn't know the definition of and you had to use it in a conversation at some point that day.

My word of today is actually two words.  Two words that are blatantly stolen from my favorite blog "Creating Passionate Users".  

My word of the day is "hmmm.... how interesting"

"It should be the first thing out of your mouth when things go wrong--or don't meet your   expectations--because:

1) It inserts a pause and gives you a moment to THINK before you react.

2) It keeps you from taking things too personally.
If someone calls you an idiot (or worse) saying "hmmm...how interesting..." changes your reaction from purely emotional to more curious and detached.

3) It helps you ask more questions instead of jump to conclusions.
With horses, the main goal of the "how interesting" technique is to keep you from losing patience and blaming the horse. If you say "how interesting," it helps you explore reasons, including what your own role in this might be. It makes problems feel more like puzzles."

Imagine how much better off you'd be if you said "hmmm... how interesting" after one of your kids cuts your brand new camera charger or after your new puppy eats the kids snack once again.  Or how about after your cable TV gets turned off because you haven't paid the bill?

Hmmmm.... interesting, right?