“Aye aye aye” (often spelled “ay ay ay”) comes from Spanish “¡Ay, ay, ay!” – an exclamation expressing various strong emotions like frustration, pain, dismay, or sometimes even affection or admiration. The word “ay” itself is an ancient interjection found across many languages, likely stemming from a natural human vocal response to strong emotion. In Spanish, repeating it three times (”¡Ay, ay, ay!”) intensifies the expression and is even the basis of a popular Mexican song, Cielito Lindo. It can mean pain or distress as in “¡Ay, ay, ay! That hurts!”, frustration or exasperation when something goes wrong, sympathy when expressing concern for someone else’s troubles, admiration, and sometimes it can even be used playfully, like “¡Ay, ay, ay, qué guapo!” (Oh my, how handsome!). But mostly, it is used when one is generally overwhelmed and when situations feel too much to handle. The phrase has spread beyond Spanish-speaking communities and is now recognized internationally, often maintaining its emotional expressiveness even when used by non-Spanish speakers. It’s become a kind of universal exclamation for those moments when regular words don’t quite capture the feeling. In popular culture, it’s been featured in songs, movies, and everyday speech as a way to convey dramatic emotion – sometimes seriously, sometimes with a touch of humor or theatrical flair. That’s what makes it so appropriate at this moment in our vortex of pop culture, politics, business and life in these times as we know it.
Aye, aye, aye…..
This week, social media has been ablaze with several issues of note. Who hasn’t seen the CEO of Astronomer, Andy Byron get nailed at the Coldplay concert while he was canoodling with his head of HR, Kristin Cabot? Nothing to see here. If that isn’t an aye, aye, aye moment, I don’t know what is.
You all know that I have recently worked through my dropsy or edema issues. There is nothing particularly funny about all of that, but I have been pretty proud of how being up-front in addressing the issue, both with my doctors and family have resulted in so successfully solving the problem. No one much cares about the medical part of all of it, particularly the change in medication, but the compression socks seems worthy of almost everyone’s attention to some degree. It seems that most people have, for one reason or another, or at some time or another tried compression socks. Many say they wear them when they travel because they have heard stories of people who have gotten phlebitis during a flight, which can be a pretty serious issue. Deep vein thrombosis (or DVT) affects deeper veins, particularly in the lower legs, and is serious because blood clots can break loose and travel to the lungs, causing a potentially life-threatening pulmonary embolism. Everyone from my generation has the same impression of compression socks and they tend to get categorized along with walkers and Depends adult diapers as something you would rather not be associated with.
And then there is the issue of the state of President Trump’s health. There has been ongoing speculation started on social media, about bruises appearing on President Trump’s hands, particularly on the back of his right hand. Recent photos have shown those bruises, often covered with makeup that appears flesh-colored but doesn’t quite match his skin tone. This bruising has been photographed multiple times since 2024, including during meetings with world leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron. People suspect it has to do with a medical issue. On July 17, 2025, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the speculation, attributing the hand bruising to “minor soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin”. Leavitt stated that “President Trump is a man of the people and he meets more Americans and shakes their hands on a daily basis than any other President in history”. Nothing to see here. But according to medical sources, bruising is common among older people due to more fragile skin and blood vessels, affecting around 10 percent of people over 50 . Some doctors have suggested the bruising could be related to age, which can increase bruising tendencies. But the hand bruises weren’t the only health concern raised. Trump also experienced swelling in his lower legs, which led to comprehensive medical testing including vascular studies and ultrasounds.
The testing revealed chronic venous insufficiency, described as “a benign and common condition, particularly in individuals over the age of 70”. Nothing to see here. I just had those tests and came up clean (at age 71) and I don’t recall anyone saying it would have been benign if there was evidence of it. I also came up clean on my echocardiogram, verifying that I am not is some early stage of congestive heart disease. According to the recent White House health update, Trump also had an echocardiogram as part of his medical evaluation for the leg swelling concerns. Leavitt also stated that “an echocardiogram showed normal cardiac structure and function” and that all results from testing were “within normal limits”. Nothing to see here. This echocardiogram was performed as part of a comprehensive examination that included diagnostic vascular studies and bilateral lower extremity doppler ultrasounds after Trump noted mild swelling in his lower legs. The echocardiogram specifically checked his heart function as part of evaluating the leg swelling, since heart problems can sometimes cause fluid retention and swelling in the legs. The normal results helped rule out cardiac causes for his symptoms. The White House maintains that “the president remains in excellent health” despite the visible bruising and edema-prone ankles. Nothing to see here.
But what about compression socks? There is no way his doctors didn’t tell him he should wear compression socks, as mine did. Mine told me it was actually quite important to do so to keep the swelling under control and so it did not cause damage (or further damage in his case) to those veins and arteries and result in open sores like I started to get. I only had to hear that once and I have worn Newzill compression socks every single waking moment since over the past month. I plan to wear compression socks every day for the rest of my life. I happen to like the way these Newzill’s feel and, more importantly, how they make my leg muscles feel, which is energized. But it is being speculated that Donald Trump is too concerned about his image to concede that he needs to or should wear compression socks. Nothing to see there. There is no real evidence of that, but it would follow form for him to do that. I, for one, am happy to herald that wonder of haberdashery and modern science to any who will listen.
The other Aye, Aye, Aye moment in social media is the Epstein 50th birthday note album put togerther by Gislaine Maxwell in 2003 to which the Wall Street Journal has reported that Trump preferred a personalized note with incriminating text (sexual predilections and secrets) and a bawdy drawing of a naked woman with her public hair portrayed as Trump’s signature. Pretty questionable stuff, especially to the evangelical portion of the Trump base and the QAnon crowd looking for cannibalistic pedophiliacs around every corner. Trump, who supposedly lobbied the Wall Street Journal, straight up to the editor-in-chief and Rupert the publisher, has further highlighted the issue by filing a $10 billion defamation case against the Journal and Murdoch, attempting to deny that the note was written by him. He is disclaiming use of the word “enigma” in the text (a term he is on camera having used to describe Ben Carson) and disclaiming that he never draws, despite have a long established history of donating his drawings for charity auctions. Nothing to see here. Everything he is doing is digging the Epstein hole deeper for himself, just like every day he chooses to not wear compression socks is also a deeper edema pit he is digging for himself.
Aye, aye, aye!