This is the time of year when many publications and dictionaries pick the word or the phrase of the year, that term that entered the lexicon in 2011 and everyone is using by the end of the year.
If they're picking a phrase for northeast Ohio, Newton Falls native Mike Polk Jr. might have coined the winner with a late-season entry:
Factory of sadness.
The writer/comedian uses the phrase in ''A Browns Fan's Reaction to Today's Game Against Houston,'' a quickly made YouTube video where Polk expresses his frustrations - and the frustrations of so many Cleveland football fans - at watching the hapless Browns.
Between the original and the edited versions, the clip is approaching a million views in about a month, and several entrepreneurs are hawking T-shirts with different designs using the phrase.
Polk isn't cashing in, unless coming back to the Valley to perform two shows Saturday at the Funny Farm Comedy Club in Liberty qualifies.
''I'm filling in for Basile, who came to his senses,'' Polk said. ''They went to the bullpen, and I'm frighteningly available.''
Polk came up with the phrase ''factory of sadness'' to describe Cleveland Browns Stadium while watching the game at a bar in Lakewood with some friends.
''I kind of screamed it there, and it got a decent reaction from the bar,'' he said.
He went to the stadium that night and using a static, locked down shot, he let out all of his comedic rage in a highly quotable monologue - with a brilliant closing line.
''That (factory of sadness) was the only phrase I had in my head when I got there,'' Polk said. ''I just decided to rant.''
It was online a couple of hours later, and seeing all the likes and shares on his Facebook page, it was obvious the clip struck a nerve.
While the Browns and his current hometown take a beating in his videos (the two ''Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Videos'' each have been viewed more than 4 million times), Polk is just as hard on himself, at least in interviews.
When asked what the crowd can expect to hear at his 8:30 and 10:15 p.m. shows Saturday, Polk said, ''If they came to the last show, pretty much that. I don't write very often or very well, so don't expect me to come at you with a fresh new hour.''
The success of ''A Browns Fan's Reaction ...'' doesn't have Polk trying to come up with new variations on the routine. A company he used to work for pressed him to make a sequel to ''Spanish 101 Love Song,'' one of his early videos, and it wasn't a satisfying experience.
''A little part of you dies when you go to the well too many times,'' he said. ''I'm not above it. I'll sell out in a heartbeat if the price is right, but it's not creatively satisfying.''
In addition to the occasional standup appearance, Polk continues to perform with the sketch comedy troupe Last Call Cleveland (it has shows later this month at the Improv and in January at PlayhouseSquare's 14th Street Theatre). The group will have its first CD, ''Last Call Cleveland Put Its Music in You,'' available at those shows.
And Polk says he doesn't have aspirations to do more than what he's doing now.
''As far as performing comedy and whatnot, I just see it as a cool and interesting way to spend an evening,'' he said. ''It's better than going bowling.''
Andy Gray is the entertainment writer for the Tribune Chronicle. Write to him at grayareas@ tribtoday.com.