The first time Jodie Sweetin ever said “how rude” on national television was in the 13th episode of Full House, which aired one week before her sixth birthday, in January 1988. 

In the episode, called “Sisterly Love” (which could really be the title of any Full House episode at any time), Sweetin’s spaz-cadet alter ego Stephanie Tanner beats out her big sister DJ for a role on a cereal commercial. She is clearly the cutest kid for the part (That lisp! Those spiral curls! The comic timing of a borscht belt veteran!) but her victory turns into D.J.’s dark night of the soul. For the rest of the episode, D.J.—a weepy Candace Cameron Bure, vying for a Junior Emmy—visits every room of the house to vent to a different male guardian about the many injustices in the world. After earning herself no less than three Very Heartfelt Speeches about handling loss with grace and at least two Healing Group Hugs for her labors, D.J. goes to Stephanie to concede. Lil’ Steph, however, has already taken the high road. She is on the phone with the cereal company, haughtily rescinding her offer for child stardom. When the adult on the other end of the line hangs up (because what else do you do when a five-year-old calls asking for “Mr. Oat Boat?”), Sweetin milks the offense for comedy. She bleats “hello? hellooooo?” into the shiny red receiver until she has wrung every last chortle out of the laugh track, and then, slamming the phone down, hits paydirt: how rude

It was a throwaway line in the scene, a quick beat to get from here to there. But Sweetin delivered it with such withering disdain, such irrepressible panache, that she sealed her own fate. For as long as she lives, Jodie Sweetin will hear those two words wherever she goes. Someone horrible will probably find a way to work them into her obituary. How rude, indeed.