Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood likes to say "look-it."

A former Republican congressman hailing from Peoria, Ill., LaHood was asked about his use of the colloquialism by a transportation beat reporter during a recent Twitter Q&A. In the YouTube series, "On the Go with Ray LaHood," the Transportation secretary fields questions and answers them to camera.

Asked by Politico's Adam Snider how many times he's said "look-it" during his four years in office, here's what LaHood had to say for himself (skip to 5:43):

Look-it, Adam, I like the term 'look-it,' because it gives me the comfort level to look at answers when I'm trying to answer your questions, and the short answer is, look-it, I don't know how many times I have said look-it when answering your look-it questions that you have asked me during the time that you've covered me. But look-it, I look forward to many more opportunities to answer your questions by starting out with, 'Look-it.' Look-it, this is not the last on-the-go opportunity for all of those of you who have asked me questions, and I hope that you will continue to send your questions in, and we will look forward to looking at your questions as we begin answering them with 'look-it.'

For the uninitiated, "look-it" ( v. intrans.) is a country-ish vernacularism that may or may not have arisen as a contraction of "look at it." Saying "look-it" is akin to saying "look." Often heard as, "Now look-it," as in, "look here."