I often wonder when, where and how an expression originated. I don’t recall EVER hearing the following idioms, phrases or collection of words when I was growing up. Someone along the way first uttered the following phrases. I confess I don’t like them.
- “don’t go there” HUH?! What in the world does that mean?! Granted, I was an English major until my senior year of college when I switched to nursing (that’s a story printed in another place) and I want precise language. Do you mean “let’s not discuss that topic”? Did you really mean to say “that’s just too painful to talk about”?! Who first said “don’t go there”? Was it Clint Easwood right after he uttered “go ahead…make my day”! (Now THAT one I like.)
- Let “unpack” this chapter, this information, etc. The pastor said it in the sermon just this morning. Who first came up with this?! Do you mean let’s research this further…let’s seriously delve into it…let’s look at this in depth? I’m sure a seasoned college professor has also uttered this word. Hmmm…. Don’t like this one.
- “Have a good one”. Oh, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve held my tongue. I so want to reply, “have a good what?!”. I don’t though. Wouldn’t it be just as easy to substitute DAY for ONE? Not fond of this one either.
- “These ones”. Oh, please! You may as well scratch the blackboard with an ear-piercing screech as utter these two words together! It is “these” NOT “these ones”. I first heard this combination of words together all over the Pacific Northwest until I finally asked someone if they had been taught that in school. Apparently not, thank goodness.
The above are just a few…I’m sure there are many, many more!
Phraseology (photo above) might be an interesting book to check out from the library…
On a deeper note…
Language is a tool – a potentially beautiful tool – one we can skillfully, or not so skillfully, use to communicate. With words, we have the ability to express our deepest feelings…or superficially hide them from the world. Words can bless. Words can heal. Words can wound and hurt beyond all measure. Words can bring the deepest joy and greatest happiness. I have uttered words that I immediately wished I could retrieve…so have you. Words have power. We must choose wisely…
10 Comments
Janet
I completely empathize with you, Dianne! I have lots of pet peeves when it comes to language usage, but I’m especially annoyed by how the kids talk–which I hear a lot, since my daughter is thirteen. (And, I know, this admission clearly puts me in the “old fogey” camp to some.) Here are a couple that I would put into the fingernails-on-chalkboard catagory: (1) Calling everyone “dude,” even girls. My daughter and her friends do this all the time, and it drives me nuts! (2) Using the word “like” instead of “said,” “replied,” “asked,” etc., as in “I’m like, ‘Dude, get over here!’ and she’s like, “What’s goin’ on?'” Aarrrgh!
But I get some satisfaction by inserting into everyday conversation some words or phrases that my daughter doesn’t know, thereby subtly expanding her vocabulary. For example, she had a friend spend the night last night, but she still had to wash the dishes (which is her daily responsibility). I had reminded her at one point, but she hadn’t done them yet. So I went downstairs where she and her friend were playing a video game and said, “You need to do the dishes posthaste! That means right away without delay.” Her friend thought that was funny and said, “Hey that rhymes!”
Okay, I’m going to add a third item–the incorporation of “textspeak” into verbal conversation. Most people know that “lol” means “laughing out loud”. The purpose of using “lol” is because whoever is reading what you’ve written can’t hear you laughing. But now the kids use “lol” when they talk to each other in person, e.g. “Oh, wow! Lol!” I mean, instead of simply laughing, they are saying “Lol!” And the irony of this is totally lost on them!!
Dianne
I totally agree with you about the words that irk you as well! “Like” and “Dude” are particularly annoying! I was trying to remember if we had any “expressions” in high school. I honestly cannot remember any, but there must have been some! 😉 Mama will probably remind me when I get to Heaven!
Janet
Well, I know that when I was in my teens it was common to refer to everyone, including girls, as “guys,” as in “Hey, you guys, come over here!” It wasn’t until I was a little older that I thought about this and realized how silly it was to call girls “guys.” Other than that, there weren’t a lot of weird expressions that we used. I never felt compelled to use the latest lingo to be cool or to set myself apart from my parents’ generation.
Karen
This is thought provoking, Dianne. We get so used to certain phrases that are the current slang and catch words of the day. I think this has been true throughout history. I can’t imagine speaking the way Shakespeare did or Mark Twain in his literary masterpieces. There are many dialects and phrases linked to certain regions that identify people’s and customs, such as calling girls, ‘Gals’ and ‘Y’all”. I suppose if we tried to clean up all of language we would lose some of these affectionate terms. I grew up in New England and there were many distinctions of language that identified my region and gave me a sense of place. I suppose we have to be tolerant of these slangs and sayings, as they will soon be replaced by others. I particularly love the ‘Hee-Haw’ in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. Tweaking language to fit the times and regions is something we will just have to tolerate, unfortunately, but it doesn’t mean we have to join in. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say ‘these ones’, here. It must have been an Oregonian slang. I can’t imagine what that means. It makes me laugh, though! xoxo
Janet
As you say, Karen, this is thought provoking, and we could probably write a book on it! (Someone likely already has.) I differentiate between regionalisms and general slang. Regionalisms and dialects say something about a people and their history. I find those to be charming rather than annoying. My parents have lived their entire lives in the same area of rural Indiana, and they still use a few words and phrases that I would classify as regionalisms. (I should probably insert here that, like Dianne, I studied English in college, so I have more of an interest in this than some people.) For example, my 91-year-old dad will say “yester d’evening” as a contraction of “yesterday evening.” I’m sure he heard this from people around him as he was growing up, so he uses it without even thinking about it.
However, slang as we now know it is not like that. Ever since television became widespread, our language and accents have become much more homogeneous. For example, tune in to any local news broadcast anywhere in the U. S. and you won’t be able to tell what part of the country it’s coming from, based on how the “talking heads” speak. They all sound alike! When I was much younger, people made fun of the “Valley Girl” way of speaking. Now, half of all teenage girls talk this way in all fifty states, not just California. And teen slang, likewise, has nothing to do with where you live. In fact, the absolute most annoying thing about teen slang these days is the fact that so much of it originates with the inner-city gang culture. It’s both disturbing and comical to hear rural Midwestern adolescents say, “Yo, bro!” The problem is that the source of teen slang is the entertainment media–TV, movies, and music–which don’t exactly set a high bar for language usage. In fact, a lot of it is just garbage.
Okay, so I should just get my own blog, right? Sorry for the long post!
Dianne
I’m loving this discussion! Karen and Janet, you two have so much in common (in life) and would love getting to know one another. Obviously, each of you has a wonderful command of the English language as well. I agree with the comments that you have each made. With the examples I gave, it is a question as to where these expressions originated and how they have been inserted into the fabric of our lives. When I was an English major at what is now the University of Memphis (many years ago), there was a whole course on colloquialisms. I’ve taught my grandchildren that some of the expressions that I use are Southern colloquialisms! I love the scene in the movie “Sarah, Plain and Tall” where she explains the meaning of the Maine expression “aye-yup”! As far as “these ones” in Oregon, I think the people using it just weren’t paying attention in grammar class! 😉
Janet
Dianne, when I was in college, I took a course in folklore. One of the things that our professor said qualified as folklore was language, particularly regionalisms. This same professor once spoke at a women’s meeting that my mother attended. She told me that he asked the women what words they used for certain things. By their answers, he could tell where they grew up. If I remember correctly, one was the word used for a dragonfly, and my mother volunteered the word “snakefeeder,” which was apparently commonly used in the past in our area. She found the discussion very interesting.
My mother has her own colorful expressions that I have heard her use over the years. I wish now that I had made a comprehensive list of those expressions, but who thinks of those things when you’re young? One of them is “side foddling” (I don’t even know if I’m spelling that right!). It means askew or leaning to one side, as in “She walked side foddling because she twisted her ankle.”
Janet
After writing the comment above, I e-mailed both my brother and sister asking for any of these colorful expressions they can remember my mom using. My brother wrote back and said he thinks the word she was using that I referenced was “sifoddle” instead of “side foddle.” He may be right, but I’ve searched in online dictionaries and idiom dictionaries and can’t find anything like this word. So I still don’t really know how the word is spelled or how it may have originated.
Dianne
Janet, I have never heard that expression. I think it may be a Midwestern one. There are plenty of Southern phrases that I know and love…and while I may not use them all the time, I get homesick if and when I hear them!
Susan Thompson
We just had a day long discussion on the word sifoddled. I used it and he had never heard it before. He continued to ask everyone at church and pretty much anyone we saw all day if they had heard of it. No one had, but my mom uses it all the time and I remember my Grandma using it as well!