Expressions are dated, but still in use
I was talking to my son Daniel about college life and I said: “Enjoy the life of Riley while you can.” Then he asked: “Who’s Riley?” Holy mackerel!, I thought. I don’t actually know who Riley was — it’s an expression my Dad used decades ago that I somehow borrowed. In fact, I don’t know where my “Holy mackerel!” came from either.
Expressions and words come and go over time and some of mine are aging. I still find myself murmuring things like “a penny saved is yada yada ...” though the penny is long gone.
I say stuff like “he’s really dialed in” — though the dial went out with those old black phones and today people aren’t even “plugged in,” or “wired in” anymore. They’re connected, or networked or maybe Wi-Fi-ed, or Bluetoothed ... or whatever.
I can still get away with saying: “She’s a carbon copy of her mother” but it won’t mean anything in a few more years. You’ll just say “she’s a dupe” or a clone or a DNA replication — and a carbon copy will be carbon-dated.
There are other sayings I recall from my parents or grandparents — leftover ghost expressions that don’t mean anything to me.
“Heavens to Betsy” — who was Betsy? Or “Heavens to Murgatroyd” — is anyone still named that? Were they ever?
Jacques Parizeau used to regularly exclaim “Jumping Jehoshaphat!” — but some of you under-30s may be asking: “Who is Jacques Parizeau?”
Sorry if I’m going on like a broken record! — er ... like a tape on rewind. Actually, nowadays they say: “Sorry if I’m stuck on repeat.”
Hey man!, yo dude! and chill, bro’ all had their day.
But some sayings are as steady as Eddie. For instance: “Give him and inch and he’ll take a mile” still hasn’t been converted to “Give him a centimetre and he’ll take a kilometre.”
But people are no longer as “cool as a cucumber,” or “hot as a tomato,” or as fine as the “bee’s knees” or the “cat’s meow.”
Many expressions change every decade as they become outdated.
In the ’50s, you had a “conniption fit,” in the ’60s, you “freaked out” and in the ’70s, you got “psyched out.”
By the ’80s, you just “checked out” — and now you “zone out.”
In the ’60s, good things were “far out,” or “copacetic” but in the ’70s they became “groovy.” Now groovy sounds so-o-o 20th century. In fact, saying anything is “so-o-o 20th century” sounds so-o-o 20th century.
Better to say: “That’s very 2012” — at least until next year.
Somehow, it’s still cool to say “cool!” after centuries of using that word — though sweet is sweeter, chill is chiller and sick is definitely sicker.
Some words get terminated when the changing values of our era finally catch up with them.
Housemaids became domestic workers, hookers are now sex workers, your maiden name is now your birth name and your mailman is a mail carrier ... oops, postal worker.
I am no longer bald — I’m follicly challenged.
Sometimes things change very fast for everyone and their brother ... er, sibling. So others make fun of our PC tendencies when we go overboard — but what’s’ “overboard?”
One online list offers some clever politically correct alternatives for many words, like: Lumberjack = tree murderer. Tall = vertically enhanced. Clumsy = uniquely challenged. Worst = least best. Alive = temporarily metabolically abled.
Vice Magazine recently suggested that LGBT might soon have to become more inclusive, enlarged to LGBTQIPO — and someday that may include all the letters in the alphabet.
But Great Scott! and gee willikers — when it comes to changing expressions, don’t bet the farm on what will happen before pigs can fly and chickens come home to roost.
Speak of the devil, even street names can become linguistic ghosts. How many of you native Montrealers still say Gene Manse and Esplan-aid? If so, you’re probably an anglo born before 1980.
If you say St. Lawrence St., or St. James St. then you go back further. If it’s St. Dennis or Pie Nine — or especially Burnside — then you’ve really been around the block.
In fact, you might even be dead, or as they’ll call “dead” in the future: “Living impaired.”
How many of you still tell the cab driver you want to go to University Street, instead of RobertBourassa Boulevard? That’s a street change that’s quickly dating even young Montrealers.
Anglos of all ages still pronounce it “Pine Avenue” not the French “Avenue Pahn.”
But I’ve met many U.S. freshmen at McGill who pronounce it as “Pins” (in English) — like it is spelled on our street signs.
For now, rest assured that Guy St. does not have to be pronounced “Ghee” and it’s still fine to say Atwater — not “À l’Eau.” And I say mercy buckets to that.
Sorry, gotta split. Time to bounce. 23 skidoo.