Heavens to Betsy! We’re in like Flynn
LANGUAGE: I may drive a big truck, but I enjoy getting older while remembering the good old days
Relaxation. A word that has a different meaning to almost anyone you talk to.
To some it means sports; others a trip to the pub to shoot pool; and to still others it means driving a fun vehicle on a deserted road. To me, it means spending time on the keyboard. I like to write. I enjoy the way our language is put together, and how words mean so many different things depending on how they are put to paper.
‘Lexophile’ describes people like me. Playing with words, such as ‘write with a broken pencil is pointless,’ ‘no matter how much you push the envelope, it’s still stationery, ‘I didn’t care for my moustache at first, but it grew on me,’ and ‘that was when I stayed up all night to see where the sun went, and then it dawned on me.’
I could go on and on with these little fun items, because I thought I had a photographic memory but it has never been fully developed.
‘Paraprosdokian’ is another fun word thing I play around with. It’s a figure of speech in which the sentence is totally unexpected. ‘Where there’s a will, I want to be in it.’ ‘Since light travels faster than sound, some folks appear bright until you hear them speak.’ ‘I used to be indecisive, but now, I’m not too sure.’
And my personal all-time favourite: ‘I’m not arguing with you … I am just explaining why you are wrong.’
Another whimsical aspect of the English language is an oxymoron. It proves the point that anyone who can read, write or speak the language is no dummy. What am I talking about? Why in English does ‘slow down’ and ‘slow up’ mean the same thing? Isn’t ‘after dark’ really ‘after light?’ And the one I love to work into a conversation is ‘if all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?’
Mergatroyd. Ever heard that word before? Ever used it? The spellcheck on my phone or this computer doesn’t recognize it. ‘Heavens to Mergatroyd.’ Recognize it now?
In the same train of thought, I was once asked why I love to own and drive old ‘jalopies.’
Gotcha again? These are just lost words. Words that were part of everyday conversation when I was a kid, and now I look like I’m ready for the funny farm if I throw them in a conversation. I still do sometimes, just to see the reaction from young folks. Some pretend they know what I just said, but others blurt out a ‘say what?’
You’re heard many of these such as ‘Heavens to Betsy!’ ‘Gee Willikers!’ ‘Jumping Jehoshaphat!’ ‘Holy Moley!’ Or ‘We’re in like Flynn’, or ‘living the life of Riley’. Ever been accused of being a knucklehead, a nincompoop or just a pill? Back in the olden days, when I was a preteen, life used to be ‘swell,’ and that was about the same time I was a ‘monkey’s uncle,’ and found out ‘I was in a fine kettle of fish.’
The words and phrases of our youth are no more. We blink and they’re gone. See you in the funny papers. Don’t take any wooden nickels. Wake up and smell the roses.
Yep. I enjoy the English language. Yesterday’s and today’s version. I may drive a big truck, but I enjoy getting older and remembering when.
I must admit I still have no answer as to where Superman will ever find a phone booth in today’s crazy world. I guess I’m starting to sound like a broken record (or is that vinyl in today’s lingo?).
I could fill a newspaper with stories about life on the road, but why not share yours? Send them to Driving editor Andrew McCredie at amccredie@postmedia.com