For someone who is interested in learning where words come from, and the drift of language in general, I have a pretty low tolerance for new slang and new usage. Unfair of me, I know. I think what bothers me is both the way it spreads through the media, and also the celebration of certain cultures implicit in the spread. All of a sudden everyone is using the same little catch phrase. "Hunkered down" was the phrase I heard flying from one media spokesperson's lips to another's in the middle of the first Gulf War. There were probably a hundred ways to describe the situation of the Iraqi opposition in the desert then, but hunkered down was the way it was described by everyone. "Referenced" is a way people never used to refer to, well, referring to something, but now you hear it every day. I actually don't know exactly what people mean by the word, but I'm pretty sure it just means, "I looked that up." But a little fancier looking up than used to happen.
Lately, I seem to hear "drilled down" a lot. As in Hilary Clinton "really drilled down into such detail", or "Susan Rice should have drilled down" into the details of Benghazi. I suppose it struck me that what sounds like such a masculine, tough guy phrase was used of these two women. I also find it somewhat ironic that there is such a resonance of the Republican battle cry, "Drill, baby, drill!" in the verb.
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I was surprised to find that the current usage has more to do with information technology worship than oil drilling. Our more general use of the term 'drill down' comes from IT lingo meaning to mouse click down through several levels of folders to a specific file or bit of data you're looking for. As the Urban Dictionary amusingly tells us,
The term is often used during instruction by hip sounding computer techs and quasi- computer instructors at computer program workshops. The term is especially popular amongst university types.
I was happy to find that there is a more geeky use of "drill down" from the same source--band geeky, that is.
I was in band in high school, so this is more my type of crew. Although I have to admit that it was about all I could do to play an instrument and march at the same time.
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Just stumbled on your blog. Dentists would love this post, methinks.
ReplyDeleteGood point, ATL. Although they might resent not getting a picture of their art.
ReplyDeleteGlad you happened along.
Needless to say, I think about this sort of thing all the time, not least because no day will pass without some reporter using "reference" as a verb or someone referring to his or her "team" of investigators collegaues or what have you, or without some barista asking me not "How are you?" or "Will you some coffee?" but rather "How are you today?" or "Will you have some coffee today?", as if they'd learned their vocabulary behing the counter at McDonald's.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure current jargon is any stupider than its predecessors, but it sure does seem to spread faster. The most annoying current example is the infection of writing with the phrase "reach out." I wonder if the young or feeble writers who use this when they could be writing "call," "write to," or "ask" know that I first became aware of the phrase thanks to a sentimental advertising slogan for the phone company.
I think we are of like minds about this particular issue, Peter. I don't mind that today thing so much, though. In fact, I had a funny experience the other day. I went out to my usual family owned Chinese place for lunch and when asked whether I wanted the pickled cabbage, I said "Not today." I've said the same thing many times before, but the youngest daughter was working, who doesn't really know me that well. She looked perplexed. She said, People say that to me sometimes and I don't understand why they say "not today, I mean, I eat it all the time" And it was hard to respond to that, because sometimes "Not today" means not now, not ever, and sometimes it means what it says. Which was my case. Sometimes I want it, sometimes I don't. But that's hard to understand for someone who just has it as a matter of course.
ReplyDelete"Not today" is an unexceptionable reply from someone who often orders a certain dish but chooses not to do so on a given day. The girl's puzzlement stemmed from a lack of context; not knowing that the order was a change from your custom, she figured you could as well have said, "No, thank you."
ReplyDeleteBut the "todays" I complained about are by now stretch of the imagination necessary, and they are inevitably uttered with the cheesy, pasted-on smile of a McDonald's emplo-- excuse me, of a McDonald's crew member, though for all I know McDonald's calls it "crews" "teams" these days.
I always wanted to, and maybe I even did once or twice, when asked "Would you like fries today?" reply "No, I'd like fries tomorrow. Today I'll just have what I ordered."
Here's one that I once regarded as affected, and still do, to some extent, but have grown reconciled to: "Thank you so much" rather than "Thanks a lot" of "Thank you very much."
ReplyDeleteSeana, Peter,
ReplyDeleteWell I may be the only one here who actually worked at McDonalds (for a year when I was in law school). What I remember of that time was the managers always trying to get us to get people to buy drinks and fries because thats where McDonalds makes their money. (Those 99c burgers are actually a loss leader I believe.) So I was always having to ask people if they wanted a drink with that no matter what they ordered. For one memorable month I had to ask people if they "wanted a shake with that". This was the sarcastic middle of England (Coventry) so a large % of men offered me their hand and thought this was the comic move of the century.
What I'm saying is that the people who work at McDonalds might be perfectly aware that what they are saying is absurd but its what they have been instructed to do.
Adrian, I read years ago that fries were McDonald's moneymaker. And I guessed some time ago that there might be a fair bit of sarcasm behind the overemphasized today questions of just the type you suggest. But I also think the response has become to extent ingrained in a generation of people who grew up hearing it, a generation of corporate kids as comfortable surrendering privacy and intellectual property rights to Facebook as they are letting McDonald's slogans infiltrate their everyday speech.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if "today" was a part of the McDonald's-mandated sales pitch and, if so, any employees--oops, I meant crew members--were every fired for asking "Would you like a hot pie?" rather than "Would you like a hot pie today?"
ReplyDeleteIn re shake rather than milkshake, I seem to recall that McDonald's adopted the slangy abreviated form only after being ordered to do so because their shakes lacked sufficient milk. Their solution was brilliant.
Well, I guess there is something to be said for working for an indie. You don't get as much cant as you would in any kind of corporate job, although, as it's as infectious as any other kind of argot, you do sometimes have to listen to a bit of it.
ReplyDeleteThe worst required speech that I remember hearing about was Safeway employees having to address every single customer by name. I don't remember what the consequences were if they didn't, but there were definitely penalties.
I can barely even stand people greeting me by saying "How are you doing?" when I'm at the cash register. You always have to say something like fine or great or something, even if you've been having a terrible day and you feel like crap. If I say, I'm good, sometimes people will respond by correcting my grammer and say "I'm well. To me, saying I'm well implies that they were asking after my health, which most assuredly they were not.
Seana
ReplyDeleteI'm not a sharer by nature, but when people ask me how my day has been going, I do take the opportunity to vent a little. I've noticed that the guy in the beer shop no longer asks me how my how my day has been going.
Peter
ReplyDeleteYeah you're right about the dairy content of the shakes. Its a fun experiment to buy a McDonalds shake and leave it on a table for a couple of days. It doesnt go off like milk but all the fats separate out in an extraordinary manner.
I think what's interesting is that I, as the salesclerk, never ask people how they are doing. I say hello. But a fairly surprising number of them ask me. What's funny is the number of times I will politely reply fine, how are you, and they will then launch into some complaint about life, as if they had only been waiting for an excuse, and also as if they find me obscurely to blame.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAdrian: Years ago I had a throat so sore that I could not swallow solid food. I bought six McDonald's shakes, figuring they could get me through a couple of days. I drank one or two and left the rest in the refrigerator. I'm sure the components into which they separated overnight would not have poisoned me. But they were not palatable, either.
ReplyDeleteI know that most people don't want to know how I am doing when the ask "How are you doing?" But sometimes I take advantage of the audience nonetheless, and I tell them.
ReplyDeleteEnglish is a very big language. It’s a language that’s spoken all across the world, and is taught in most countries as a second language. Its influence is seen practically everywhere, as a worldwide lingua franca that helps the world to communicate. Not everyone speaks English of course, and many have rudimentary English skills but lack fluency.
ReplyDeleteVocabulary is part of language and learning vocabulary to learn language is essential. Learn Vocabulary at https://vocabmonk.com .