In my last column, I pondered on the use of English and how it has changed. I pondered on "Me and Nakia goin' to the store." "We cool, you know." "Like whateva, you know."
I'm appalled at the language I hear from TV to banter I pick up in a crowd. I'm uncomfortable with how the language changes. And, it does over time.
What happened to the intense grammar training in schools? What happened to diagramming?
I am amazed at the use of subject and verbs used without proper singular and plural usage.
How has the "Me and someone" become common usage? Then, also, there has been changes, over time, in what we call things, nomenclature.
Remember "Continental kits?" They were rear bumper extenders and spare tire covers that were supposed to make any car as "cool " as a Lincoln Continental.
Or, when did we quit calling them "emergency brakes?" At some point, "parking brake" became the proper term. But I miss the hint of drama that went with "emergency brake."
Kids will probably have to find some elderly person over 50 to explain some of these terms to them.
Here's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth but never anymore: "store-bought." Of course, just about everything is store-bought these days. But once it was bragging material to have a store-bought dress or store-bought sliced bread.
"Coast to coast" is a phrase that once held all sorts of excitement and
now means almost nothing. Now we take the term "worldwide" for granted.
On a smaller scale, "wall-to-wall" was once a magical term in our homes.
In the '50s, everyone covered his or her hardwood floors with, wow, wall-to-wall carpeting! Today, everyone replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors.
When's the last time you heard the quaint phrase "in a family way?" It's hard to imagine that the word "pregnant" was once considered a little too graphic, a little too clinical for use in polite society. So we had all that talk about stork visits or simply "expecting."
It's hard to recall the word "divorce" was once said in a whisper.
"Confirmed bachelors" and "career girls" are long gone, too. And no one is called a "divorcee" anymore. Certainly not a "gay divorcee."
I always loved going to the "picture show," but "movie" came much later. We always went to the "Picture Show." I think it was 1937 when I saw "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" at a "picture show" When I was eleven years in 1941, my aunt and I were leaving the "picture show" on a Sunday afternoon, when we heard that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor.
Here's a word I miss: "percolator." That was just a fun word to say. And
what was it replaced with? "Coffeemaker." How dull!
Too bad we can't continue to sit down family style for supper with the good old "percolator" bubbling away.
Time moves on. Words and vernacular, as well as life, changes.
"Like whatever, you know."
Burton Anderson Burton Anderson, a U.S. Marine veteran of the Korean War, has lived in California for about 50 years. He has a background in the aerospace industry. He may be reached at bandtp@aol.com. The Board of Contributors is comprised of local writers whose views appear on Tuesdays and Fridays.
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