WHO SAID IT FIRST?

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 96, 24 April 1931, Page 15 (Supplement)

WHO SAID IT FIRST?

Among the minor mysteries of life, is any more puzzling than the way in which certain words or phrases become popular ? There arc fashions :u words as there arc fashions in dress: no 011 c knows precisely why men and women should bow to the wearing oi particular clothes at particular times. This is a mystery surpassing anything conceived by Professor Einstein. Perhaps we are wrong in saving that, however, for the truth mav be that there arc fashions in thought, and that in twenty years Einstein may be not as fashionable with the philosophers as he is to-day. If we live long enough we shall sec. If we are led to wonder about the vagaries of costume, it is perhaps even more mysterious that the current coin of conversation should exhibit fashionable tendencies. At all times men have embroidered language with quips and phrases. Thirty or forty years ago many people could not keep "don't you know ?"' out of their observations. More recently the adjective "priceless" became a nuisance, and "topping" is still much used. Even educated people, who should be ashamed of themselves for the harm they do to our language, still speak of an "awfully good morning." Such ridiculous habits of speech seem to serve the purpose of eking out thought for shallow minds, and giving a spurious decoration to commonplace observations. They are very freely used by those who lack native wit. Feeling that what he has to say is of little value, the fashionable man pours out his fashionable phrases and verbal decorations to conceal the poverty of liis thoughts. But the mystery remains. Who coins these faded flowers of speech? What power is it that sets going a valueless form of expression which presently has its day and ceases to be? If Ave go back a generation we find that it Avas quite common for young men, in bidding each other farewell, to say "So long." It Avas also common at that time for men to call each other "old man" and "old cliap." So that fareAvell came to be "So long, old man!" Who Avas. the genius Avho first said "So long," and Avliy, this absurd thing having been said, should someone else repeat it and pass it on? And Avhy should millions copy it? Here is a mystery no Sherlock Holmes will ever solve. All Ave knoAv is that "So long" came, endured for ten or fifteen years, and then almost completely disappeared. Just before the Avar our young people who had never heard of "So long" Avere found bidding each other "Good-by-ee," Avith a prolonged and upward accentuation of the final syllable. Who invented that form of farewell, and why did it catch on? Later still came "Cheerio!" but this is quite distinctly confined to the young and cheerful. The Avar bore conversational fruit in a host of terms, most of which have disappeared. "Gadget" has remained to describe any small fitting of a machine or vcliicle, and it seems not a bad Avord. Some of the Avar expressions, such as "brass hat," to describe a staff officer,

wore not bad, and each of tliem rouses curiosity as to its origin. What soldier was it who originally dubbed his chief "brass bat," and how did the title come into circulation V It is a pity that more people do not keep diaries recording in simple terms the social customs and expressions of their day. It is unfortunate that history is weakest in the matter of the daily life of mankind. We know more about kings and battles than wc do about houses and clothes, and the way people worked and talked in days. Diaries like those of Pepys and Evelyn are unfortunately rare. Any young person who starts in 1(W1 to keep a social diary, not only noting the events of his own life, but jotting down observations on the habits, customs, fashions and talk of his time, may be sure that he will be conferring a great benefit on posterity. This social diarist would have much to record of the current speech of our day which might or might not amuse posterity. He would note that in 1931 a lazy person is a "slacker," that exhilarating or exciting conditions arc "hectic," and that silly people tell you that they are "stunned" if they are merely sur-. prised. A flustered girl will tell you she is "hot and bothered." A curious fact it is that a young woman of the upper classes now terms her betrothed her "young man," an expression which a generation ago was used only by working people. An uninvited guest is called a "gate crasher," in the slang of society. Very commonly, when duty is referred to, it is said (o be "up to you" to do it. Frequently wc are invited to have a "spot" of lunch. Finally, receiving a compliment, as oil making a good score at cricket or doing less badly than usual at golf, the modest performer is provided by current slang with tlie useful term "not too bad," which, unlike some of the other expressions quoted, is not too bad, and seems to owe itself, as a matter of fact, to Charles Kingsley. That is one phrase we think wc can track to its lair, but who will tell us where and when these good, bad and indifferent phrases came? Who said them lirst? Who will say them last? And by what new verbal coinage will they be supplanted?