Compiled by Friends of Mockingbird John and Anne Nolon, Liz and Duo Dickinson, Betsy and Larry Roadman, Paul and Mary Zahl, and The Rev. Nancy W. Hanna:
1) “It’s all good.”
Meaning: It’s not all good, something has gone badly amiss. And I absolutely don’t want to admit it.
2) “It is what it is.”
Meaning: I can’t stand this particular situation I’m in. Actually, I hate it and don’t want to talk about it.
3) “Yuh think?!”
Meaning: I want you to agree with me, but don’t want you to think I think I’m smarter than you are. Though I do!
4) “Perfect!”
Meaning: This is fine, it’s OK. But maybe it’s not — I’m pretty insecure — so I’d better overstate.
5) “How great is that?!”
Meaning: I don’t wish you to think I think I’m right. Therefore I’ll put my desire that you agree with me in terms of a question. This is similar to (3).
6) “Blah blah blah” (or “Yada yada yada”)
Meaning: I’m too wiped out to even begin to tell you the whole story, so I’ll just breeze over the bad parts.
7) “Just sayin’.”
Meaning: Don’t even THINK I wish to convince you of something. Believe me, all truth is relative — except my own opinions.
8) “Then there’s that!”
Meaning: There is that other fact you just referenced, and it’s most un-welcome, my friend. Believe me, what you just said is plain wrong because it goes against what I was ‘just sayin’.
8) “Does that make sense?”
Meaning: I’m so confused about who I am that I don’t even make sense to myself. (Warning: This is always a rhetorical question. Never answer it.)
9) “I’m all in.”
Meaning: I need to overstate my support for you in order to cover up my real reservations.
10) “No worries” (aka “no problem”)
Meaning: I can handle this, but wish you hadn’t asked. (And I wasn’t even born when Crocodile Dundee came out.)
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30 responses to “A Mockingbird Guide to 10 Current Colloquialisms”
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This is perfect. Just sayin’.
To quote my street artist friend Adam (Adam Dare) Robbins – “It is what is…until it isn’t….”
“Let’s hang some time” – Meaning: if I state my intent that I want to have some type of unspecified community with you somewhere vaguely in the future, I can then pat myself on the back about how much I initiate “with the least of these” without ACTUALLY doing anything.
Whatever.
“I am still processing all this.” – Meaning: I really like you, but I don’t want to disagree with you in public.
Hey,Jake, let’s you and me hang some time. I’m processing a lot these days, but you know me, I’m all in. But, hey, if you can’t, no worries. You know, whatever.
Now I’m at a loss for words…
I always appreciate the bleakness and hopelessness of “same s–t, different day”.
And then, when people ask me the rhetorical “How are ya?”, I genuinely reply with “I’m still alive”. People think I’m just being a pessimist, but we overlook such a blessing 🙂
cal
Paul, that sounds perfect, let me pencil you in.
“You know, it’s hard but it’s good!” – I’m totally defeated and dying on the inside but feel too guilty to admit it out loud. (HT to DZ for that one!)
I say, “‘Cause that’s a thing.” Meaning, “my statement is true but I’m not sure you’ll take my word for it.” Also can be used to indicate that whatever the discussion is about is a new upcoming trend.
My 6 year old daughter’s favorite tag phrase is, “Seriously.” It has a valley girl vibe to it. “Mom, that dog just chased a bird. Seriously.” Her version of, “my statement is true, but I’m not sure you’ll take my word for it.”
I hope this is the last Top Ten list I ever see on Mockingbird. Just sayin’.
Not sure who thought these were correct definitions… I guess it depends on the culture. lol
‘Interesting…’ (said slowly, eyebrows raised) – what you just said was completely, ridiculously racist/sexist/inappropriate, but I have to say something or you might just keep uttering complete nonsense. In other words, I wish you would change the subject or just shut up.
I’m so glad that mbird decided to “reach out” and share this.
Two more candidates:
“Do the math” and “Go figure”.
Well let’s just agree to disagree
Enough said.
The more I “parse” — another current verb — these colloquialisms, and others that have caught on quickly, the more they seem to function, at least most of them, as euphemisms, that is, forms of self-censorship. The person who uses the expression is attempting to shield or disguise his or her actual opinion, in the belief that that opinion might be received as somehow judgmental. So you cover it to avoid the perception that your opinion might be angular or negative. “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”.
P.S. I remember first really hearing this approach to “difference” in 1977, in Dave Mason’s song, a beautiful song otherwise, entitled “We Just Disagree”. Mason sang, in relation to a divorce, “There ain’t no good guy, there ain’t no bad guy/It’s only you and me, and we just disagree.”
Here’s another one:
“Look, this is not rocket science.”
So these euphemisms are really just candy-coated passive agression, right?
More or less, dear Jim. They seem to betray, at least most of them, some hostility towards the person being addressed by the euphemism. Oh, and here’s another one: “He got a pass for… Why did the media ‘give her a pass’ on…”
Here are two more:
“doubling down” and “the devil is in the details”.
The latter is more of a maxim than a colloquialism,
but is widely accepted as being true.
Here is another one, for the record:
An inflated use or freighting of the word “heartbroken” to refer to one’s reaction to a policy decision on the part of an institution, as in “I am heartbroken over NYU’s decision to…” or “I am heartbroken that you have misunderstood me in respect to…”
Incidentally, I was in a crush at GCT the other day and accidentally bumped into a young man walking next to me. I said, “Oh, I am so sorry”. He shrugged, and replied, in a millisecond, “It’s all good.” This actually happened.
“Have a good one!”
Mockingbird, you need to do a part II for this post. 🙂
2 #8s -“How great is that?!”
Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. Really! I MEAN it. You’ve got this!
Ouch in all the colloquialisms and expressions! May I add that many of these expressions seem to have sprung up in the last few decades as the crusade for “political correctness” began to become a “thing” to
show mostly a false sensitivity to/acceptance of others when the true sentiment was, “NOT!”
Tell me if I’m wrong…