A must have dream to die for
Herself was watching a programme on television last night.
It was one of those girly things where young women are let loose in a room full of clothing and they all start squealing with delight and sounding like a herd of pigs being led to the abattoir.
Fair enough. It’s pretty nauseating shallow stuff, but herself was happy so I didn’t complain.
What really pissed me off was the expressions they were using, time and time again.
Language evolves. I know that. We use expressions that would utterly confuse someone a hundred years ago. But one thing that irritates me intensely is the use of expression where the speaker isn’t listening to what they are actually saying.
I hate expressions like ‘chill out’ meaning ‘relax’. ‘Chill’ means ‘to reduce in temperature to near freezing point’ and ‘chill out’ therefore makes no sense whatsoever. It has nothing to do with relaxation, anyway.
Last night the three constant expressions were
To Die For
Presumably this means that something is so nice, that a person is prepared to lay down their life to get it. That in itself is a paradox, because if the person is dead, they will have no further use for it anyway?
Are there people in this world that are so shallow that they would be prepared to die in order to possess an item of clothing?
Must Have
If I say I must have a pint of stout, then that makes sense. To say that a pint of stout is a must have, is nonsense. ‘Must have’ is not a noun. Apart from that, to describe a dress as a ‘must have’ implies that a person’s life is incomplete if they don’t have that dress. Who says? Who dictates what we must have? Are we so mindless that we rely on others to tell us what we must have?
Dream
This crops up a lot these days. ‘That is a dream dress’ or ‘he scored a dream goal’. Presumably this means that this is an item that we have dreamt about in the past? Has any woman ever spent a night dreaming about the perfect pair of shoes? Has any bloke ever dreamt about scoring a goal? I know men better than women, and I know men dream about scoring all right, but it has fuck all to do with football.
The crowd on the programme last night just sounded like a gang if empty headed bimbos. In fact anyone who talks like that sounds like an empty headed bimbo. If Darwin had his way, the building would have collapsed and the world would be a better place.
Luckily I didn’t have to watch the programme.
I had other things to do.
The latest book by Cecelia Ahern arrived in the post yesterday.
Of course they are empty headed bimbos. We want to feel superior to the people we see on television. Most viewers will be at least marginally more intelligent then they are. Given mental abilities of average television viewer, and the rate at which that ability is declining, I shudder to image what we will be watching in the future.
I wonder, is this also how we are choosing our government leaders?
You mean ‘PS I Love That Pair Of Dream Shoes’ is in the shops?
Wonderful.
It is just a gobalisation of phraseology (if that is a word) I have for months been using the phrase “give out” as in complained to someone then realised no one here in England knew what I was talking about. While in Ireland people would know what I was talking about. But think about it “Give out to someone” makes not sense
Golly Gosh! What a whizzo bit of scribbling squire!!
Its always been there – its just the lousy TV programmes ramming it down one’s throat so to speak!!
The kids are being incredibly stupid by simply spouting out the phrases, but that’s no the fault of the phrases themselves.
Obviously, if you get “hot and bothered”, the solution is to “chill out”.
“Must have” is not a noun, but it’s obviously just missing the ” item” bit at the end. And yes, there’s no such thing anyway. A “must-have item” usually is a “would-be-nice-to-have item”.
As for “dream” – now that’s an over-reaction. Nothing wrong with describing something as a dream – it’s obviously metaphorisical or something – everyone has had something go so right in their life at some time in their life that it was dream-like. Usually, things screw up, so it’s rare and “dream-like” when something goes perfectly right. To describe something as /a/ dream, now, is going too far – “oh, he’s a dream”.
I’m just finishing Terry Pratchett’s “Nation” at the moment. Smart as usual, with less fantasy in it.
by the way, Jim C – Yes. 😉
Another reason why I enjoy reading your musings, “right on” Grandad, oops sorry about that! “Right on” means what??? We all need to step back a little and take a deep breath and think (a novel concept) before we speak, and sometimes saying nothing, i.e. keeping you mouth shut and listening says volumes. I’ll shut-up now!
It was harmless fun Grandad! Over one hundred ladies invited to an orgy. Each lady had to bring some clothes that they no longer wanted and swap around with one another. Great craic entirely for those of us who are still twenty eight in our heads (except when we wake up in the morning with the rheumatics, and for the first three hours of)
Jim C – If our government leaders are going to be chosen from the Telly Brigade then God help us. There again, maybe we already are?
Radge – Yup. As head of her fan club, I received a pre-release copy. It’s a dream story, and I’m just sitting here chilling out and reading it. It is a must have for everyone.
Simon – You are right about ‘give out’. It’s an expression I use myself, but I suppose that it is so old [relatively] that I am used to it. Give out punishment? ‘Give out yards’ will confuse them even more!
Kate – Whizzo? That’s going back a bit! Television has one hell of a lot to answer for. Happy Wednesday.
Kae – I’m not attacking the phrases per se. It is the people who use them that I blame. Worst of all are the RTE sports commentators who apparently have an entire lexicon of their own. Maybe ‘dream’ has a slight excuse, but it is overused. Even advertisements rand on about the dream this and the dream that. Aaaaagh!!!
John O – ‘Right on’ is almost acceptable, as it comes from happy times. It is equally meaningless, I admit. Far out, man.
Granny – That comment was starting to look interesting, but then you say the orgy concerned clothing. Big let down! Go back to bed.
‘awesome’ is one that bugs me (to mean good anyway… if something actually is awesome, I’m all for it). Also ‘top drawer’ (because I have no idea what it means) and ‘cute’ in reference to anything that isn’t small and furry.
I also received a book in the mail yesterday.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.Yeah, I know its a kids’ book. Still great reading, though. He always is. Kae will know, being a Pratchett fan.
JA – Awesome? Totally? Cute? Hot? Do you notice something? All from American television! The stuff of American teenagers!
TT – Are you sure you aren’t making final arrangements? 😉
It’s a parody? of The Jungle Book, only the kid is raised by ghosts, not animals. In a graveyard.
They should really say “Thaw out”, shouldn’t they? It would make more sense.
You should try living over here – it’s another whole English Language. Not to mention spelling.
But, my sympathies lie with your wife – all of us women love to watch other women go crazy over clothes – it’s just part of woman bonding. And I don’t even like clothes that much but I do love ‘girly’ movies/films.
You’re on my list of ‘must read’ blogs – is that as bad as ‘must have’?
confusing all of this.
The spelling was caused by Mr Webster. The language was SO caused by idiot teenagers.
I must have my MTV.Well now it for the younger crowed.but i must have my GD fix,glad your back.
Tricia – There are times when I fear I do live over there! Please don’t give my wife any sympahy… It will give her ideas above her station.
Bock – Oh. My. God. You are So TODALLY right.
Popeye – My new slogan:
HEADRAMBLES – MTV for the older generation
OK?
Headrambles-MTV make your playlist and hit the net,I would start with the Black Keys.
The Corporate Avengers would be good also.Oh screw the passport they think i am a felon.
Meh. You should try living with a teenager, Hairy One. They only speak in sound-bites and meaningless phrases: ‘savage’ and ‘deadly’ being my particular favourites. Kings of Leon are savage? What, they bite?
Do you mean those characters out of Ross O’Caroll Kelly really exist?
The great ol’ thing about the credit crunch is that the airheads and the D4s will end up with as little money as the rest of us.
Grandad, you’re the best. You make me grateful that I live outside the reach of television signal and its nonsense.
Another thing we seem to share: a sense for proper language. It does annoy me almost every day when I hear people using phrases like those you heard on TV.
I don’t watch TV, so I am safe in that regard. But the wrong use of words and phrases creeps in everywhere. And women, especially younger ones, seem to use them more often than men.
And, sadly, this country is full of empty-headed bimbos…