Mar 2020
I don't know how to title this post, and I'm not really sure this is even the section it belongs in, soooo I'm off to a HELL of a great start here.
Anyway, I was just thinking about how online communications has taken some local expressions that were once only used in certain countries, or even just in parts of certain countries, but now can be used by anyone.
For example, I have seen people on Twitter say "y'all" even though I know for sure that they are not from the American South (that's the southeastern US, really, for anyone from other parts of the world reading this).
I have also seen people from the US say "for fuck's sake," or just FFS, although I'm pretty sure that was just a British expression until pretty recently. I think I first heard it in Shaun of the Dead, personally.
Or, how about when people say "legendary," meaning... you know what it means, like historically awesome, sooo amazing that, whatever it is, it instantly attains mythic proportions. I think the first time I heard anyone say that, it was the great Kiwi, Zoe Bell, in Death Proof. You see people from all over say it now, now and then... not daily, but it comes up sometimes. I am guessing that that may have been a Kiwi expression originally, but I'm not even sure.
Or how about saying "wicked" as a synonym for "very." I grew up around Boston, so I have always known a lot of people who use the word in that way, and it just sounds normal to me. But sometimes you see it online, being used by people who I'm pretty sure have never been to Boston. Maybe they picked it up from Boston-based movies, of which there have been plenty since Good Will Hunting.
I bet there are some slang words from Trainspotting that might have caught on, although obviously the internet was in a very primitive stage at that point.
Does anybody have anything interesting that comes to mind, when you think of this general topic?? It could be anything... maybe Scottish or Canadian expressions from Mike Myers movies (Austin Powers, etc, THAT Mike Myers)... or maybe Texas slang that might have caught on because of South by Southwest, or for some other reason.... Anyone?
Anyway, I was just thinking about how online communications has taken some local expressions that were once only used in certain countries, or even just in parts of certain countries, but now can be used by anyone.
For example, I have seen people on Twitter say "y'all" even though I know for sure that they are not from the American South (that's the southeastern US, really, for anyone from other parts of the world reading this).
I have also seen people from the US say "for fuck's sake," or just FFS, although I'm pretty sure that was just a British expression until pretty recently. I think I first heard it in Shaun of the Dead, personally.
Or, how about when people say "legendary," meaning... you know what it means, like historically awesome, sooo amazing that, whatever it is, it instantly attains mythic proportions. I think the first time I heard anyone say that, it was the great Kiwi, Zoe Bell, in Death Proof. You see people from all over say it now, now and then... not daily, but it comes up sometimes. I am guessing that that may have been a Kiwi expression originally, but I'm not even sure.
Or how about saying "wicked" as a synonym for "very." I grew up around Boston, so I have always known a lot of people who use the word in that way, and it just sounds normal to me. But sometimes you see it online, being used by people who I'm pretty sure have never been to Boston. Maybe they picked it up from Boston-based movies, of which there have been plenty since Good Will Hunting.
I bet there are some slang words from Trainspotting that might have caught on, although obviously the internet was in a very primitive stage at that point.
Does anybody have anything interesting that comes to mind, when you think of this general topic?? It could be anything... maybe Scottish or Canadian expressions from Mike Myers movies (Austin Powers, etc, THAT Mike Myers)... or maybe Texas slang that might have caught on because of South by Southwest, or for some other reason.... Anyone?
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