Going through the (e)motions--the book

[Laurence Horn]

On May 20, 2012, at 9:13 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:

> On Sun, May 20, 2012 at 12:17 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>> Or maybe we could wait for the DVD version.
>
> "Going through the (e)motions" > "going through the emotions" reminds
> me of a '60's Los Angeles BE turn of phrase:
>
> _going through the changes_,
>
> specifically,
>
> "dealing with the emotional consequences of the vicissitudes of life."

Or the causative version thereof, nicely tweaked in Linda Ronstadt's "Poor, poor pitiful me" (well, actually Warren Zevon's "Poor poor pitiful me", but it's Ronstadt's version I have on my iTunes), from the late 70s:

Well I met a man out in Hollywood,
Now I ain't namin' names
Well he really worked me over good,
Just like Jesse James.
Yes he really worked me over good
He was a credit to his gender
He put me through some changes Lord,
Sort of like a Waring blender.

LH


>
> As is usual with slang or other colloquialism, the range of the phrase
> was - apparently - extended to many other, more-or-less analogous
> situations having to do with the general meaning of having to cope
> with the consequences of any obligatory change: getting fired or
> evicted, coming down with the flu, whatever. It's a reasonable
> assumption, IMO, to assume that the specific meaning naturally led to
> the extension to the general meaning of having to cope with a
> situation over which a person has no control.
>
> Taking a look into Google, with little effort I found,
>
> The student's comprehensive Anglo-Bengali dictionary: compiled ... - Page 417
> books.google.com
> *1802* - 1278 pages
> [3JSnt"(J ; ^fa- f3si3!?rr ; 55tt3I9l I] "Experience, eks-pE'ri-ens,
> n., trial : experimental knowledge : repeated trial : continued and
> varied observation : wisdom gained by
>
> _going through the changes_
>
> and trials of life."
>
> The "new, colloquial" meaning has, in fact, been in use for a couple
> of centuries.
>
> Youneverknow.
>
> Of course, in addition to _going through the changes_, there was also
>
> _put through the changes_.
>
> The oldest (semi-)relevant example that I've found is
>
> History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins, and Schuyler Counties, New ... - Page 426
> books.google.com
> 1879 - 687 pages
> "By means of an ingenious arrangement, each calendar is proved by being
>
> _put through the changes_
>
> [that occur over the course] of eight years. Time is indicated in the
> English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Russian, and Asiatic
> languages."
>
> More recently, there's
>
> Amazing stories: Volume 67
> books.google.com
> 1993 - Snippet view
> "'She loves you,' Thissa whispered. 'She knows she will never see you
> again.' 'She will,' I said.'And when I come back, I'll tie her down
> naked in the plaza and
>
> _put her through the Changes [sic]_
>
> with her own filthy little idol.' Color rose in Thissa's delicate
> cheeks. She shook her head in horror and made a quick Witch-sign at
> me, …"
>
> IMO, the special "Changes" are only a subset of the ordinary
> "changes," since further snippets reveal that, in the context of the
> tale, _Changes_ with an upper-case _C_ is the word for sexual
> intercourse, and, of course, engaging in sexual intercourse surely
> puts a person through at least one of the many subsets of "the
> changes."
>
> To Ride the Tiger - Page 167
> books.google.com
> Robert L. Parker - 2004 - 388 pages
> "My child will not be a thug, breaking the law and hurting people, all
> in the name of the great, holy Mafia! Not my child! And, if I have a
> daughter, in God's name, I won't have her
>
> _put through the changes_
>
> that I went through [as the daughter of a Mafia boss].
>
> Split Indecision - Page 151
>
> books.google.com
> Pierre Bateau - 2006 - 276 pages
> "I didn't want to
>
> _put her through the changes_
>
> that I was about to, but I felt that, if I didn't control this
> situation from beginning to end, I couldn't be sure that the outcome
> would be the right one."
>
> And, on a more-obviously black tip <har! har!>, as well as in the
> relevant time-frame, there's
>
> Man Walking on Eggshells - Page 168
> books.google.com
> Herbert Simmons - 1962 - 221 pages
> "Hey, dig. Me and the old man are kind of on the outs. So, I'ma split,
> so I won't have to be
>
> _going through them changes_,
>
> if you know what I mean."
>
> [Name-drop. Herb and I, in addition to us both being Angelenos from
> Saint Louis, are also frat-brothers, he having been guest of honor at
> my "line's" initiation banquet. Maybe, if I re-read his work, I can
> find some documentation of my memories of StL slang. Youneverknow.;-)]
>
> Billboard - Jun 20, 1970 - Page 57
> books.google.com
> Vol. 82, No. 25 - 64 pages - Magazine - Full view
> BUDDY MILES- Them Changes. Mercury SR 61280 (S) Buddy Miles
> "Well, my mind is
>
> _going through them changes_ /
>
> I feel just like committing a crime /  Every time you see me going
> somewhere / I feel like I'm going out of my mind."
>
> Of course, all of this is treated in HDAS under
>
> change 3. usu. pl. Black E - where it didn't occur to me look for it,
> until it was almost too late, because, for some reason, I expected it
> to be under "put through" -
>
> with another line from Simmons,
>
> "Aw, baby, now you really
>
> _taking me through some changes_."
>
> But, I'm shocked! SHOCKED!! by the HDAS quote showing the use of the
> singular, "… the telephone company will
>
> _put you through *a change*_
>
> to do it …"
>
> as documented by Woodley. This is Richard Woodley, author of Dealer:
> Portrait of a Cocaine Merchant,1971, I take it. Of course,
>
> Youneverknow.
>
> Everything changes.
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org