Boom!

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Thu Nov 10 12:50:29 UTC 2011


Good one.

Has largely replaced "Bingo!"

JL

On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 4:06 AM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Boom!
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Since JL started that long thread on recent catch phrases, I thought I'd
> add another one.
>
>  From Politico (as quoted by Kevin Drum):
>
>> “And then,” Norquist said, “he went down on the floor, and he gave a
>> colloquy about how we’re against any tax increases of any sort. Boom!”
>
> This "Boom!" has seen increased frequency in the last couple of years.
> It's the rhetorical equivalent of "THAT'S what I am talking about!" or
> "There you have it!".
>
> I suppose, I could be falling for a recency illusion, but I don't think
> so--the common use of "Boom!" is quite different--usually "something
> happens", with a reference to an high-impact event.
>
> What's odd about it here is the source--I did not expect this kind of
> street talk from Grover Norquist. Perhaps he's trying to be hip. Or
> maybe I'm totally unhip.
>
> BTW, "Boom!" was one of my sons' first articulable word. He would drop
> on his butt from standing position, then look at me and say, "Boom!"
> There might have been semantic content in his earlier chortling, but
> this one was clear, deliberate and repeatable. That was almost 9 years ago.
>
> VS-)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list