fun with phrases

[Jonathan Lighter]

> Or are you suggesting that the application to "self" is
something that's never been used before?

My tentative answer is yes. The essential attitudes behind these phrases may
be ancient, even as applied to people (though I'm not sure of that), but if
so their reduction to simple, easily recalled, and frequently uttered
cliche's really does seem new.

Think about it: "redefine yourself" - what exactly does that mean? Overhaul
much of your personality for some psychological or social benefit? That
seems like a late 20th C. idea to me. Did pre-Freudian generations even
consider that one could do that, even if one wanted to? And why would you
want to? If you simply switched jobs, for ex., you were still defined as
you. Nowadays, maybe not.  "Redefine" also seems to suggest the effective
power of pure image-making - surely a (?mid-)20th C. notion.

"Reinvent" is similar but suggests getting completely outside yourself to do
it. The word once had somewhat negative associations, since people were
sometimes warned "You don't need to reinvent the wheel."

"Don't let the past determine your future": less radical, but again reduced
by centuries of philosophical and psychological thought into handy,
apothegmatic form. It also suggests the possibility - in fact the likelihood
- that one can make a huge change in one's life despite past influences.  It
seems to presuppose, however, that one is at the mercy of the past right up
until one chooses to fight back.   I believe the accepted pre-Freudian idea
was that free will and will power made nonsense of any personal historical
determinism.

(Personal biological determinism, however, - like being born into "bad
family" - was believed to be a very real force that might be conquered, only
rarely, through extraordinary will power. Lincoln was derided as a "gorilla"
because he came from the far frontier, looked strange, and had a socially
disapproved accent - which, to the elite, implied stupidity: his rise "from
log cabin to White House" seemed astonishing. Something similar had been
true of Robert Burns, from rural Scotland.)

Anyway, it's the conciseness and clarity of the recent phrases, and the now
blandly familiar assumptions that allow their everyday expression, that I
find striking. Maybe I should join another list.

JL

On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 1:49 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: fun with phrases
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Not to mention the fact the the slogan of the 2008 presidential campaign
> was
> "Change", which is, in part, the same metaphor.
>
> Of course, there were a few similar ones along the way:
>
> "This is not your [grand]father's Oldsmobile"
>
> Still, I am compelled to ask: Is it really new or just a transmogrification
> of some other cliche from 1932? (or even 1832?)
>
> There have always been two opposite direction for any "progress"--expand on
> your predecessor vs. start anew. This is just conservatism vs. the
> revolutionary. Or are you suggesting that the application to "self" is
> something that's never been used before?
>
> VS-)
>
> On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 12:12 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >
> > Within minutes of each other I've encountered three fairly "recent"
> cliches
> > that got me to wondering.  All three are now frequently heard (at least
> in
> > my world), but there was a time - in my own lifetime - when they never
> > were.
> > In theory, anybody since the rollout of EModE around 1600 could have
> > uttered
> > these words spontaneously, but if they did no one was paying much
> > attention.
> >
> > So I did a quick GB search.
> >
> > FWIW:
> >
> > "redefine yourself": 1966, but not common for a decade.
> >
> > "reinvent yourself": 1969, but ditto.
> >
> > "Don't let the past determine your future" : 2000.
> >
> > "So what?" you say. "These things merely reflect the self-help crazes of
> > the
> > age."
> >
> > Precisely. Nobody was thinking these things in 1932 and now a hundred
> > million people are. That suggests a significant cultural change
> > encapsulated
> > in just a handful of words.
> >
> > Stay tuned.
> >
> > JL
>
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