fun with phrases

Sun Sep 18 17:17:40 UTC 2011

The concepts are similar, but "recreating yourself" in 1912 was not an idea
commonly mentioned in print as "redefining" and "reinventing" yourself
became many decades later - to the point, in fact, of becoming cliche's.

Here's another:

1st CNN anchor: How are you doin' today?
2nd CNN anchor [humorously]: Just livin' the dream here in Atlanta, Georgia.

To "live the dream": to be ecstatically happy with one's social, financial
or professional success or general existence.

This is pretty new too, but well known. The defining characteristic is the
lack of previous specification of what the "dream" might be. In the cliche',
everybody knows it's very broad indeed and closely connected with social and
financial contentment.

Searches are difficult, but it looks like the free-floating,
non-contextually specified phrase doesn't turn up till the late '60s and
doesn't become common for five or ten more years. (There is at least one
'50s ex., but the nature of the "dream" - a missionary's - was first
specified.)

What's it prove? Don't know. Who cares? Don't know that either. Does it
"provide a linguistic index to American culture," as popular books on
language used to say?  What's *that* mean?

JL

On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 8:39 PM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: fun with phrases
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Here is some "psychobabble" in 1912 that includes the phrase "create
> yourself anew", and discusses the theme of remaking yourself
> psychologically in a chapter called "The Subconscious".
>
> Cite: 1912, Human Efficiency: A Psychological Study of Modern Problems
> by Horatio W. Dresser, Chapter 5: The Subconscious, Page 123, G. P.
> Putnam's Sons, New York. (Google Books full view)
>
> <Begin short exert>
> You wish to create yourself anew in wiser fashion so that the ideals
> of to-day shall constitute the habitual self of to-morrow. Thus you
> endeavour to outwit your own consciousness by giving your activity
> more resolutely to the ideal, refusing to own these miserable moods
> and emotions through which you betray fear, anger, jealousy,
> resentment, and the like.
> <End excerpt>
>
> More can be read by following this link:
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=DLUZAAAAMAAJ&q=%22create+yourself%22#v=snippet&
>
>  Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: fun with phrases
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >> 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:
> >
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >> 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
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> 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
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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