Already a subscriber? Log in
This piece of clichéd syntax has at least a short history. An American country singer, Lorrie Morgan, had something of a success in 1992 with an album called Watch Me, featuring a song ‘What part of No’. It is about a woman who repels a man’s romantic advances.
I appreciate the drink and the rose was nice
of you.
I don’t mean to be so bleak, I don’t think I’m
getting’ through.
I don’t need no company, and I don’t want
to dance.
What part of ‘No’ don’t you understand?
There are reports of the phrase appearing in a Californian newspaper called The Mountain Democrat in 1988, but that is hardly the dawn of time. I can only hope that the phrases it spawns enjoy a future life just as short.
Traceable to the early 1970s is another shocker: ‘What’s not to like?’ This can be appended to any concept from the Statue of Liberty to Strictly Come Dancing. It has now been brought, on occasion, into the realm of irony: ‘What’s not to like about dengue fever?’
A final item of clichéd construction is the one which expresses a predicative adjective by the periphrastic device of direct speech introduced by the word like. The adjective surprised is expressed thus: ‘I was like, “Wow!”’ Or incredulous is conveyed by: ‘He was like, “You cannot be serious!”’
Veronica has just chipped in to say that this construction is popular among youngish people whose standard indication of any emotion is to exclaim: ‘Oh, my God!’ We must wait for the tide to turn and a storm to clean up the jetsam.
Also in Society
Latest
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in