Easy Come, Easy Go

Yes, I do dwell on the past. At this age there’s so much of it. I’m driving with my eyes peeled for the montage in the rearview mirror in no hurry to whatever is next.

Even the present is fast becoming the past. There goes another moment on its way to becoming yesterday’s news tomorrow.

I’m reminded of all the phrases we used to say. Words enter our language and creep away without a peep. Easy come, easy go. Do people say that anymore?

Then there are all those euphemisms we blurted which I don’t hear anymore. Gosh, golly or Gad Zukes for God.  Oh my God has made a comback with OMG. Sheesh for Jesus or Jiminy Cricket. I also remember, J. Christ, of Biblical fame. (The last time Jesus was mentioned in the Unitarian Fellowship I attended was when the janitor fell down the stairs.) But I digress…

Owing to our Puritan heritage pseudo-swearwords became popular in the 19th century and mid-20th century. Holy-moly had a long run along with gee-willikers and jumping Jehosophat. Land’s sake left the common tongue in my early days as did lickity split and Dad-rat-it.

Our cursing has evolved. I recall getting into the one and only fight of my life when I was about eleven. Out of my mouth came fucking-bastard-sonovabitch. The words made no sense to me then ... and still don’t but there is something euphonious about those sounds, I might just as well have shouted, plucking-mustard-funovaglitch. Today's trash talk is so commonplace it seems to have lost its teeth. 

As for expressing any sense of exuberance, wonder or even approval we used to say groovy, still say cool but the current exclamation is awesome…unless that’s been replaced when I wasn’t looking.

If someone said you look swell they weren't referring to an inflammation, Even neat is a dead giveaway that the speaker must be either a baby boomer or a fan of TCM.

I don’t long for those good old days. If I did, I could be accused of nostalgia. That is a dreaded condition nobody wants on their medical or literary resume. It’s not even covered by my HMO. At one time, nostalgia was regarded as an affliction common among sailors out of touch from home for months at a time. Today’s version might be getting stuck in an elevator for twenty minutes with no juice on your iphone.

There is nothing more organic than language. It registers every tremble of complaint and exclamation; an equal opportunity phenomena containing both a morgue and maternity ward for words. 

When a demagogue comes along the first casualty is language itself debased by his nine-year old vocabulary and limited to self-serving ends while well-thought words fall on deaf ears. From an historical perspective let it be that our current flim-flam man is a case of easy come, easy go.