Do you ‘download’ language?

[elviswhorley]

I've noticed that phrases and colloquialisms appear, take hold on social media, and then everyone is using them all of a sudden. It's like a computer update or download.

I find it interesting. I don't adopt language that others use in the same way my accent hasn't changed from my move across the country.

I notice some people adopt the accent of the place they move to. I wonder if this correlates with those who adopt new phrasing instantly on hearing it and then start using it.

I've seen young and old do it.

Examples:
Starting off strong (even when it's just a normal start)

When I tell you! (sentences never gets finished, it's now the accepted beginning of a sentence completely out of context)

You got this! (I found this was adopted overnight. It was never said, then it was said all the time)

That is chef’s kiss (the chef’s kiss was always used, but it was an action. Now they seem to do the action AND say ‘chef’s kiss’ like ‘that’s (action) chef’s kiss’ Very strange’

Happened a good while ago with 'see what I did there?' (pointing out their quip, when that basically ruins the quip. So some of these are of absolutely no gain and make little or no sense, yet people just hear it and that's it, it's in, it's solidified in their vocabulary never to change.)

Calling everything 'her' and 'she' (yes, that thread inspired this thread)

Do you adopt language and do you change your accent to match those around you?

My peeve was "early doors", then, excruciatingly, followed by "late doors"

Forsooth, verily I do not.

I absolutely do, but I’m autistic and I’m sure it’s because of that. My mum says when I was a child I’d go on holiday to Scotland for a week and come back with a Scottish accent 😂

I mirror the sayings and facial expressions of people I’m close to as well. I try very hard not to!

I have many of the traits of autism that's all I know.

I do mirror, and I am easily influenced in so many ways too, so it's interesting.

I adopt words if I find new ones but I'm discerning. It feels like people do this automatically.

@Mulledjuice Missed that one!

@ProfRedLorryYellowLorry I like 'verily' and I'm adopting that one.

I like what you did there. ❤️

I had a bit of a US accent when I lived there. But now I live in an area nowhere near where I come from and I actively try not to pick up the accent / phrasing. It annoys me.

I went through a phrase where I read a lot of Irish literature and picked up sayings from it, which no one around me understood and therefore thought I was daft LOL.

I try not to but even I have started starting sentences with the dreaded.... So,...

I mentally tell myself off each time..

Those expressions have entered your vocabulary automatically too, but passively rather than actively. I don’t know whether that makes such a big difference.
People use these novel expressions to connect with others or indicate that they are joining in with something. I don’t think I do it often, but perhaps it is subconscious.
Sometimes novel expressions fill a gap in existing language and are useful, and catch on because of this. Sometimes they are genuinely funny, so why not enjoy them.

I've noticed it with "said" as an adjective! Eg. "I was walking to the bus stop to catch the 10.20 bus. Said bus whizzed past me at 10.15am"
I see it so frequently on MN now.

Unfortunately I have a habit of adopting new phrases ironically. And then at some point the irony gets lost.

I do. I’m Irish but you’d never be able to tell by my accent as I live in south west UK. My DC cringes as I use words like slay and riz and only a little ironically 🫣. I love adopting language and expanding my vocabulary.
i have 2 DC with ADHD so there may be a strong neurodivergent element here too.

I don't do much with words but I am an accent mimic. I don't do it on purpose though, it just happens. I've tried to stop it but it's subconscious.

I'm Welsh and my natural accent is somewhere between Cheshire and a very light north Wales lilt. But I work closer to Manchester with a load of mancs and northerners and my accent leans more northern in work, then when I go down to the South coast to visit my family down there I pick up their accent too.

When I go abroad I go much more Welsh, weirdly.

Changing use of ‘to…’ and ‘for…’

“I’m excited for the party” instead of “I’m excited about the party”.

Or on a recent thread “My DS is anxious to start school.” I’d have taken that to mean DS was looking forward to starting school, but in the context it turned out to mean the DS was anxious about starting school.

I've always used this, but it's true, we acquire all our language, rather than 'learn' it per se. So I have of course acquired some vocabulary automatically. It seems that some adopt every single one though.

Yeah that makes no sense. Or are we confusing 'anxious to' with 'eager to'?

That's interesting because I'm autistic and I don't automatically "mirror" . I do it on purpose sometimes as a "survival tactic ' though . I actually often go out of my way not to take up new phrases and expressions. For example it really pisses me off the way EVERYONE uses "gifted " now. What happened to "give/given ? " I also try to avoid "called out " what's wrong with "challenged " or even "discussed" Called out just sounds like you're trying to show off about how hard you are.
Also seen POC used increasingly. Won't use that either.

I love that too but I do it discerningly. Some of the phrases make me cringe. Especially 'you got this' becuase it's very disingenuous and therefore lacks meaning, which irks me. It's meant to be encouragement, but they have no idea whether I've got this so it means nothing and is very, very fake.

My best guess is that because phrases like ‘excited to’ are so common now, the OP was extrapolating from that. I didn’t read the thread in detail so I don’t know if it got discussed on there.

I moved a lot and as a child I always changed my accent. I think it was so I fitted in. But I don’t adopt new phrases and I find it irritating when people do. My pet hate is ‘reach out’ for contact. Also, ‘I’m not being funny but ‘ when nothing funny is said. Lately I’ve noticed a lot of people starting sentences with ‘basically’. A few years ago they did this with ‘obviously’.

Fo' shiz, verily I do 😀

Honestly, OP, this reads as if you’re priding yourself on your ‘discerning’ use of language and not changing your accent.

No, I don’t think there’s a correlation. Everyone’s accent changes over time, to a greater or lesser extent, and whether or not they’re aware of it, unless they stay in the same place geographically, surrounded by the same unchanging people, forever. (And although the previous queen did this, even her accent changed a lot over the course of her lifetime.)

I think you’re looking at a specific subcategory of language use, online and by people who get most of their exposure to language online, on social media. For instance, the ‘chef’s kiss’ you refer to as you say used to just be a gesture to imply something was good, but you can’t do that online unless there’s an emoji, so it’s morphed into writing it out in full.

I think you’re misunderstanding ‘See what I did there?’ Pointing it out is part of the quip. Undermining what you’ve just said is the point.

I have literally never heard ‘Well I tell you’ — is it a mishearing of ‘Wait till I tell you…’ which is certainly a normal beginning to the recounting of a story/piece of gossip where I’m from?

’You got this’ is an American expression which has no doubt leached in from US tv.

But do you automatically though?

Do you say 'when I tell you.....' then tell someone something and never finish the sentence?

I love 'you got this' esp when they dont got nothing and a minute later they dont catch the ball and are out of the game.

Don't think I've either heard it or said it, in the context you describe, tbh 🤔

It's 'when I tell you'

They never say what happens when they tell me. Just find it weird and interesting.

I consume too much social media but it happens in real life too.