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?

‘You got this’ is a recent version of ‘break a leg’ in my mind. I like it as a form of encouragement

You’re being too literal. ‘You got this!’ means exactly the same as ‘You can do this!’ In neither case is it ‘disingenuous’. It’s expressing encouragement by the speaker in saying they’re confident that the addressee can do whatever it is. They don’t know for sure, obviously, but no one encouraging someone to do something they’re nervous or unsure about ‘knows’ if they will pull it off. The point is the encouragement, not psychic powers.

(Incidentally, you’re misusing ‘disingenuous’.)😀

"I mean" really gets on my nerves...

Yes, but people misunderstand and mishear, and write down their misunderstandings or mishearings, which are then accepted by people who don’t read much, which is how we end up with ‘rest bite care’ and ‘Chester Draws’.

I’m asking whether ‘When I tell you’ might have morphed from ‘Wait till I tell you’. I’ve never heard it or seen it myself.

If this isn’t me 🙈

But that is perfectly standard grammar. "Said" meaning(ish) "the thing that I previously referred to".

I think all of those phrases have been around for donkey's years. They come and go as fashions change, people get bored with them and they more or less disappear and come back again years later as new and unusual again.

I think people often naturally pick up elements of the dialect of the people in the area they live it's not a deliberate action. They don't spend hours practising in front of a mirror, unless they are ashamed of where they come from, which is much more unlikely these days, most people are proud of their roots no matter where they were born.

I’m currently very much enjoying randomly saying “six seven” to the secondary school kids I teach just to “de-cool” the phrase for them.

Yes I do pick up accents. Spoken expressions, not so much.

May I shake you by the hand and tell you that you’re doing important work?

Signed, the mother of a 13 year old.

(Thanks for that. I appreciate it.)

Hm, I don't tell people they can do something unless I believe they can to some degree.

Yeah but that's to get a reaction. I do this with my kids lol, and I find the Italian brainrot satisfying to mimic. I hate myself sometimes.

It's not. They're just not actually realising what they're saying. It's like when people write 'of' instead of 'have'. It has no meaning and I don't think they realise this.

Bone app the queef!

OK, but you say you have many autistic traits, and it does sound as if you are unusually literal in some of your language usage. No one knows whether the other person can pull something off before they’ve tried — when they say ‘You’ve got this!’ or ‘You can do it!’, they’re just saying they believe in them, to encourage them.

I do. English isn't my first language.
When I moved here, I had a very classic "I've learned English in secondary school" english. I remember being in a pub with some brit lads, one of them brought pints, I said "Oh thank you so much" whereas the brits were like "Good one mate, top lad" and I thought "Ok I have to learn the REAL english".

So now I use a lot of northern slang (most of the friends I've made upon moving here are from the north west and north east) with my strong foreign accent, which probably sounds ridiculous but that's the life I chose to live.

In my own mother tongue, I easily get the local accent and vocabulary when I go somewhere, but lose them as soon as I leave.

I know. I do assume people mean what they say and I say what I mean.

If I encourage someone it's because I believe in them as I know them. I would never say it to a stranger because I would feel like I was lying. Same as yesterday when I commented on the lady's thread who said her friend answered the question about her losing weight honestly.

I couldn't have answered any other way. I wouldn't want to come across as fake. This is why I have trouble lying. I feel like the audience has the wider lens, though I know they haven't. I feel exposed.

I think you’re misunderstanding me. I’m suggesting that they’re not realising what they’re saying, in the same way that someone writing ‘Chester draws for sale’ or ‘My boyfriend puts me on a pedal stool’ doesn’t realise they’re making a mistake. They’ve just heard people saying this and think they’re transcribing it correctly, like ‘I should of gone to the party’ or, even better, ‘I should of went to the party’ because their only contact with the written word is online chat.

This is a whole other area that's fascinating. I only speak the one language. I note this with Polish people most, they adopt the northern accent and have a mesh. I knew an Indian guy who had an Indian/Glasgow accent. It was just beautiful.

I specifically say Polish because I've not seen the same thing occur with other Eastern European people I've met.

Then you have those people who get a knock on the head and start having a Cantonese or Italian accent!

I do code switch. My accent goes from the well to do version to the commoner version when I'm with different people from my home city. But I never adopted the accent of the city I moved to.

but what do they believe it actually means? What is a pedal stool lol? How can you say something without knowing what it means? How can you write something without knowing what it means?

As I say, you’re unusually literal. Whether other people appreciate you not encouraging them to try something they’re unsure about because you’re not sure they can do it, or saying ‘No, I didn’t notice your weight loss’ because you don’t want to be ‘fake’, is another matter.

I’m not sure what you’re so confused by.

These are common errors in people who probably aren’t particularly educated, who have little contact with the written word other than in text messages and online — they don’t read copy-edited and proofed newspapers, books etc.

They have heard people in conversation use the expression ‘to put someone on a pedestal’ and understand that it means to idolise someone, to treat them as if they’re special, and they probably grasp that the idiom works because it means putting someone up on a higher level than others by literally elevating them above the ground.

But they’ve never seen the phrase written down, and/or don’t know what a ‘pedestal’ is, so they write what they think they hear, which is ‘pedal stool’. They probably imagine the idolising boyfriend putting his girlfriend on some kind of high stool he moves around by pedalling or something?

And then they see it written like that by someone else, think ‘Oh, that’s how that’s written’, and the error spreads.

Similarly ‘rest bite care’, ‘Walla!’, ‘Chester draws’ etc.

People often pick up words and phrases without realising it, so while you believe you haven’t, it’s very likely you’ve acquired some subconsciously.

Accent-wise, it’s really interesting how some people lose an accent and some don’t. I moved to the north-west over 20 years ago and everyone still comments on how strong my London accent is. But one of my friends moved to America for a year and sounded transatlantic within about three months!

This happened long before the internet existed. Some wordsmith creates a new expression or word that others start using too. Before you know it the new vocabulary is being formally added to dictionaries.