• About – 2.0
    • About 2.0
    • BooknVolume
    • BnV?
    • Who Is She?
    • Contact Me
  • Copyright Notice & Information
  • Dark Fey Trilogy
    • Dark Fey The Reviled- Pinnacle Chapter
    • Dark Fey Interview
    • Dark Fey, Jyndari Summerfest
    • Dark Fey, Review and 2nd Interview
    • An Insightful Review
    • Dark Fey: Standing in Shadows – A Night at the Temple
    • Dark Fey, Standing in Shadows – The Uunglarda
    • A Word About Fey Words – Celebrae
    • A Word About Fey Words – Dlalth
    • Lebanon Daily News Interview
  • Guest Blog on BnV
  • Translate BnV
  • Write With Me

Booknvolume

~ For the Love of Words, Laughter, Inspiration (and the odd sexy split infinitive.)

Booknvolume

Tag Archives: Phraseology

Spanking the Pomegranate – #Phraseology & #Language

02 Wednesday Oct 2019

Posted by Morgan in Just Me Musing

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

BnV, BooknVolume, Catch Phrases, creative writing, Inspiration, Language, Phraseology, words, Writing, ~Morgan~

Pomegranate

I cannot speak for other languages as I do not know any others fluently, (unless you are including Dlalth, but since that is one I made up myself for my story Dark Fey, it really doesn’t count) but the English language is a curious thing. Have you ever noticed how often we say things that mean something entirely different from what we are actually trying to say? Our slang is chock full of examples. (such as the one I just used.) Chock? How does a word that means to block or stop something from moving; a ships fitting or cable, or an anchor or brace, end up in an expression that means completely full? Even Wiktionary cannot say for sure.

I loved the Linguistics class I had in high school; learning all about words, phrases, slang and etymology; what’s not to like, really? For someone (like me) who spent their free time constructing grammatically correct, compound, complex sentences worthy of praise from Charles Dickens and then diagramming them (correctly, I might add!) just for fun; explaining that I enjoyed the systematic study of (the English) language is like saying Mr. Spock is Logical or Hobbits have hairy feet. It’s a given.

The variety of vernacular that exists, depending on the region (or country) you live in is truly amazing or, one might say, is enough to make your head spin or leave you gobsmacked. As I have lived in several distinctly different areas of the country (that country being the US) I’ve picked up more than a few catch phrases (although how I picked up an inanimate object and what exactly said object was catching I am by no means sure).

In South Central Pennsylvania, where I presently reside, there are a plethora of colloquialisms derived from the Pennsylvania Dutch community that are peculiar enough to make anyone who is not from the area stare at you like you just started speaking Klingon should you happen to use one. For example, if you are embarrassed about something you Feel Your Nerve. If you cannot sit still you are Ruchy. If you want me to move down lower in my chair or make room for you on the park bench you would ask me to Ruch Down or Ruch Over. Similarly, the milk bottle is not empty, It’s All, and you don’t turn off the light, you Make Out The Light.

When I lived in the South (Alabama to be exact, which was an experience worthy of its own bizarre post) I swore left and right (although I never actually turned my head) that I would not be Fixin’ or Reckon’ anything. Nevertheless, I often found myself saying things like It’s Fixin’ to Rain, which means It’s Getting Ready to Rain, or It’s Fixin’ to Get It, which means Things are About to Get a Little Crazy. Fixin’ simply means Getting Ready, unless, of course, you say I’m Fixin’ to Get Ready, which, literally translated, would mean you are Getting Ready to Get Ready, but in reality it means you are already Ready to Do whatever it is you are going to do. Confused yet? I Reckon’!

(Disclaimer to my friends across the pond: As I am not British, {a tragedy I will forever lament}, I believe I understand the proper use of the following examples of British slang, but should I be mistaken, please do feel free to correct me)

In America we say Ta! when we mean Goodbye and Cheers! when we mean Thank you; however in England they say Cheers! when they mean Goodbye and Ta! when they mean Thank You. In America we ask if someone is All Right? when we are concerned over their health or state of being; however in England saying All Right? to someone is like saying Hi, How are you? And if someone in England said to me Give Us a Bell, being American, I would raise a delicately arched brow and hand them a bell, when what they really mean is they want me to call them (or ring them) on the telephone. Perplexed? Me too!

The differences in our own language are endless and with all these intricacies, dialects, regional connotations, and interpretations about (or around, depending) not to mention slang usage and hyper-text abbreviations, it is a miracle that we understand each other at all. So the next time you (or I) labor for hours masterfully interweaving descriptors, plot, characters, research, and good old fashioned fancy into something post-worthy; yet it ends up sparking only minimal interest (or the editor/publisher requests an absurd number of rewrites), take heart! Even if only a handful of readers ultimately respond, you can still consider it a triumph of communication in a sea of chaff.

OH….any for those of you who were lured in by the double-entendre of this post’s title, Spanking the Pomegranate is simply a culinary term used for liberating those delectable little jewels of sweetness from the otherwise inconsequential husk of the fruit.

~Morgan~
.
.
.
Beautiful Photograph found on pinterest

Share this:

  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • StumbleUpon
  • More
  • Pocket

Like this:

Like Loading...

Dark Fey Website

Attn: Artists & Photographers

BnV is a visual & lyrical blog which makes use of many sources of media to enhance the words I write. All artwork and photography displayed on this blog is diligently credited to the Original Artist or Photographer, whenever possible. IF you discover one of your images without appropriate credit acknowledgment PLEASE feel free to contact me via my contact page info so I may update the post with your name & website info OR, if you require it, remove the image. Thank You for Sharing your Talent with BnV.

Categories

Perusing BnV

  • 273,850 Visits

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 18,047 other followers

Follow Booknvolume on WordPress.com

All About Me & My Writing

Dark Fey, The Reviled

Dark Fey: Standing In Shadows

Dark Fey: Breaking Into The Light

Facebook BnV

Facebook BnV

Translate BnV

BnVersary

BooknVolume Anniversary DateJune 6th, 2013
Celebrating SIX Full Years of BnV!!

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Inspirations

Amazing Photography Autumn Autumn Foliage Beautiful Earth Beautiful Earth Photography Beautiful Photographs Beauty Believe in Yourself Blessings BnV BooknVolume Breath Calm Cosmos creative writing Dance Dark Fey Darkness Desire Dreams Earth_Pics Epic Fantasy eternity Faith Fantasy Fantasy Books Fear Flowers Friday Fun God Haiku Halloween Harmony Heart Heaven Hope Imagination Indie Authors Inspiration Joy Kindle Books Laughter life Light Longing Love Love Poetry Magic Meditation Meditative Thinking Memory Moonlight Music Mystery Mythical Creatures Natural World Nature Night Ocean passion Patience Peace photography Poem poetry Poetry Blog Poetry Challenge Quiet quotes relationships Religion Renewal rhyme Romance Seasons Shadows Silence Soul Mates Space spirituality splendor Spring Stars Supporting Indie Authors Temptation Thankfulness time Tranquility Truth Twilight Waiting Whispers Winter words Writing Writing Challenge Writing Prompt YA Fantasy Yearning ~Morgan~

Archives

Proud Member of Poetry Society of America

Freshly Pressed Artist

A4P

IAN Member

Poet’s Corner

Poets' Corner

Where BnV Has Traveled

Flag Counter

BnV Award Free

Blogs I Follow

  • Marvelous Bookish Tomes & Motivated Keto Mama
  • Beautiful Words to Encourage Your Soul
  • Laura Writes
  • Rantings Of A Third Kind
  • Into the Light Adventures
  • Ailish Sinclair
  • Poet's Corner
  • The Writer's Den
  • Short But Magnificent Stories
  • Guy Lozier

Friends

ReadFreely

2013 Blog of the Year

AUTHORSdb

Chatter

Morgan on Breath of Yesterday- #spiritua…
jbcowgill on Sweetness – #Love #…
Ladysag77 on Breath of Yesterday- #spiritua…
Morgan on Sweetness – #Love #…
heavenhappens on Sweetness – #Love #…
jbcowgill on Sweetness – #Love #…
Morgan on Sweetness – #Love #…

Blog at WordPress.com.

Marvelous Bookish Tomes & Motivated Keto Mama

Book Blogger - Keto - Health Blogger - Bookstagrammer

Beautiful Words to Encourage Your Soul

The blog for those looking to grow their souls

Laura Writes

Rantings Of A Third Kind

The Blog about everything and nothing and it's all done in the best possible taste!

Into the Light Adventures

By Sandra Js Photography - Make the rest of your life the best of your life.

Ailish Sinclair

Stories and photos from Scotland

Poet's Corner

Poems, poets, poetry, writing, poetry challenges

The Writer's Den

A Community for Writers

Short But Magnificent Stories

Imagination Fills in the Rest

Guy Lozier

Author/Director/Producer/Publisher

Cancel
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: