From the latest New Yorker. It's true, at least for me. Now it's always "how are you doing" or "holding up" and the answer, yes, is almost always a rather rueful "hanging in there" (it's partly a matter of shame to be doing okay). I ask about folks' families, too (in emails "you and yours," "loved ones" or "people you care about," since not everyone has family), and sign off "be well, be safe." But it's uncanny how such linguistic change happens. I've noticed it - resisted before giving in - with phrases like "I'm good" for "I'm fine," or "passed" for "passed away," or how the Aussie "no worries" and "concerning" have found a home in American parlance, but these particular pandemic-response changes are memes I wasn't aware I was being colonized by.Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Hanging in there
From the latest New Yorker. It's true, at least for me. Now it's always "how are you doing" or "holding up" and the answer, yes, is almost always a rather rueful "hanging in there" (it's partly a matter of shame to be doing okay). I ask about folks' families, too (in emails "you and yours," "loved ones" or "people you care about," since not everyone has family), and sign off "be well, be safe." But it's uncanny how such linguistic change happens. I've noticed it - resisted before giving in - with phrases like "I'm good" for "I'm fine," or "passed" for "passed away," or how the Aussie "no worries" and "concerning" have found a home in American parlance, but these particular pandemic-response changes are memes I wasn't aware I was being colonized by.