(And, on reflection, I think this first came to my attention via John Stewart. Matter of fact, when I use it (and I do, too much), I usually do it in his voice.)
Some rants about speech mannerisms I find myself in agreement with; this one, well you know…
It actually is a fairly useful construction, serving to contrast two (usually) related ideas. It’s not nearly so odious as say, verbifying nouns, or misusing apostrophe’s.
Jewish it may be, but popularized by Jon, not so much. I remember quite clearly being yelled at in school (in Britain) for using it twice in an essay (c. 1995)
I recall it being used on Mad About You and Friends. That might be why it irritates you so.
I use it. I’ve used it on this board in the last twenty four hours. I probably made it even more irritating by typing it as- notsomuch. I wasn’t trying to be clever or witty. Nor was it a ‘Oh, look how cute I am, lulz’ kind of thing either.
So, what kind of personality type uses this phrase, and it begs to be asked, if it’s ‘exploding’ on this message board, perhaps you’ve surrounded yourself with personalities that you can’t stand.
I didn’t say Stewart invented it, I said he popularized it. The reason that there’s been a 438% increase in people casually saying it is directly attributable to Stewart’s constant use of it on his immensely popular show. He often uses it as a joke in itself, akin to the “…not!” plague of the nineties.
“George W. Bush is a great president…ehhhh, not so much!”
A slight twist, if I may? My mother in law lived in Germany for a while and it infected her English (As Spanish has mine, but that is another story, no?).
She taught her children to mis-conjugate their verbs.
The dishes need washed.
The floor needs vacuumed.
The book needs read.
The speaker needs throttled.
My darling husband just laughs when I, the former English major, tell him how it drives me up the wall. I even looked up the origin (thats how I know its from German) and still, he does not care. If he continues, is it justifiable homicide?
This is definitely a silly thing to get bothered about. Jews have probably been saying it for centuries. It’s a little trendy right now. It’ll go away soon.
