# Urban colloquialism - "let's do this thing".

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urban-colloquialism-lets-do-this-thing/198650>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 30, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urban-colloquialism-lets-do-this-thing/198650 "2003-08-30T16:31:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urban-colloquialism-lets-do-this-thing/198650/1 "2003-08-30T16:31:15Z")

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Any know where this comes from? It seems to be somehow derived from the ‘gangsta’/hip-hop culture, and it seems to have nuances beyond the simplicity of the words. An example is in [sub]Freaky Friday which I went to see with a friend and her 6-year-old[/sub] where the teen-in-mom’s-body says it, so we remember who she really is.

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**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urban-colloquialism-lets-do-this-thing/198650/2 "2003-08-30T23:16:58Z")

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My memory tells me that military men were using this most of my life. Have a vague idea it became popular in Vietnam - but perhaps it was used in a movie and then soldiers started using it.

Does my memory lie? Couldn’t tell you.

Can’t find any worthwhile refrences to support this.

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urban-colloquialism-lets-do-this-thing/198650/3 "2003-08-31T03:11:01Z")

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I’ve always associated it with action movies – bad action movies, written by bad writers who don’t realize that it sounds stilted and unnatural, unlike the elegant “Let’s do it!”

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urban-colloquialism-lets-do-this-thing/198650/4 "2003-08-31T21:49:40Z")

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“This thing” is a Mafia term is certain contexts. “This thing of ours” being the most famous. But (supposedly) used in general to refer to objects, events, etc. to deliberately keeps things vague for “legal” purposes. So Tony Soprano uses such phrases.

But whether Hollywood has any clues whatsoever about “doing things” is questionable.

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**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urban-colloquialism-lets-do-this-thing/198650/5 "2003-09-01T17:46:29Z")

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Thanks for the responses. The times when I’ve seen it used most are in movies about gangs; the “homeboys” are sitting in their car, loading up their “AKs”, about to go do a drive-by shooting: “Let’s do this thing.” I can imagine the use of it euphemistically to avoid incriminating themselves (do gang bangers even care?) and it does have sort of a menacing ring to it.