At work tonight I had occasion to be speaking about a workmate who, when he first started in his employ was either terribly shy or really aloof, and I used the term, He wouldn’t say BOO to a goose.
Some of the younger workers overheard my comment, and just shat themselves laughing, never having heard the phrase before. I, of course, just looked sternly at them, and told them that their youth meant that they were not **entitled **to know the wonders of Adult Language, and in good time they would be initiated as well. They just snorted back at me (of course).
And then I got to wondering, how many old-time euphemisms and anecdotes and just plain stuff is being lost to generational lack of communication.
I’m just a little older than you, but I’m familiar with the phrase.
Although, to be fair, I’ve never heard anyone use it. I only know of it from reading 18th and 17th century literature. It’s not exactly a common phrase these days.
I had the same experience several months ago, when I told someone not to be a dog in the manger – none of the three young uns (29-37) had any familiarity with Aesop’s fables… sigh…
I grew up in the south where these things are still used often, and I pride myself I know most of them. I got ragged on a lot for using them when I first moved out west. I’ve never heard wouldn’t say boo to a goose, though. What does it even mean?
Wow. The “boo to a goose” saying is not that unusual, I think. Admittedly, it does confuse me a little bit when I stop to wonder why the hell I would want to say “boo” or anything less than politeness to a creature often employed as a security guard.
I did once use the other phrase about "a wild goose chase"in front of an older woman who then said “and why would you want to chase a wild goose”, but my impression at the time was that she probably did know the phrase but was just determined to be nit-picking (heh, there’s another one) and annoying. She did seem that type of person.
