Brigid Daull Brockway is technically a writer

Brigid Daull Brockway is technically a writer

A blog about words, wordplay, and etymology, with slightly more than occasional political rants.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Take this blog and shove it

In crochet, pulling out stitches is called frogging - a play on the sound frogs make - rip it, rip it, rip it.
In online gaming, the term rage quit refers to abruptly quitting a game when things aren't going one's way. KnowYourMeme.com says that this term may have originated in chat rooms, and probably originally referred to abruptly leaving a chat room after an argument.
Rage quitting is similar to taking one's ball and going home. Google NGram Viewer says that the expression first appears in print in the 1946 book Easy to Do Novelty Entertainment. Two men are discussing their golf game. Jones tells Brown that he'd scored an even 80 that day. And an even 80 the day before. And the day before too. Brown asks how this can be. Jones replies "When I get to eighty, I pick up my ball and go home." 
Perhaps the best song title ever written is David Allen Coe's Take This Job and Shove It. 
Wikipedia calls this phrase a snowclone -  a common phrase that people like to swap words into and out of. For example, Take This Job and Love It (the title of about a million different motivational career books), Take this Hijab and Love It (article by Jillian C. York), and my favorite, Take This Banana and Shove It (a DailyKos.com article about corruption in the banana industry).


Grammar scolds like to complain about neologisms like unfriend. Those scolds might be surprised to learn that the term is at least 200 years old. The term was far more popular in the early 1800s than today, according to Google Ngram Viewer.
Ghosting refers to intentionally disappearing from another's life. Ironically, all this technology designed to bring people closer together makes ghosting super easy. On Facebook, you don't just have the ability to unfriend a person, you can hide your profile from them (until Facebook changes your profile settings so that your stalker ex has another chance to attempt a joyous reunion). You no longer have to just ignore a person's calls - you can set your phone so that it never rings when they call. In a world where everyone can be in touch all the time, it is easier than ever to disappear. 

Well kids, I'm tired and crabby, so I'm gonna take my blog and go home. Laters baby.

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