The Enid Blyton Society

"Old Thing"

I was absolutely utterly convinced beyond any shadow of a doubt that Nigel was the one who first uttered this short phrase on there 'ere forums...

Was I right - in a way yes and no....

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At first I thought old thing was for senior people.

According to the news last week phrases like 'old thing' and 'frightfully' and 'rather' and 'quite' are falling out of use.

My 8 yr-old grandson always comments when I call him 'old thing'. He says, 'I'm not old' and I explain that it's a term of endearment and has nothing to do with anyone's age. Although I did suggest that he didn't use it on an older person!

At first when I started reading EB books I was quite surprised by this term but then I came to understad what it meant and I think it is very amiable and nice!!!! Although if I address one of my friends like that I would get a 'shock' look!!

Moonraker wrote:My 8 yr-old grandson always comments when I call him 'old thing'. He says, 'I'm not old' and I explain that it's a term of endearment and has nothing to do with anyone's age. Although I did suggest that he didn't use it on an older person!

So you actually don't want to be called "old thing" by him?

More than happy, Wolfgang; more than happy. But then, he knows me!

I've always liked 'Old Bean' And also 'You really are a brick!"

I've always liked the term, "You are a brick" as well.

Does that mean you're thick!

As a plank, Francis.

Rob Houghton wrote:According to the news last week phrases like 'old thing' and 'frightfully' and 'rather' and 'quite' are falling out of use.

Isn't that a shame considering that the expressions that will take up their respective roles may be a little more erm 'outspoken' shall we say?
And of course I am quite unhappy about the way people look at me these days when I introduce myself as Dick Kirrin instead of Richard.

I think the fact seems to be that apparently younger people aren't using 'qualifiers' any more...so instead of saying 'It's quite cold' or 'it was rather exciting' they are just saying 'Its cold' and 'it was exciting'.

Don't get me started. I personally hate it if people use superlative in an inflationary way for negligibilities, especially if the subjects/achievements aren't exceptional at all.

I don't intend to get you started, Wolfgang, and we really must watch out not to turn this into a learned discussion about language and how it changed.

However, we have two aspects in the discussion which are worth considering.
Wolfgang's point about superlative inflation - something isn't just good, but the best of good or any such linguistic nonsense. For that, we have the marketing people to thank for who will tell us how their product 'exceeds maximum standards' which of course may say more about the standards set than about the product. In that respect, our language got enriched without offering substantially more in terms of solid meaning.
And Rob's and my point about us losing parts of the language, like qualifying idioms - and sometimes even articles. That may be to do with text message shorthand or less complex plots in many films and books. It also may be that coming generations don't read as much as we did - well, how many other options did we have? Finally, of course language can and will develop. However, in this context I think we are depriving ourselves of options to express ourselves to the point where words literally have no meaning.