On Being Human and Other Borrowed Idioms

The world is full of idiots…u’mmm…ermmm…idioms. Some call them colloquialisms, some say vernacular,  many refer to them as slang, still others call it nonsense. Be that as it may, nearly everyone peppers their conversation with idiots…oops, sorry…idioms on a regular basis.

Aesop’s Fables gave us many of these, along with nursery rhymes and religious texts of all faiths. What child has been born before the 21st century who was not familiar with “casting your pearls before swine” (not THIS Pearl, obviously… although there have been a lot of swine in and out of my life 😨),”don’t put all of your eggs in one basket” and so on and so forth?

You will find that many idioms (at least those adopted since the 20th century) such as “one night stand”, “out like a light” and “rebel without a cause”, can trace their origins to the sports and film industries in a number of countries.

I am reminded of a prime example: “bend it like Beckham” which refers to British footballer, David Beckham’s ability to kick a ball past an entire wall of defenders by causing the trajectory of the ball to “bend”…much like a curve ball thrown by a pitcher in baseball (it’s another idiom that has enjoyed popularity over the years), which was used in the Bollywood film, “Wanted” wherein the main character, played by Salman Khan, was trying to teach his leading lady’s character how to position her tongue behind her teeth in order to whistle for a cab (totally different movie from the Hollywood film of the same name, with David McAvoy and Anjelina Jolie).

My most recent favourites (mostly because they are new to this American) actually are from a number of Hindi movies. Just a few ”for instances:

** “Just imagine!” is said with particular inflection in Krrish 3. When I want my grandson to pay attention to my instructions or warning, I usually add, “just imagine!!” at the end.

** Race 3 is a film that was just released in June (now available on Amazon Prime Videos… YAYYYY!!👍🏼😊😊). From that film, one idiom that has taken on a life of it’s own (see what I mean about idioms?!) is “Our business is our business – none of your business”. Daisy Shah (who spoke this scripted line), most of the stars and many supporting staff members have made it legendary! Even the Mumbai (India) police… I think Mumbai…adopted it for one of their citizen’s safety campaigns! As for me, again, I use it as a child rearing term. It’s much nicer sounding than “mind your business, child!”🤣

** And then there is “Being Human” – not an idiom so much as a descriptive. It has been referred on such movies as “Kick” (another Salman Khan starrrer) and is indeed the name of his charitable foundation which is based in India. If you read my previous post you will note the usage there as well. At home, my grandson and I find excuses to blurt out, “BEING HUMAN!!” for as many occasions as it will fit. He tends to blame bodily eruptions on the reality of being human 😱😰.

(He asked me the other day if I thought that Bollywood gentleman would be upset to know he had replaced “Pardon me” with “being human!”?

“How would I know?!” I said. But I told him I’d ask, if I ever met him!! Hey who knows? Stranger things have happened!!)

Back to the subject.

Actually, that’s the end of the subject. The bottom line is this:  Idiots abound in society, but if you bombard them with idioms, you may just lighten the mood and help make the world go ’round a whole lot more pleasantly and smoothly!

The End.

(Just another pointless, filler post for my author site, yo’!!!)