Spanking the Pomegranate
What exactly does that mean?
I cannot speak for other languages as I do not know any others fluently, (unless you are including Dlalth, but since that is one I made up myself for my story Dark Fey, I don’t suppose it really counts,) but the English language is a curious thing.
Have you ever noticed how often we say things that mean something entirely different from what we are actually trying to say? Our slang is chock full of examples. (such as the one I just used.) Chock? How does a word that means to block or stop something from moving end up in an expression that means completely full? Even Wiktionary cannot say for sure.
I loved the Linguistics class I had in high school; learning all about words, phrases, slang, and etymology — what’s not to like? For someone (like me) who spent their free time constructing grammatically correct compound-complex sentences worthy of praise from Charles Dickens and then diagramming them (correctly, I might add!) just for fun, explaining that I enjoyed the systematic study of (the English) language is like saying Mr. Spock is Logical or Hobbits have hairy feet. It’s a given. (There we are again. What’s given?)
The variety of vernacular that exists, depending on the region of the country you live in is truly amazing or, one might say, is enough to make your head spin or leave you gobsmacked. As I have lived in several distinctly different areas of the US I’ve picked up more than a few catchphrases (although how I picked up an inanimate object and what exactly said the object was catching I am by no means sure).
In South Central Pennsylvania, where I grew up, there are a plethora of colloquialisms derived from the Pennsylvania Dutch community that are peculiar enough to make anyone who is not from the area stare at you like you just started speaking Klingon. For example, if you’re embarrassed about something you Feel Your Nerve. If you cannot sit still you are Ruchy. If you want me to move down lower in my chair or make room for you on the park bench you would ask me to Ruch Down or Ruch Over. Similarly, the milk bottle is not empty, It’s All, and you don’t turn off the light, you Make Out The Light.
If you are in a restaurant looking at the menu, the server might ask to Take your drink order awhile; if it’s windy outside it’s said to be Blowy Out, and if you ask someone to go with you somewhere you often simply say Wanna come with?
When I lived in the South (Alabama to be exact, which was an experience worthy of its own bizarre post) I swore left and right (although I never actually turned my head) that I would not be Fixin’ or Reckon’ anything. Nevertheless, I often found myself saying things like It’s Fixin’ to Rain, which means It’s Getting Ready to Rain, or It’s Fixin’ to Get It, which means Things are About to Get a Little Crazy. Fixin’ simply means Getting Ready, unless, of course, you say I’m Fixin’ to Get Ready, which, literally translated, would mean you are Getting Ready to Get Ready, but in reality, it means you are already Ready to Do whatever it is you are going to do. Confused yet? I Reckon’!
(Disclaimer to my friends across the pond: As I am not British, {a tragedy I will forever lament}, I believe I understand the proper use of the following examples of British slang, but should I be mistaken, please do feel free to correct me)
In America, we say, Ta! when we mean Goodbye and Cheers! when we mean Thank you; however, in England they say Cheers! when they mean Goodbye and Ta! when they mean Thank You. In America, we ask if someone is All Right when we are concerned over their health or state of being; however, in England saying All Right? to someone is like saying Hi, How are you? And if someone in England said to me Give Us a Bell, being American, I would raise a delicately arched brow and hand them a bell, when what they really mean is they want me to call them (or ring them) on the telephone. Perplexed? Totes! (which is short for Totally, meaning yes I totally agree)
The differences in our own language are endless and with all these intricacies, dialects, regional connotations, and interpretations about (or around, depending) not to mention slang usage and hyper-text abbreviations, it’s something of a miracle that we understand each other at all.
So the next time you labor for hours masterfully interweaving descriptors, plot, characters, research, and good old-fashioned fancy into something post-worthy and yet it ends up sparking only minimal interest (or the editor/publisher requests an absurd number of rewrites), take heart! Even if only a handful of readers ultimately respond, you can still consider it a triumph of communication in a sea of chaff.
OH….any for those of you who were lured in by the double-entendre of this post’s title, Spanking the Pomegranate is simply a culinary term used for liberating those delectable little jewels of sweetness from the otherwise inconsequential husk of the fruit.
~Morgan~
If you enjoyed my article, you might also enjoy: Walking in the Rain Without Getting Soaked
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