Boys Will be Boys?
How the toxic Orwellian Language poisons our daily use of language.
Eric Blair argues in Politics and the English Language that the language we use everyday is no longer as effective and precise as it had been years ago. He critiques that the most common phrases, metaphors, and verbs are misused and passive; due to this, lots of the meaning in what we are intending to say is lost. He tells us, “In certain kinds of writing…it is normal to come across long passages which are almost completely lacking in meaning.” A common phrase that fits this resume is, “Boys will be boys”. What does it really mean? I’ll tell you.
“Boys will be boys” is wrong. Boys are boys, and will eventually have to learn to be men. Using this phrase only dismisses any inappropriate actions and encourages them to continue acting with the same behavior. The way the phrase is constructed is cyclic, and really has no meaning in its literal sense; it has just been accepted that our society uses this phrase to describe improper actions by young males. In saying boys will be boys, the phrase is directed right back itself and makes no valid argument. Indeed, boys are boys, and boys will continue to be boys until maturing into a man; however, just like training a puppy, you can’t allow it to let it bite you and dig holes, you must teach it what is right and what is wrong. We humans put down aggressive pitbulls, but accept behavior such as forms of assault and abuse from teenage boys who should very well know better.
In many instances, the phrase “boys will be boys” is used to defend their ‘violent’, ‘malicious’, and ‘aggressive’ behavior. However, this is wrong on multiple levels and in many ways; not all boys are naturally dangerous human beings, but this phrase that we use is the proof and backup to the common misconception that we can predujice the behavior of all young males. We cannot simply stereotype an entire gender and judge them as one, just as we can’t look at an entire race to act and think the same way.
Just as Orwell writes in Politics and the English Language, when we use common phrases, we use them because they’re easy to use and not for the sake of their true meaning. Just as “when we call a country democratic we are praising it”, when we say “boys will be boys” we are not actually thinking about what we are saying, we are only attributing our own meaning to a seemlessly deranged phrase which is entirely backwards. So, will boys continue to just be boys, or will they change their behavior and receive appropriate consequences instead of being backed by a lopsided phrase subject to ‘Orwellian Language’?
