Can We Start Inventing New Idioms?
Written by Hattie Hubbell
Eighty-seven years ago, Judy Garland uttered one of the most iconic lines of all time: “ Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore". Though Dorothy meant it in the literal sense, decades later it’s used regularly as a common expression, you don’t even need to see the movie to know what it means, that’s the kind of staying power pre-Internet media had. Many things have contributed to the modern decline in television and film viewership: streaming services, the rise of social media, the expense of moviegoing being no less than $30... beyond losing the shared cultural magic of classic entertainment, there’s another key component in steady decline: idiomatic expressions.
30 years ago in the first season of Friends, Joey Tribbiani coined a phrase that is part of the public lexicon today:“ friend zone.” The expression“ Jump the shark” originates from Happy Days (1977), when Henry Winkler's Fonzie *literally* waterski jumped over a shark. The repopulation of the term“ Gaslight”, stemming from George Cukor’s 1944 movie of the same name, birthed a movement of women realizing their boyfriends actually sucked. It was Merriam Webster's Word of the Year 78 years later in 2022. Common phrases and idioms can be linked all the way back to Shakespeare (“ break the ice”,“ heart of gold”) the Bible (“ scapegoat”,“ skin of my teeth”). When is the last time a piece of media broached the public consciousness in such a broad way that a term originated in its script is now a commonplace phrase?
Well, there’s“ core memory”, a concept utilized by Pixar's Inside Out. The term has no psychological basis but has been adopted by momfluencers who post sweet moments that their child experiences, such as meeting Mickey Mouse or taking their first bubble bath. (Though, the child also experienced the memory with their parents face being blocked by a phone, so is it really a positive core memory? I digress.) Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse also popularized the term“ canon-event”, which has been lovingly applied to retellings of adolescent pitfalls, such as an awkward first kiss or not being asked to a dance. Jordan Peele’s filmography has also done some heavy lifting with introducing new terminology to the mainstream, with“ Sunken Place” (Get Out).
These newer terms are admittedly less popular than their predecessors, at least from a generational standpoint; you would probably be surprised if your parents casually used the term“ canon event” in conversation. In time, they may be more widely adopted, but their popularity can undoubtedly be attributed to their associated social media trends (thus distinguishing them from earlier and more common idioms and phrasings). These newfound idioms are not popularized merely by the strength of their original material, but by their subsequent virality.
“These newfound idioms are not popularized merely by the strength of their original material, but by their subsequent virality.”
So much has been lost in the post-pandemic streaming era of media that this is certainly a non-issue, but the lack of idioms and funky phrasings regularly entering the lexicon signifies a loss of whimsy. Saying“ six in one hand and half a dozen in the other” is simply more fun than saying“ these two things are the same.” Universal expressions bridge the gap among generations, so it’s hard not to feel as though the connection is faltering when we lose certain cultural touchpoints. The life span of internet boosted language just doesn’t have the staying power of the phrases borne from popular media. Even phrases like“ yeet” and“ clapback” sound dated a few years on. It’s not impossible to think that in 40 years“ spill the tea” will be an antiquated term that further alienates us from our grandkids.
