Keeping pace

[vvvexation]

Sometimes, it seems, the times change so fast that language has a tough time keeping up.

For example, I see that marketers are starting to use the phrase "This is not your grandfather's X" for values of X that did not exist in any form whatsoever as little as fifteen years ago.

I imagine it's only a matter of time before "your grandfather's X" refers to anything six months or more out of date.

*sigh*

Comments

[ocicat.livejournal.com]

Not really related to your rant, but my favorite useage of the phrase was on a T-shirt for a campus Lindy Hop group:

"This is not your grandfather's dancing!

(picture of lindy hoppers)

...Oh wait. Yes it is."

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's not really a rant. I'm not annoyed by this usage, just somewhat bemused.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

As for the T-shirt, though, a candidate for student government at my high school once put up posters that said:

"They don't call him 'Tom' for nothing.

"...okay, they do. But hey! Vote for him anyway."

or words to that effect.

[rubicantoto.livejournal.com]

Did the shirt then babble on indecisively:

"Or *do* they call him that for nothing? I mean, aren't names just arbitrary identifiers to begin with? 'A rose by any other name' and all that..."

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Would've been interesting if it had, but it also would've lacked punch so it was probably good (from a campaigning perspective) that it didn't.

[terpsichoros.livejournal.com]

I remember, before they euthanized the brand, "This is not your father's Oldfolksmobile." That was true - my parents was a much more reliable car than anything GM made since 1980.

[elgecko.livejournal.com]

It's a play on a wildly successful car commercial form the 80's and 90's. Oldsmobile were trying to shed a reputation for making styles that were suited for old men. They developed the slogan "This is NOT your father's Oldsmobile". It caught on as a marketing campaign but the cars were still not the best. The phrase later on got expanded in usage and exaggerated in scope, yielding what you have now. =)

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Mm. That makes a little more sense, but it's still kind of silly to refer to things like "your grandfather's ebook reader" as if I've got an image in my head of the kind of ebook reader my grandfather would use, when he certainly wouldn't use one at all.

[flwyd.livejournal.com]

This is not yourgrandfathersspace.com

[nonlinearsystem.livejournal.com]

This is not your grandfather's anagram generator:

http://wordsmith.org/anagram/index.html

Best of luck!
(bet sock flu)

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Oh, believe me, I've been using it. Especially thanks to ximenean.