Colloquialisms are something that mean alot to me, maybe because of where I come from, a place which is constantly producing strange words from cliques of friends and social groups, and also receiving words from everywhere which, although sometimes for only a while almost become like catch phrases for some people.
Colloquialisms are very amazing, unique things. Created from communication and creativity, sometimes even makeing it into the dictionary, here is what wikipedia has to say on the matter;
'Colloquialisms are often used primarily within a limited geographical area, known by linguists to spread through normal conversational interaction of a language, although more often now through informal online interaction. A common example given is the regional term used by people when describing a carbonated soft drink. In the Upper Midwestern United States, in common with Canada, it is commonly called "pop", while in other areas, notably the Northeastern and extreme Western United States, it is referred to as "soda". In the Southern United States, perhaps due to being the birth place of Coca-Cola, it is commonly called "Coke" regardless of brand. Some southerners even refer to soft drinks as "dope." The common belief is that this is an outdated reference to stimulant properties contained in these drinks.[discuss]New England it is occasionally called "tonic." In some areas of Scotland it is referred to as "ginger", and confusion over whether this term referred to all soft drinks or just ginger beer was apparent in the case of In Donoghue v Stevenson.'
Colloquialisms can be very intresting and inovative like describing something as 'pin' to mean it is a small ammount, or stranger ones like 'peng' for something to be good.
I use many Colloquialisms which i didn't realise were such local terms until I moved to Suffolk from Kent like the ones I previously mentioned but also 'Gavvers' for police, 'Gatter' for alcohol, 'Jank' for something gross or rank. one of my personal favorites is 'bopping' a word which means walking which in the future tense would be to 'bop' or 'bop along', a personally hated term which also means to walk or go somewhere is 'gel' usually said 'gel-on' which means 'keep walking' or even 'fuck off', to describe your self would be 'time to gel'
Some even evolve over time, maybe from people moveing on the shorter more effective terms or maybe new places trying to make it there own for instances calling a friend 'brother'.
then it became common place with hippies and any other social group who idolised peace and friendship between man. 'Bretherin' is a olde times way of saying brother but became quite a popular term with a few, sightly chavy, social groups, and then became 'Bruv' as we know too well now days. Although, maybe the last evolution but my favorite is 'Blood' and for me that implies shared blood, a family member.
Of course it will never stop, 'bro' has been in our language for decades now but its started to become common place to pronounce it 'bra' maybe not everywhere but certainly where I come from but mostly it is used as a kind of comical phrase, no one would say it during a serious situation.
Another example you might be familiar with id the phrase 'isit' said to express shock and ask for another confirmation of the factual basis of the information recently shared, to replace saying 'really?'
I've met a few south Africans in my time and used to want to live there looking after big cats, elephants and other animals in south Africa. I've learnt a few Colloquialisms terms and they are always interesting to think about, like 'fok' for 'fuck', 'Dutchman' for a white African, 'NotHot' for a dark skinned African, 'Dossing' means sleeping or taking a nap which of course in England means slacking off and whats interesting about that is 'bunking' is another word for 'dossing', 'bunking' could easily mean sleeping and must have a link to sleeping instead of working which explains how it became a nationwide recognised term.
I decided to look these up one day because I couldn't remember what exactly a couple meant or if they had multiple meanings.
On wikipedia I found this about the term 'isit':
isit - (pronounced: \izit\) the words "is" and "it" put together. Short term for "Is that so?" (For example: John: "Bra, I just found out I have a million dollars!" Charles: "Isit?"; or: John: "Bru, you would not believe how amazing it felt to footskate in front of all those people." Charles: "Isit?") Also, it can mean "really?"
amazing that so many slag words from just south Africa are already engrained into our language, I guess a lot of the English language id already made of other European words but i didn't think other languages were still influencing how we speak and even express ourselves.
I love words and trying to express myself, my feelings and ideas I have with stories. It is a beautiful thing to be interested in but also because words are the only way we have to literally describe anything a lack of interesting and diverse words can leave you emotionally stunted or a walking cliche' (a quick but interesting note thanks to wikipedia again, 'In printing, a cliche was a printing plate cast from movable type. This is also called a stereotype')'. printers slang? really? I hope the parade of the blind leading the gullible that is Wikipedia actually has some truth on this subject because if the word cliche actually was just printers slag for a piece of equipment then I wonder how commonplace niche' words, which are created each day, will be in the future.
Colloquialisms are not created on purpose, just as you can't force a meme on the internet, the proof being Millhouse from the Simpsons and the meme of 'Millhouse is not a meme'.
Colloquialisms are things similar to player decided objectives for computer games, someone sees something unique and makes it recognised.
As a writer of poetry, songs and stories in many forms, my language is an extension of my self and forever this quote will be my motto and benchmark in terms of always trying to be as expressive as possible:
“My language is the universal whore whom I have to make into a virgin.” —Karl Kraus
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