When did "say" become "go"?

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Gregory Toomey - 04 Jan 2004 05:21 GMT

So Mary goes "What are you doing here?"
Then I go "Waiting for John"
And Marcia went "None of you business, whatever"

In Australia, we had a comedy character "Kylie Mole" (no relation to to Kylie Minogue) who became infamous for her "she goes, she goes" routine.

So where did all this "go"ing start?

gtoomey

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andrew - 04 Jan 2004 05:57 GMT

> So Mary goes "What are you doing here?"
> Then I go "Waiting for John"
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> So where did all this "go"ing start?

Oh that's nothing. Have you heard "be (all) like"? It's common among young
girls. It's used mostly to introduce emphatic quotes I think. For example:

She was like, "what do you think you're doing?" And I was all like, "none of
your business!"

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Michael Hamm - 04 Jan 2004 06:32 GMT

> Oh that's nothing. Have you heard "be (all) like"? It's common among
> young girls. It's used mostly to introduce emphatic quotes I think. For
> example:
>
> She was like, "what do you think you're doing?"

I have heard -- and this makes sense -- that it is used for paraphrases in
a case where one doesn't remember the words used and doesn't wish to
misquote. Instead of lying, saying "he said, 'The end of the world is
upon us'", the speaker can tell the truth, saying, "he was like, 'The end
of the world is upon us'".

Michael Hamm Since mid-September of 2003,
AM, Math, Wash. U. St. Louis I've been erasing too much UBE.
msh210@math.wustl.edu Of a reply, then, if you have been cheated,
http://math.wustl.edu/~msh210/ Likely your mail's by mistake been deleted.

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R J Valentine - 04 Jan 2004 07:36 GMT

} On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 05:57:44 GMT, andrew <andrew@wicked.as> wrote, in
} part:
}> Oh that's nothing. Have you heard "be (all) like"? It's common among
}> young girls. It's used mostly to introduce emphatic quotes I think. For
}> example:
}>
}> She was like, "what do you think you're doing?"
}
} I have heard -- and this makes sense -- that it is used for paraphrases in
} a case where one doesn't remember the words used and doesn't wish to
} misquote. Instead of lying, saying "he said, 'The end of the world is
} upon us'", the speaker can tell the truth, saying, "he was like, 'The end
} of the world is upon us'".

It's also used for a facial expression or other gesture that can be taken
to mean what is apparently quoted:

The smokey old car barely got ahead of Rey on the hill when it pulled
in front of him. Rey was like, "What do you think you are doing?" The
other driver was like, "I don't care for your tone."

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R. J. Valentine <mailto:rj@smart.net>

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Reinhold (Rey) Aman - 04 Jan 2004 08:05 GMT

> Michael Hamm wrote:

[...]

> } I have heard -- and this makes sense -- that it is used for paraphrases
> } in a case where one doesn't remember the words used and doesn't wish to
> } misquote. Instead of lying, saying "he said, 'The end of the world is
> } upon us'", the speaker can tell the truth, saying, "he was like, 'The
> } end of the world is upon us'".

> It's also used for a facial expression or other gesture that can be
> taken to mean what is apparently quoted:
>
> The smokey old car barely got ahead of Rey on the hill when it pulled
> in front of him. Rey was like, "What do you think you are doing?"
> The other driver was like, "I don't care for your tone."

Nice paraphrasing of the actual, verbatim exchange: "What the f.ck are
you doing, you stupid Meskin c.nt!?" -- "¡Chíngate, pinche gringo!"

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Reinhold (Rey) Aman

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DE781 - 04 Jan 2004 23:25 GMT

Hamm:

>Instead of lying, saying "he said, 'The end of the world is
>upon us'", the speaker can tell the truth, saying, "he was like, 'The end
>of the world is upon us'".

At least *someone* here has brains when it comes to "like".

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Ray Heindl - 04 Jan 2004 22:05 GMT

>> So Mary goes "What are you doing here?"
>> Then I go "Waiting for John"
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> She was like, "what do you think you're doing?" And I was all
> like, "none of your business!"

Wouldn't that usually be in the historic present tense? That's how I
usually hear it:

She's like, "what do you think you're doing?" And I'm all
like, "none of your business!"

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Ray Heindl
(remove the Xs to reply)

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Peter Morris - 05 Jan 2004 02:17 GMT

> > So Mary goes "What are you doing here?"
> > Then I go "Waiting for John"
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> She was like, "what do you think you're doing?" And I was all like, "none of
> your business!"

or "turns round"

... so he turns round and he goes "what do you mean" and I'm all like "
well
oviously" but he turns round and he's like "no way" so I turn round and I'm
like "way" and he...

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Raymond S. Wise - 04 Jan 2004 06:23 GMT

> So Mary goes "What are you doing here?"
> Then I go "Waiting for John"
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> gtoomey

You might find the following to be of interest:

From the AHD4 at
http://www.bartleby.com/61/76/G0167600.html

[quote]

go 1

[...]

TRANSITIVE VERB: [....] 9. To say or utter. Used chiefly in verbal
narration: _First I go, "Thank you," then he goes, "What for?"_

[...]

OUR LIVING LANGUAGE: _Go_ has long been used to describe the production of
nonlinguistic noises, notably in conversation with children, as in _The
train went "toot." The cow goes "moo."_ In recent years, however, many
speakers have begun to use _go_ in informal conversation to report speech,
as in _Then he goes, "You think you're_ real _smart, don't you?"_ This usage
parallels the quotation introducers _be all_ and _be like._ But unlike these
other expressions, which can indicate thoughts or attitudes, the quotational
use of _go_ is largely restricted to dialogue related in the narrative
present, especially when the narrator wishes to mimic the accent or
intonation of the original speaker. See Notes at all, like2.

[end quote]

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Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

mplsray @ yahoo . com

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andrew - 04 Jan 2004 06:36 GMT

> TRANSITIVE VERB: [....] 9. To say or utter. Used chiefly in verbal
> narration: _First I go, "Thank you," then he goes, "What for?"_
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> present, especially when the narrator wishes to mimic the accent or
> intonation of the original speaker. See Notes at all, like2.

The notes at "all" and "like" are interesting too. They even mention my
state, California. No wonder I hear this usage all the time!

http://www.bartleby.com/61/52/A0205200.html

OUR LIVING LANGUAGE:Among the newest ways of introducing direct speech in
the United States is the construction consisting of a form of be with all,
as in I'm all, "I'm not gonna do that!" And she's all, "Yes you are!" This
construction is particularly common in the animated speech of young people
in California and elsewhere on the West Coast, who use it more frequently
than the informal East Coast alternatives, be like and go, as in He's like
(or goes), "I'm not gonna do that!" These indicators of direct speech tend
to be used more often with pronoun subjects (He's all, "I'm not..") than
with nouns (The man's all, "I'm not.."), and with the historical present
(He's all..) than with the past (He was all..). All of these locutions can
introduce a gesture or facial expression rather than a quotation, as in He's
all.. followed by a shrug of the shoulders. Be all and be like can also
preface a statement that sums up an attitude, as in "I'm all 'No way!'" See
Notes at go1, like2.

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Lars Eighner - 04 Jan 2004 07:47 GMT

In our last episode,
<1176634.gDfXBQeTJl@gregs-web-hosting-and-pickle-farming>,
the lovely and talented Gregory Toomey
broadcast on alt.usage.english:

> So Mary goes "What are you doing here?"
> Then I go "Waiting for John"
> And Marcia went "None of you business, whatever"

> In Australia, we had a comedy character "Kylie Mole" (no relation
> to to Kylie Minogue) who became infamous for her "she goes, she
> goes" routine.

> So where did all this "go"ing start?

I'm a 55-year-old American, I have heard this use of "go" all of my
life. At first it was often accompanied with a dramatic interpretation
of the quoted words or might not involve words at all but would introduce
an enactment of a physical gesture, shrug, wink, or something of the sort.
As that required effort, however slight, "go" was seldom used in narrating
an extented dialog, but was mostly reserved for those speeches which
require some illustration in order to convey their original sense.
I first noticed "go" being used entirely in place of "say" in the speech
of some young people about twenty years ago.

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Lars Eighner -finger for geek code- eighner@io.com http://www.io.com/~eighner/
There is not enough magic in a bloodline to forge an instant, irrevocable bond.
--James Earl Jones

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Donna Richoux - 04 Jan 2004 14:00 GMT

> So Mary goes "What are you doing here?"
> Then I go "Waiting for John"
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
> So where did all this "go"ing start?

I can give you a when, roughly. The Random House Historical Dictionary
of American Slang (RHHDAS) has as its first citation for this meaning:

1942 in _Journal of Genetic Psychology LXVI (1945) p
132: Go... to say. "He goes, 'Well, what did you
do?' and I go, 'I didn't do nothing."

Their next citation is in 1966, then heavily in the 1970s and 80s.
They call the whole thing "originally juvenile" and they name three
papers in which it is discussed, which I can copy out if anyone is
seriously interested.

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Best -- Donna Richoux

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R F - 04 Jan 2004 20:02 GMT

> > So Mary goes "What are you doing here?"
> > Then I go "Waiting for John"
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> papers in which it is discussed, which I can copy out if anyone is
> seriously interested.

I remember the phenomenon being discussed in school by teachers in the
early '80s, which is also when I first remember the use of "be like" for
"sententially reporting a state of mind". My sense is that the use of
"go" for "say" has practically disappeared, and that "be like", meanwhile,
has expanded beyond 'state of mind' and is now used very generally for
"reported speech with no claim of accuracy" without losing its earlier
"state of mind" usage. IOW, "be like" has replaced "go" in AmE, ADDIYAM.

Perhaps "go" is still available for reported speech with a higher claim of
accuracy than "be like" offers, but I feel that I hear "says" more than
"goes" nowadays.

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John Holmes - 04 Jan 2004 14:42 GMT

> In Australia, we had a comedy character "Kylie Mole" (no relation to
> to Kylie Minogue) who became infamous for her "she goes, she goes"
> routine.
>
> So where did all this "go"ing start?

Some time in the 1950s or earlier. It took a few decades for most people
to notice.

--
Regards
John

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004

When did "say" become "go"?