Good times for "good times"
In a survival of the fittest world in which social networking, full QWERTY keypads, and 500 channels in a basic cable package contribute to the multiple birth and quick death of new expressions, "Good Times" has adapted and thrived.Linguists originally categorized the expression as an Interjection-by-Proxy. Jimmie Walker in the 1974 Chicago ghetto situation comedy (Chighetsitcom) "Good Times" was fond of the interjection "Dy-no-mite!" and the series title grew to become an interjection in its own right.
(Expressions-by-proxy are common in Norman Lear-developed programs. The slur "Meathead" as uttered by Archie Bunker against his son in-law, Michael Stivic, evolved to the point that schoolchildren of the era would insult each other with "you All in the Family.")
But after "Good Times"' cancellation in 1979, the expression needed to accommodate the uncertain climate of hostages in Iran, the Grenada invasion, and heightening Cold War rhetoric. "Good Times!" dropped its exclamation point and became to language-watchers a Muted Ejaculation.
It was the supernova of snarker irony following the September 11 attacks, however, that saw "Good Times"' most dramatic flowering as an Ironic Gesture.
"I have the lowest approval ratings of any President since Richard Nixon went trick-or-treating as Andrew Johnson," George W. Bush said at a Rose Garden ceremony in 2007. "Good times."
Scholars have not identified every catchphrase and idiom as progressing thusly from Muted Ejaculation through Ironic Gesture, probably because the space between new editions of the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language contained the birth and death of what has come to be known as Bloggerese.
"The only good thing about bloggers is they leave a relatively small paper trail," said OED editor Sir James Blemage. "Unless they pay some service to print their LiveJournals."
So "Good Times" as Ironic Gesture might die off as hipsters get jobs and/or morning drive teams find their shows replaced by "Breakfast with the Beatles."
With daily predictions of the death of Hipster Irony confounded by the trend's heroic will to survive, however, "Good Times" has nevertheless jumped ship and changed form, this time to a transitional adverb or Disjunct, joining catch-all sentence modifiers like "Hopefully," "So anyway," and its closest sibling "LOL."
- "Good times, the family and I are planning a trip to the Grand Canyon. Hope the car makes it LOL" - e-mail from sister, 2008
- "With Karmiazin's death, good times, came news that the borders had opened" - Vilnius Bee, 2009
- "I meant to say 'memories' but I said 'mammaries,' phew, good times" - National Air And Space Museum press release, 2008
What is for sure is that I will probably shoot the next person who says it to me.
Labels: language
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