14 Common Expressions Younger Generations Won’t Understand

14 Common Expressions Younger Generations Won’t Understand Etymology is fun! It’s especially fun to learn about the quaint old-fashioned practices that gave rise to some of the words we use. Stereotype comes from printing, hard-up comes from sailing, pipe dream comes from opium dens. Cultural practices change, technology changes, but words stick around—and not just in some long ago, far away place. It’s happening all around us as we speak. That’s right. Kids these days don’t know where hang up comes from, and those of us who remember the pre-cell phone era are already receding into the mysterious, etymological past. Here are 15 etymologies to answer the questions of future English speakers. Because the future is already here. 1. WHY DO WE “HANG UP” A PHONE? Phones used to have two parts to them, a base and a receiver. In order to end a call, the receiver had to be placed or “hung” on the base. 2. WHY DO WE “DIAL” A PHONE? To call someone on an old phone, you had to stick your finger in a rotating dial at number positions that would turn the dial for various lengths of time when released. You had to do the entire […]