CATCHWORDS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2562, 3 April 1923, Page 4

CATCHWORDS.

HUMOUR WITHOUT MEANING

The Magistrate who recently inquired the meaning of the phrase “There you are, then!” as used by a witness, was at once informed by an omniscient constable that the saying was a very popular catchword. That could not have helped him much, for the essential of a catchword is that it shall have no meaning. This particular one is dead, and when a catchword is dead, luckily it is, as novelists sometimes say, “quite dead.” Who has heard of a catchword being resurrected (asks an English writer). One wonders what would happen to some of the insane sayings if they achieved a second time on earth. One must be middle-aged to, recall the “Whoa Emma!” and “Tommy make room for your uncle,” of the early ’seventies. Both these classic sayings originated in comic songs. On the other hand, no one seems to be aware of the origin of the question “How’s your poor feet?” which spread all over London about the same period. “Does your mother know you’re out?” and “Get your hair cut!” were of Hater date, in the year 1880 or thereabouts if was considered the height of Cockney smartness to hurl the former question at every person, young, middle-aged, and old. About the same time the question, “Woteher?” (“What cheer?”) enjoyed an enormous vogue. “Chase me!” was suddenly dropped in favour of an optimistic assurance to the effect that “Now we shan’t be long.” Hardly had this statement gone the way of all catchwords, when it was replaced by a phrase somewhat more bellicose than the ordinary catchword, “Let ’em all come!”' was the challenge, and this brave outburst was eventually superseded in its turn by “My word! If I catch you bending!” It is believed that Mr George Robey was the originator of this gracefully veiled threat, “Not in these (in abbreviation of “Not in ther-e trousers!”) held a brief, inglorious sway, but it was capable of being understood and therefore died young. During the war the catchwords did not arise to any extent. The politicians were too busy inventing them and like spirits, they do not seem to come “when you call on them.” Perhaps the only phrase that, enjoyed a kind of vogue was “D’ye get me, Steve?” This was Canadian, and not home-grown. “There you are, then!” is waning. The next catchword will doubtless be equally silly. For silliness is the lifeblood of the successful cat-ch-word. A phrase that held any kind of sense would not last live minutes.