In this day and age, we tend to use a lot of idioms, phrases or sayings, to emphasise our meaning or prove our point; anything to display our superior intellect; however, many phrases we use today are constantly misused.
So, I’ll be discussing a few and hopefully you’ll learn a better way to use them, a new one to use or stop using them all together.
The intro to the first line was deliberately chosen; ‘in this day and age’, it’s quite popular and unlike some I’m about to discuss, its meaning is pretty straightforward, it means, ‘in modern times’ or ‘these days’, in other words, what is characteristic of the current period.
Now, let’s talk about the ones we get wrong:
- The customer is always right.
If any of my readers work or have worked in the retail sector, service industry or any other occupation that is heavily dependent on repeat business, you have no-doubt heard this phrase from a supervisor, manager or an actual customer before.
Here’s the thing though, the complete phrase goes like this:
- The customer is always right in matters of taste.
This means that if the customer decides that a stripe tie, should go with a polka-dot shirt and a plaid pants, you have no right to dispute their style or ‘taste’ regarding the matter; you’re here to make a sale.
The problem arises when the customer makes a request that is clearly against established policy and follows-up with ‘the customer is always right’ or worse, you’re overridden by a spineless manager who only got the job because he’s related to the owner and has no clear understanding of his/her role; they proceed with the customers’ request who leaves feeling vindicated while sneering at you for being difficult; the manager then lambastes you before the staff and other customers, even though you were just doing your job.
Now every time that customer returns, you deliberately avoid them, because, even if you were proven correct later on and the manager was reprimanded, that customer will never be advised unless a similar situation occurs, so they believe they’ve won, and that the customer is indeed ‘always’ right.
Another favourite of ours is:
- Jack of all trades and master of none.
We oftentimes tend to use this one derogatorily, attempting to throw shade on someone’s abilities, almost saying they’re a know-it-all but not good enough to be professional at any one of the ‘all’ that they know.
The complete phrase, however, actually goes like this:
- Jack of all trades and master of none, is still better than a master of one.
This puts a spin on things; suddenly, the Jack doesn’t look too bad from this angle.
Here’s a scenario, there are two rooms, each equipped with all the material required to build a car from scratch; in one room is the world’s foremost expert on internal combustion engines; his designs are used globally by every automobile manufacturer, in short, he can build the best engine, been doing it his whole life, day in, day out, engines, engines, engines; he doesn’t know a damn thing about welding, spray painting, carpeting, headlights or tail lights, nothing but engines.
In the other room, there’s Jack, who helped his father build an engine, so he knows his way around the block, the engine block, he spent a summer in a garage helping the body man repair and repaint cars, so he has limited grasp of paint mixing, he did a semester in England where he met a girl whose father was an electrician, and though he didn’t get the girl, he got knowledge about electrical systems; all-in-all, he could do a fair job in assembling a functioning car.
At the end of whatever time period is assigned to them, who do you believe will come close to, if not achieve the goal of ‘a car’? Jack right? Of course, so don’t berate the Jacks of this world, they should be revered; this world is not run on perfection, instead it is held together by a whole lot of imperfect things, working perfectly together.
Last, but not at all least, there’s this one:
- Blood is thicker than water.
So, here’s the thing, I wrote a post last month entitled: Family. Business. In it I discussed the dangers of mixing the two, and to aid in my deliberations, I expanded on the above phrase.
In its current state, the phrase simply means that family bonds are stronger than any other, and thus should be treated as such; however, after some research, I found an expansion to this phrase that goes as follows:
- The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.
This in effect is advocating the opposite of how the phrase is used; however, after even further, deeper, research, I discovered that this expansion is essentially a hijacking of the original phrase used to assist a self-described congregational leader in bringing across his sermon for the day; much like verses of the bible may be interpreted differently, so too has this idiom been re-interpreted to serve a ‘higher calling’; this was in 1994. However, the accurate actual phrase can be traced back to 1180 AD, and thus the meaning stands, ‘Blood is thicker than water’.
While this revelation does not detract from the message of my post, I thought it necessary to correct my findings.
The short form of the phrase is the correct form.
I’m sure there are other idioms that have fallen prey to the ravages and savages of time, with people deliberately or accidentally adjusting, misinterpreting, or abbreviating phrases to suit their own agendas.
I now ask that we take the time to properly understand the words we use every day to help our causes, if for nothing other than to ensure we are not inadvertently doing harm, similar to what I did.
In this day and age of the internet, social media and the like, we are plagued with gurus, experts, entrepreneurs and viral seeking influencers that bombard us with cures, remedies and ‘wise words’, all in the name of science and math and history, with their only proof of credentials, the number of followers they have.
To avoid being inundated by (incorrect) abbreviations, just, take a beat, open a new tab, and see if there is any actual proof to what your favourite ‘internet famous’ is suggesting; remember, it’s called going ‘viral’ for a reason, if you’re not careful, you could get infected.
Later.
Thanks for indulging my ramblings. If you enjoyed my deliberations, be sure to check out my thriller novels The Martial Art and On Jamaica Government Service on various platforms. They’re available in eBook, Paperback and Hardcover, and Audiobooks coming soon.
However, if you’re having commitment issues, check out my FREE short story, The Martial Art Origins: Severance, available as a free download.
You can explore my site for more interesting content.
Keep Reading. Cheers.
Dane