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The way we keep saying "now!"

  • 14-09-2012 11:38am
    #1
    Boulevardier
    Registered Users Posts: 1,375 ✭✭✭


    I arrive in at work and turn on my computer - I say "now!" to myself. I sit down in a restaurant and my dinner is served - "now!" I say again. I give someone something they asked me for - "now!" I declare with just a hint of smugness.

    In my experience, this is a purely Irish habit, and more common with Dubliners than non-Dubliners.

    Is this correct, and if so, where did it come from?


Comments

  • #2
    Boulevardier
    Registered Users Posts: 1,375 ✭✭✭Boulevardier


    Come on you language buffs - has nobody got anything to say on this slightly odd habit?


  • #3
    oscarBravo
    Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 28,791 Mod ✭✭✭✭oscarBravo


    I've always thought of it as a learned verbal tic rather than anything actually linguistic.

    I knew a woman here in Mayo who would respond to almost anything you said to her with "now!" rather than "really? or "is that so?"


  • #4
    Boulevardier
    Registered Users Posts: 1,375 ✭✭✭Boulevardier


    Perhaps, but if so it is an Irish verbal tick; I would not agree that there is an equivalent in England or America.


  • #5
    Janey_Mac
    Registered Users Posts: 139 ✭✭Janey_Mac


    I suppose your use of it is related to its use as a topic-change marker in conversation, the same way people might say "right!" before they change the subject. Only instead of being in conversation, you're using it to mark a change in your situation or in what you're about to concentrate on for the next little while. A little verbal tic to mark beginning a task, maybe?

    As for it being purely Irish, I'm not entirely sure, because certainly when a stereotype of an English policeman enters a room saying "Now then, now then, now then, what's all this?" the use of "Now then" isn't a million miles off the conversational use of "Now" to mark topic change or a period of changed focus.

    Anyone have any thoughts, opinions or actual data on this use of "now"? I have my doubts that it's uniquely Irish, at least in the topic change sense, though perhaps the OP and some other people here extend that use to an unusual degree.


  • #6
    franc 91
    Closed Accounts Posts: 401 ✭✭franc 91


    Now then, now then - was also one of those catchphrases used by the late Jimmy Saville - but I must admit your way of using now isn't familiar to me - perhaps it's part of your personal way of thinking and expressing yourself.


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  • #7
    Boulevardier
    Registered Users Posts: 1,375 ✭✭✭Boulevardier


    The English have some similar verbalisms - I think that in the South of England, "innit" is almost constantly tacked on to the end of sentences by some socio-ethnic groups.

    However, I still cannot think of any equivalent in England to the habit many Irish people have of exclaiming "now!" every time they sit down, come into a room or unwrap a chocolate bar.


  • #8
    syklops
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,969 ✭✭✭✭syklops


    Boulevardier wrote: »
    The English have some similar verbalisms - I think that in the South of England, "innit" is almost constantly tacked on to the end of sentences by some socio-ethnic groups.

    However, I still cannot think of any equivalent in England to the habit many Irish people have of exclaiming "now!" every time they sit down, come into a room or unwrap a chocolate bar.

    If its any help, a common South Moravian(South Czech) linguistic mannerism is "tak", which means "so". Like "now", its used at the start of sentences, sometimes on its own, sometimes as a placeholder for other things.


  • #9
    franc 91
    Closed Accounts Posts: 401 ✭✭franc 91


    In French it would probably be - et voilà, perhaps an English equivalent would be - there you go.


  • #10
    syklops
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,969 ✭✭✭✭syklops


    franc 91 wrote: »
    In French it would probably be - et voilà, perhaps an English equivalent would be - there you go.

    Im not sure it is the same thing. Do the French say it et voila, when they suddenly sit down some where, or stand up somewhere, etc?


  • #11
    syklops
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,969 ✭✭✭✭syklops


    Boulevardier wrote: »
    The English have some similar verbalisms - I think that in the South of England, "innit" is almost constantly tacked on to the end of sentences by some socio-ethnic groups.

    However, I still cannot think of any equivalent in England to the habit many Irish people have of exclaiming "now!" every time they sit down, come into a room or unwrap a chocolate bar.

    The new innit, is "Is it", which for some reason annoys the bejaysus out of me. I've looked online for some kind of explanation, but never found any.


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  • #12
    franc 91
    Closed Accounts Posts: 401 ✭✭franc 91


    Et voilà is a sort of general-purpose expression that I would use in this kind of situation, there's also - ça y est - or c'est parti (mon kiki) that could be used in this context.


  • #13
    Boulevardier
    Registered Users Posts: 1,375 ✭✭✭Boulevardier


    The German use of "so" is another possible parallel verbalism, but again it ios not used as a frequent exclamation the way "now!" is.


  • #14
    Janey_Mac
    Registered Users Posts: 139 ✭✭Janey_Mac


    Boulevardier wrote: »
    The English have some similar verbalisms - I think that in the South of England, "innit" is almost constantly tacked on to the end of sentences by some socio-ethnic groups.

    However, I still cannot think of any equivalent in England to the habit many Irish people have of exclaiming "now!" every time they sit down, come into a room or unwrap a chocolate bar.


    "Innit" is used very differently to "Now" though. It's tacked on at the end of a sentence, and its function was originally to seek agreement (isn't it?) in a rhetorical way. It's kind of like saying "and I'm right, amn't I?" at the end of every sentence.

    "Now" like "Right" and "So" and "Now then" and "'OK" and probably dozens of others, indicates a change of topic. It says to listeners "Start paying attention!"

    I can't think of any equivalent of your "Now" (the one you say to yourself when starting a new task) that's used in the UK, but I'll be over there in a few weeks so I'll eavesdrop in the name of linguistics! :)


  • #15
    Janey_Mac
    Registered Users Posts: 139 ✭✭Janey_Mac


    syklops wrote: »
    The new innit, is "Is it", which for some reason annoys the bejaysus out of me. I've looked online for some kind of explanation, but never found any.

    Ooh, interesting. Is "is it" it used in the same way as "innit" and by the same kinds of groups?

    I know I've noticed that people from India often use "isn't it?" at the end of a sentence we'd use "don't I?" or "haven't they?" or "aren't we?" As in:
    I have to be back from lunch on time, isn't it?
    They have too much time on their hands, isn't it?
    We're all fed up with the weather, isn't it?

    It's like "isn't it" has become stripped of its grammar: it doesn't have to match up with the subject and verb of the sentence. Which is kinda cool.


  • #16
    oscarBravo
    Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 28,791 Mod ✭✭✭✭oscarBravo


    My experience is that "is it?" has developed as a reflexive response to "innit?" - for example:

    "I got me a new motor, innit?" (I recently acquired a new vehicle.)

    "Is it?" (Did you, indeed?)


  • #17
    franc 91
    Closed Accounts Posts: 401 ✭✭franc 91


    It's long time since I was in London and had the opportunity of taking the time to listen in to some authentic conversation - such as you used to hear in a caff, but I seem to remember that a Londoner would finish that sentence with the tag - didn't I? (pronounced vaguely as din'n I)


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