Oxymoronic bloviation

Okay, I am having a bad day. So, to try to deal with the stress of the day I found myself siting and thinking about the idiocy of how we do things in life. First off, why do banks charge you fees for overdrawing your account while your account is still empty? They already know you have no money so why do they do this? Well, I think the reason why is so that they can be assured to charge you even more fees because once you put money in your account to cover something you suddenly find you still have no money, and more fees. This is ridiculous as a business practice, but it is also common and accepted as normal. That is the part that struck me, when we hear and see things over and over again, they become normal. We stop putting any thought into the reality of what is happening or what is being said. In real life these things are usually not much fun, but when you look at the words we use, instead of life situations, then you start to find things that are fun, and entertaining.

I don't want to become a maleficent lexicographer but some words and phrases just become downright entertaining when you start to break them down.

First victim, I will use it in a sentence.

"I am hungry, lets go chow down."

Let us peruse and parse this phrase, specifically the chow down at the end of this sentence. You have read the sentence and if you are an English, or at least a speaker of Americanized English, you can surmise that this person wishes to sit someplace and have a bite to eat. You may even be able to interpret that they wish to do so relatively soon. If you read this sentence and came to this conclusion, the question I have for you is how exactly did you make that determination? Lets break this two word idiom down into its pieces and take a look at what the words mean shall we?

Chow-–noun -- food, esp. hearty dishes or a meal.

Down-from higher to lower; in descending direction or order

Now taking what the two words mean it becomes a little less obvious what is being said. Read the sentence again like this.

" I am hungry, lets go 'move a hearty meal from a higher to lower position'"

That just doesn't convey the same information as the first read now does it. How exactly do we add these other meanings to words we use? Maybe it makes sense if you consider looking at the opposites. It really is illogical to use the word "down" to discuss food or eating because the two have nothing to do with each other. Down is a direction, lets look at its antitheses, which would be the word "up".

Now it all makes sense to me.

Up-to, toward, or in a more elevated position

What exactly does this have to do with food? Nothing unless you add another word just as was done with down. In the case of down the word chow was placed in front of it, with the word up, you just add the word chuck behind it. Let us explore the word chuck.

chuck-to toss; throw with a quick motion, usually a short distance

When combined you now have the definition of the opposite of chow down which would be upchuck.

upchuck- eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth

Now it all seems logical, up is the opposite of down, upchuck is the opposite of chow down.


(Having a bad day, can you tell?)