G*Nice: What's the catchphrase?

The most incredible thing about language is the way that we can invent certain words or phrases to meet our needs if real words for the most minuscule of moments don't formally exist. The generic umbrella word that covers this is "slang", I guess, and all of us have our own mixture of these that exist within our social circle. The most magical thing is when these phrases spread like a virus and go beyond our small circles into the general population.

For example, the phrase "no one talks about the elephant in the room" is a relatively new one to me. It refers to a big obvious issue that arises in a certain situation that no one mentions. An everyday example of this is when someone you know has a haircut that quite frankly is more a "hair-don't" than a "hair-do". When we are faced with this nightmare (night-hair?) rather than have to deal with it head-on, we say nothing. The silence on that particular topic is almost deafening. Only if the poor unfortunate sporting the bad "hair-don't" pipes up and asks what we think, do we feel compelled to comment, usually adopting an almost shocked wow-I-almost-didn't-notice tone. I guarantee that most of you respond with a "it's different" or "I just need to get used to it" type of answer. Incidentally, this is where I stand alone and usually tell the brutal truth, and suggest that a hat is the best option. Back to the point though, this is a great example of how the "elephant" phrase perfectly visualises a real-life moment. The beauty of these phrases we invent and adopt is that they just so perfectly capture the feeling of the almost intangible.

I heard a beautiful one recently that struck a chord for me. Actually it was more like someone hitting a gong with a sledgehammer. Let me run the scenario by you and see if you feel the magic of this phrase in the same way that I do. We have all been in situations where we are invited to a party and for whatever reason we get to a point where we have had enough and just want to leave. For whatever reason we decide that we want to make our exit without any great fanfare, to the point where we don't even want to say our goodbyes. I am the king of this by the way. I can't really explain it but I often find myself out and about with huge groups of friends and as the evening wears on, I am just done. There comes a time when the combination of the music being just too bland-housey coupled with my mates being so loud and full of party spirit, that I can't face the strife of checking out and refusing their attempts to make me stay.

So I slink out like a cat burglar, sending a few texts when I am clean away from the spot. It would be great if the dictionary had a specific word for this type of withdrawal but I am at a loss to think of one. So this is where we the people step up and invent one to meet our particular needs. The genius phrase that I came across is "slinking away like a dog in the fog!" How good is that!

Dog-Fogg-ingly yours,
G*Nice

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