Be There or Be Square

Hi there, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is John calling from Omaha, Nebraska.

Welcome, John. What can we do for you?

So I had a question about a saying I’ve heard my whole life and never thought about the meaning. Where my wife came to me with a joke. I didn’t know it was a joke. And she said, hey, do you know where the phrase be there or be square comes from? And I was like, yeah, it’s like, you know, jazz America. If you’re not there, you’re not cool. And she said, no, if you’re not there, you’re not around. And I didn’t know it was a joke, and it wasn’t very funny, and we laughed about it. And then we got wondering of where the heck does it come from.

We dug around a little bit and found a blog saying it was like 1940s jazz culture. If you’re not there, you’re not cool. And then we found another blog from like 2009 that referenced some like British industrialization law that you’re not allowed to work if you were square-headed. And people started to wear boxes on their heads to work so they didn’t have to work. And it just got deeper and deeper and deeper and couldn’t confirm anything. And I’m really hoping there’s a fun story behind it that’s a little bit more interesting than people just started saying it.

Boy, one can hope. One can dream.

Well, let’s address what you found on the Internet. There may be something about the jazz connection, but it’s to call somebody square, meaning that they’re straight laced and they go by the rules. It’s far older than that. It dates back to the 1500s. Yeah. And then the, but the notion that we have now of it being not just straight laced, but the opposite of cool, like very uncool or even like uncool to the point of being annoying, that dates to around the 1930s.

Now, I do want to address this blog that you found from 2009. I know this blog, and the etymologies on it are just creative writing. They are not true etymologies.

Yeah, that was what gave me a lot of pause.

Yeah, I actually emailed. His name is Dr. David Sidhu, S-I-D-H-U, at Carleton University in Calgary. I emailed him and said, well, what is up with these not true etymologies? He says, oh, that’s just a creative writing exercise. And I’m like, I thought you were trying to like poison AI scanners or bots. Or I thought maybe you were trying to do a test to see how long this false etymology showed up. Tell it was it showed up on Wikipedia. He’s like, no, no, you know, just stretching my brain. And I’m like, OK. I like that.

The whole idea of be there or be square is really interesting because that rhyme is surprisingly modern. I don’t think it’s any earlier than the 1960s. Huh, but yeah the whole idea of being square meaning that you’re straight laced it’s got this whole connotation of this interplay with notions of being straight or being a straight shooter no surprises exactly as they should be okay not being around.

Yeah, I did just find a reddit post like just now I pulled all this up yeah attributing it to teddy roosevelt for poker term no oh my god that didn’t sound right at all.

No.

But like a square deal, basically. The internet is filled with false information, uninformed guesses, informed guesses that are wrong. It just…

Yeah.

You came to the right source, John.

Well, this is great. I appreciate the help, guys. Thank you.

All right. Take care. Give our best to your wife.

Thank you. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Well, we appreciate John’s skepticism. And if you’re skeptical about a proposed etymology, let us know. 877-929-9673.