Using “Big Old” for Drama or Emphasis

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, I’m Sam, and I was calling with a question about water towers.

Water towers where?

Water towers in northern Illinois, St. Charles to be specific.

Okay.

Okay. Is that where you are, Sam?

Yes. Yep.

Okay.

A few years ago in my hometown, they put up a new water tower.

And I was driving past it, and I was on the phone with my mother.

And she asked where I was,

And I told her that I was by, quote, the big old water tower by the river.

And she stopped me to say, what are you talking about?

They just put that water tower up.

It’s not old at all.

And I was just totally gobsmacked because I have never it never would have even occurred to me to use the phrase big old to describe something that is both big and old.

It’s always exclusively meant big for me.

And so I was curious about the origins of Big Ol, along with things like Good Ol and Grand Ol.

Sam, this is so good. This is so good, Martha. This is so good.

It’s so good, and Sam’s been festering about this for years now.

It’s funny that you should say festering, because I was just thinking like, yeah, because the example that I was going to think of,

You could describe somebody as like, oh, yeah, he had a big old pimple in the middle of his forehead.

And it doesn’t have to be old.

It started yesterday.

It ain’t that old, you know?

But we use old for emphasis, right?

We use it to just kind of indicate like this staggering importance of this thing at the moment.

It’s all about stressing it.

It’s about oomph, you know?

It’s about really showing its significance.

And old is something that we attach importance to.

So that’s why we toss it in there just for a little extra drama.

Fascinating yeah so it just it just exemplifies whatever it’s paired with yeah yeah yeah why that

Might be because we’re kind of an emphatic people really that’s pretty much it yeah we just

We just you know for the sake of emphasis we do this with a lot of things i say we meaning

English speakers but i think most humans do this we well humans are storytellers even to the

Smallest degree, even in the tiniest of sentences, we’ll spice it up a little bit. We throw a little

Extra vim and vigor in there, put a little salt on it. But yeah, old here doesn’t mean old,

And you can tell your mom I said that.

All right, I’ll pass it on, and I’ll keep adding that

Storytelling emphasis to my sentences.

Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you for the insight. I don’t know that

We helped you with the water tower, but may the water flow.

Yes, yes, indeed. Take care of yourself,

Sam. Thank you, Grant and Martha. It’s been a pleasure speaking with you both.

Same, same. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye. Do you have a big old question for us? We’d love to take it on. 877-929-9673.