Hey there, you have A Way with Words.
Hey there, this is Edward Graves. How are you? I’m calling from Atlanta, Georgia.
Hi, Edward. Welcome.
So, it sounds really silly, but I know everybody in my world uses blah, blah, blah, but nobody knows why or where it came from.
It’s kind of a filler. So I wanted to know what the entomology of blah, blah, blah was.
Blah, blah, blah. And how do you use it? When do you say blah, blah, blah?
You know, so I guess it’s just one of those fillers, you know, in casual conversation.
And, you know, I’m not sure exactly where, you know, why I use it, but no one seems to argue with me.
I’ll just say, you know, hey, and blah, blah, blah.
So you might say it when you don’t want to explain something in full and you’re sure that they understand.
Like, well, she said to take the left and then a right and then go past the Walmart, blah, blah, blah.
So you don’t want to explain the rest of the directions.
That’s exactly right.
Okay.
But blah alone, I’m guessing it’s for you like it’s for everyone else, behaves differently when you say just one blah.
So I think if I’m using it in the correct context, it just sort of means bland, perhaps?
Yeah, exactly.
Plain, ordinary humdrum.
Yeah, feeling blah.
Oh, yeah, or having the blahs, which is feeling like kind of a malaise, an overwhelming indifference to your obligations and to life in general.
Great.
I think that what’s happening here, this is the best guess that I have, and this is what other linguists have speculated as well, is that it’s more or less an imitation of the way people speak English without words being articulated.
English kind of sounds like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And it’s probably also influenced by blab, B-L-A-B, which just means to kind of talk without any kind of self-control.
Oh, wow.
And you will actually find blab, blab, blab used in just the same way we say blah, blah, blah from more than 120 years ago before blah, blah, blah.
Wow.
Yeah.
And so you can have blah alone.
You can have two blas and you can have three blas.
And they’re each just a little different.
The two blah, blah is almost the same as the three blah, blah, blah, but it’s just a little more specific.
It’s so weird to see it in print and discern that.
Interestingly enough, it’s also used in French and German, but it’s not clear which language gave it to the other one.
So it could have originated in French, German, or English, but all three of these languages, at the very least, and probably more European languages also use in exactly the same way, just to kind of replace long text that you don’t want to say or repeat.
And I’m careful not to use it.
I work in an environment that’s very culturally diverse, and I’m always aware that not everybody understands what we say as Americans.
Oh, it’s such an idiomatic language, isn’t it?
It’s such a full of pitfalls for people who are learning English.
Well, great. Thank you. I feel empowered now.
So just one blah, please one follow.
Yeah.
Empowered to do what, Edward?
Well, now, I mean, blah, blah, blah.
I feel like I should find a way to actually complete a thought.
Right, right.
Or just put a sentence ending punctuation there and just not say blah, blah, blah.
It can be rude, particularly if you’re saying it in response to somebody telling you something you don’t want to hear.
I need you to clean your room, blah, blah, blah.
Well, I didn’t really think about it like that. But yeah, that makes sense. I’m sure if my son would have told me the same thing, I’d have a feeling about it.
I was thinking of my own son.
Well, yeah, Edward, I’m thinking of an English teacher I used to have who would jump all over us if we used etc.
She said that was lazy, you know, and maybe blah, blah, blah. Some people consider that the same thing, you know.
Say what you mean, as you were suggesting.
Yeah, it seems like a good life moment to kind of be more specific, particularly in the workplace.
Edward, thank you so much for your time with us.
We really appreciate it.
Yeah, great question.
Thank you for taking my call, guys.
All right, be well.
Take care.
