In San Diego, a man says increasingly he hears the phrase down the pike at work but suspects it was originally down the pipe. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Down the Pike”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Brian Taylor from San Diego.
Hello, Brian.
Hi, Brian.
How are you doing today, both of you?
Super duper.
We’re doing well, and yourself?
I’m doing really well. It’s my birthday today, so I’m feeling great.
Brian, happy birthday. How many are you?
Thank you. 3-1, the big 3-1.
Oh.
Wow, that’s a lot of extra cake.
Yeah.
Last year was really the big year. 31’s not so bad.
Actually, yeah, I think all the luster wears off after 30.
Right, and your hair starts growing.
Yeah.
So what are you going to do to celebrate?
I think maybe go out to a nice dinner.
You know, last year on my 30th birthday I went skydiving, so that was a big thing.
But today seems pretty low-key so far.
Skydiving, calling A Way with Words.
Your life is going downhill from here on now.
Hey, you know what?
Well, how can we make your day even better?
Well, I had a question I’ve been pondering, or a phrase, rather, that I’ve been wondering about.
And basically, I’m in a lot of conference calls and discussions and meetings where we’re talking a lot about upcoming projects or events and things like that.
And one of the phrases I’ve been hearing is coming down the pipe, as in something that’s forthcoming.
And recently, I’ve been hearing another, or basically the same variation of the same phrase, but they say coming down the pike, as in P-I-K-E.
So I’ve heard pipe and pike, and to me, coming down the pipe sounds logical because maybe it suggests pipeline or something coming down the pipe.
But pike, I’ve heard that recently, and I don’t know if that’s the right terminology or the right word, and you look up pike in the dictionary, and there’s like six different definitions, so I’m just wondering now where you two weigh in on that.
Okay, and it’s not as if you work in plumbing or anything.
No, yeah.
No.
More like sales business and, you know, just to describe projects and things that are forthcoming.
So we’ve got to get to the calendar.
It’s coming down the pipe or coming down the pipe.
Would you be terribly surprised if we told you that coming down the pike is the older and more established form, the P-I-K-E version?
You know, I think I’ve been hearing that more recently, so I guess that makes sense.
Yeah, it’s older by 100 years, 150 years, a long time.
Metaphorically, anyway, to talk about not literally coming down a pike existed for a long time before we find any record in print of coming down the pipe, P-I-P-E.
So coming down the highway, in other words.
Yeah.
We have those pike, turnpikes.
That’s right.
Right, because a pike is short for turnpike, which is short for turnpike road, which is a roadway protected by a turnpike, which is a spiked barrier of wood.
Kind of keeps the highwaymen and the robbers off.
I see.
So coming down the pipe, is that just more, I guess, recent or…
Yeah, but you know, I’m not terribly bothered by it.
No, I’m not either.
I think it’s very logical because if you have a product pipeline and you have products moving through the process that they’re required, say, to bring them to market or to get them approved, then they are actually coming down the pipe, so to speak.
Well, I may start using coming down the pipe now that I know that’s the real way to say it, though.
Well, it’s got a nice historical resonance to it because when you tell people that coming down the pike is related to the turnpike, like they have in New Jersey, people are like, huh?
Right.
And it’s nice to have that kind of backstory that connects this metaphor to the actual highway.
Yeah.
And now that you’re in your 30s, now that you’re grown up, maybe it’s time to start.
Yeah.
You’ve got to start saying things like, yeah, you’ve got to start using old language.
Right.
When I was a kid.
Get off my lawn.
Exactly.
Now I can cite the real terminology that I’ve advanced.
Yeah.
Well listen.
Happy birthday.
Thank you, Martha.
Thank you.
Happy birthday.
Thank you, Brian.
For calling us today.
Take care.
Love your show.
As a present.
We won’t sing to you.
Bye bye.
Thanks again.
Thank you.
Bye bye.
We’ll unmix your metaphors.
Give us a call.
Or if you prefer to write it out in text form, by all means, send us an email to words@waywordradio.org.
