Fits and Starts

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Rebecca Smith from Woodbridge, Connecticut.

I say the phrase fits and starts to my friends. I’m in my 20s, and they all look at me like I’m crazy. This apparently is not a phrase that my generation should be using. So I’m wondering where it came from, and if it means anything differently than the way that I’m using it.

How are you using it?

So the other day my dog was sick, and my friends asked me if he was feeling better, and I said, well, it comes and fits and starts, so I don’t really know.

Yeah, that’s good. And what do they think you meant?

They just laughed at me. They didn’t really comment on my dog’s well-being. You know, people who have poor vocabulary shouldn’t make fun of people who have a good vocabulary. That’s what I say.

Yeah. What was going on with your dog?

He was just a little nauseous. I think he had some dog food that was probably not the best for him.

Okay. And so by fits and starts in that context, you mean his…

He was getting nauseous, and then he’d be okay for a little while, and then he’d get nauseous again.

Right, right. So he was feeling nauseated intermittently, in other words.

Right, right. Okay, okay. I still think that’s a totally fine usage, though, right, Marth?

Yeah, I think it makes perfect sense. And fits here, fits is probably what’s throwing them, though, because we don’t, well, we talk about somebody having a fit, but it’s kind of like a very isolated word in certain idiomatic expressions like having a fit or fits and starts. And a fit is an outburst or a paroxysm or some other kind of like temporary, momentary, short-lived excitement.

And then a start. Do you ever wake up suddenly out of sleep, all your legs and arms jerking?

I can’t say that I have, but it sounds horrible.

No, but you’ve never woken up out of a half sleep where your body just kind of jerks as if you’ve been startled. Have you seen the startle reflex on a baby?

Yes.

There we go. A start is that action, that startle that they do, that is also a start. So when we talk about fits and starts, we’re talking about like a lot of herky-jerky kind of seizure-oriented kind of, you know, it’s not a smooth action at all.

Yeah, or maybe you’re sitting in class and your head goes down, down, down, down, down to the desk, and then it goes back up.

Yeah, that’s a start. You’ve never done that, right?

That’s right.

That’s a start. Well, look, as far as I’m concerned, if your parents are older and they’re giving you a vocabulary your friends don’t have, this adds depth to you. This adds texture to your awareness of language.

Right. And basically, you span generations. That’s a nice thing to be. It’s a nice place to be because you’re not completely of now. You’re also of their time period, and I think that’s a nice thing.

Yeah, this is a linguistic inheritance.

Right. Very good. I like that. Yeah, you’re entitled to use that language because you gained it naturally. It’s not like you were reading books of old slang and decided to just throw some in there for color. You picked it up from your parents as a part of learning English.

And so it’s good that you have it, and it’s normal that you have it, and your friends should just, like, zip it. If they’ve got a problem with the way you speak, seriously, give the show a call, and I’ll read them the riot act. It’s very long.

Do you know what that means, to read the riot act?

Yes, yes, that’s another one.

Yeah, I bet. You say that to your friends and they’re looking at you like, what? What riot act? But yeah, that’s another antiquated expression. We’ll have a come to Jesus meeting.

All right. We’ll be fixed.

Come to Buddha.

Okay. Well, thank you very much for calling, Rebecca.

Thank you, Rebecca. Keep up the good work.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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