Does the expression to be roped in into doing something carry a negative connotation? It all depends on the context. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “To Be Roped In”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, my name is Kathleen. I’m calling from west central Iowa.
Well, what would you like to talk with us about, Kathleen?
I had a conversation with my son who’s volunteering as a teacher in an orphanage in Honduras, and he used the term roped in as far as getting involved in different activities at the, they call it the ranch, is where the orphanage is located.
As the conversation went on, I asked him just for clarification. I said, so you’re using the term roped in, and my understanding of that is that there is some negative connotation.
And he didn’t agree, and he told me that at that moment, as we were speaking, he was Googling it, and Google came up with that it meant persuaded or talked into.
I guess when I use that phrase, I use it sort of rolling my eyes. You know, oh, somebody roped me into going to their fundraiser or something like that. Like I’m amiable about it, but I still, it’s a little bit, there’s a little bit of pressure.
So Kathleen, for your son on the ranch in Honduras, to rope somebody in was just to simply get them involved. But from where you stand, roping someone is about being persuaded with moral force or maybe even some trickery?
No. My grasp, and this is just knowing my son, was it something he wasn’t really enthusiastic about.
Oh, I see. Gotcha. And so he was being persuaded.
Right. Talked into it.
Yes. But it wasn’t something he was really feeling passionate or really enthusiastic or excited about.
You know, what’s funny is when I look this up in the dictionaries, there’s kind of a conflict here. Some dictionaries say that it’s British just to persuade someone, you know, to rope in means just to persuade, and that it’s American to trick or entice someone to get involved.
But other dictionaries say the opposite, that to persuade despite reluctance is British and just persuade somebody to do something is American. But it sounds like in both Englishes, it really is context dependent whether or not there’s a negative value attached to being roped in, whether it’s kind of against your will or against your better judgment or something that you’re only doing just to make somebody else happy, not because you really want to.
So there isn’t any further, even from the British angle, I would think those, certainly those roots are older than the American.
Oh, certainly, yeah. Actually, interestingly, the figurative use of rope in to refer to persuade a human to do something is the 1840s and is American and actually just made the trip back across the pond to the British.
So it’s actually not that old in terms of language, in terms of the history of the phrase.
Okay. It goes back to when this country was far more about farmers and the idea of a farm and animals and horses and oxen was utterly ordinary. The 1840s, that anyone alive thought of animals every day.
Which would also imply a lot more reluctance on the part of the animal. It sort of reminds me of that word voluntold. Have you heard that one, Kathleen?
No, but it brings to mind volunteered.
Right. Voluntold is where somebody volunteers you for something, whether or not you like it.
Oh, okay. Thank you so much for your call. We really appreciate it.
Thank you. Take care. Enjoy. Take care. Bye-bye.
