Olivia from Denver, Colorado, is musing about her use of the term good people, as in She’s good people. This phrase is what linguists call an extragrammatical idiom, meaning the phrase makes sense even though it’s not grammatically correct. Other examples include She’s real people, She’s nice people, She’s great people, or simply She’s people. Something similar occurs in Spanish with a phrase like Juan es buena gente. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Why Do We Say Some People are Good People?”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Olivia calling from Denver, Colorado.
Olivia, welcome to the show. What can we do for you?
Hi, Olivia.
Hi. I have been wondering recently about a phrase that I’ve noticed myself using, saying that such and such person is good people, and rather than saying like this person is a good person. And I’m not really sure where that phrase came from or kind of why it flipped into my vocabulary. But I’ve noticed that it kind of has a different meaning from saying that someone is a good person. And so I was just wondering what you could tell me about that phrase and kind of where it’s used and why it’s used.
Well, tell us about the different sense you have when you use that phrase as opposed to she’s a good person.
It seems to have more to do with that person being like a cool person or a person that’s easy to get along with. Where I think if you say that someone is a good person, then it kind of has to do with their character or their morality or something. But then using the phrase, like, she’s good people, has to do, I think, more with whether we jive with each other, if that makes sense.
Would you say it’s a little bit more affectionate or a little warmer?
Yeah, I think that’s a good way to put it. It’s sort of like she’s family.
Yeah, yeah. Like there’s a kindred spirit almost between me and the other person.
Yeah, there definitely is a different shade of meaning for she’s good people as opposed to she’s a good person. And we call this an extra grammatical idiom because if you think about it, if you break it down, Sarah’s good people doesn’t really make sense, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we have something similar in Spanish, buena gente, which is also plural. But you could say Juan is buena gente, meaning Juan is good people. Same thing. And it’s been around for a long time, actually. And it’s commonly used in the African-American community. It’s been used there quite a bit. And there’s a use without the adjective at all, which is just people.
Which sometimes is associated with criminal enterprises.
Oh, what do you mean?
So you might say that he’s people.
Oh, I didn’t know that.
Yeah, he’s one of the in-group.
Oh, he’s people.
Yeah, he’s people.
By the way, good isn’t the only adjective that goes along with this. You also find real, great, nice. She’s nice people. She’s great people. She’s real people. And these all go hand in hand. But also no adjective at all. She’s people. I mean, she’s one of us. She’s our kind. She’s somebody that you can respect and trust.
Oh, that’s interesting.
Yeah.
Yeah, I find it almost a little bit more self-conscious, too. If you’re saying she’s good people, you’re making an extra effort to talk about how you feel about that person.
Yeah, I’m thinking about the context in which I’ve used it. And a lot of times it’s me trying to relay my relationship with person A to person B who doesn’t know them.
Yes, exactly. I’m trying to transfer this whole complicated feeling at once. And maybe it’s a new employee has come aboard and need them to know this is somebody that you can get along with. And I don’t want to have to have them work for months to figure this out. I need them to get along right away. She’s good people. You’ll get along. That’s basically what I’m saying.
Yeah.
It’s also saying something about your relationship to the other person, right?
Right.
Besides the person you’re introducing.
Right. Whether or not you know it or not, this is one of my people, so you need to respect them and trust them because you need to get along with them.
Yeah, yeah. This is the only way this is going to work out.
That is really interesting. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but it makes a lot of sense to me.
Olivia, thank you so much for your call. We really appreciate it. We can tell you’re good people.
Yeah, thank you both. It was great talking with you. Take care. Call us again sometime.
Okay, thanks.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Well, you’re all our good people. We hope that you good people give us a call at 877-929-9673. Email us words@waywordradio.org or talk to us on Twitter @wayword.
