Academic

Back in the Day--Skeel

By David Skeel and Bill Stuntz

Am I imagining it, or is the old cliché 'back in the day' enjoying a renaissance?  I seem to see it everywhere, even in 'objective' newspaper stories.  When I was a kid (back in the day, in other words), it was one of two phrases people often used to link the past to the present.  To compare the old days to the present, they said 'back in the day' (as in: 'Back in the day, that pot-bellied man was the fastest sprinter in the state').  To compare the present to the old days, they said 'anymore' (as in: 'Anymore, you pump your own gas; they don't pump it for you').

Full post as published by Less than the Least on December 23, 2009 (boomark / email).