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Back in the day...

Sax

05:59 / 26.06.03

...we never used the phrase "back in the day"? Where has it come from? Who started it? Is it a quote from somewhere, street slang, a New York thing?

Suddenly everyone's saying it. It's a rash-like meme.

And is it too late to go back to "When I were a lad..."?

Whisky Priestess

06:14 / 26.06.03

You're up early.

And no, it's never too late to go back to (or stick to) "when I were a lad". I use it all the time, meself. I also favour "When I were young" (in a cod-Northern accent) usually followed by "this were all fields" or a description of some kind of entertainment or spending excess followed by "and still 'ave change for t' bus 'ome."

But that's just me.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

06:18 / 26.06.03

Yeah, we didn't say it when I were a wee nipper, either- and you're right, I find myself saying it an awful lot now. Not like then, you know. Leave your front door open, you could.

And why is everyone up early?

Jub

06:46 / 26.06.03

I'm doing earlies for the next few month.

I want to talk about coppers. They look so young these days! Most of them look like they're just out of short trousers.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

07:17 / 26.06.03

And that music! Hardly any words, not even a tune you can hum, and do you call that dancing? They're not even touching each other most of the time!
We'd never have stood for it, you know.

Cherry Bomb

07:26 / 26.06.03

I always thought the phrase was popularized by the Tribe Called Quest Song that begins:

Back in the day when I was a teenager
Before I had status and before I had a pager...

I also think I heard the phrase "Back in the day" on NWA's "Straight Outta Compton" album, but I can't remember...

Whisky Priestess

07:35 / 26.06.03

I'm swapping shifts so that I can leave work in time for the cabaret night I'm performing in tonight (Battersea barge, tickets £7 on the door, blah blah).

God I'm knackered. I've only had about 4 hours' sleep and I bet I'll be out way past my bedtime tonight. When I were a lad I could party till dawn and be fresh as a daisy for up to 12 hours ... back in the day, that was ...

I think this is more of an English than an imported expression: anyone know where it really comes from?

Sax

07:38 / 26.06.03

I start work at 8 but came in early today on account of a squawking child that hasn't yet got the message that his Pa needs to sleep before he goes to work.

Ariadne

07:54 / 26.06.03

I always thought it was American, as I've only heard work colleagues say it - so it's a new thing? It's a pretty strange expression.

How's the wean, other than squawky, Sax?

Chirpy?

First time I picked it up was in 'Things to do in Denver when your dead', it makes you sound like an old gangster

Bear

09:00 / 26.06.03

Back in my day Knightmare was on Friday evenings on ITV but I heard they've brought it back for a new series on Challenge TV??

I miss those days, and so I pout like a grown jerk
Wishin all I had to do now, was finish homework
It's true, you don't realize really what you got til it's gone
and I'm not, gonna sing another sad song, but
Sometimes I do sit and reminesce then
Think about the years I was raised, back in the days

that

09:27 / 26.06.03

I use it sparingly, and never entirely seriously...it would just sound odd, I think, like 'dude' does when it is said in a non-ironic way by someone from the UK. I always thought it was an Americanism, too...

Regrettable Juvenilia

09:50 / 26.06.03

Wait until you're all saying "on my block" instead of "where I live". It's bound to happen. And it's great!

Sax

09:52 / 26.06.03

Sheesh.

Cherry Bomb

10:02 / 26.06.03

It wasn't until I heard my mom say "back in the day" that I started to worry.

And then my Dad said, "don't go there..."

Matthew Fluxington

12:07 / 26.06.03

"Talk to the hand, girlfriend!"

gingerbop

12:23 / 26.06.03

Early Shift 1/whatever...talk to the hand?

gotham island fae

12:48 / 26.06.03

"...'cause the face ain't listenin'."

gotham island fae

12:50 / 26.06.03

With palm straight out and head turned away diffidently.

pomegranate

13:11 / 26.06.03

where i'm from*, we've been saying "back in the day" for a looong ass time. just so you know. i guess it just made it across the pond, but hey, we just got h&m like last year, and only on the east coast, but we're getting one in chicago this fall and i'm excited.

*US-->midwest

Saveloy

14:08 / 26.06.03

Yeah, I'm sure my mate Bill has been saying "back in the days" (note the plural) since I met him about 11 years ago. He talks a mixture of local (Leigh Park, Portsmouth) slang and US slang (especially surf slang, being a surfer himself). Which tells us nowt about the origin but suggests it's not that recent

No star here laces

14:42 / 26.06.03

Remember back in the days, when niggaz had waves
Gazelle shades, and corn braids
Pitchin pennies, honies had the high top jellies
Shootin skelly, motherfuckers was all friendly
Loungin at the barbeques, drinkin brews
with the neighborhood crews, hangin on the avenues
Turn your pagers, to nineteen ninety three
Niggaz is gettin smoked G, believe me
Talk slick, you get your neck slit quick
Cause real street niggaz ain't havin that shit
Totin tecs for rep, smokin blunts in the project
hallways, shootin dice all day
Wait for niggaz to step up on some fightin shit
We get hype and shit and start lifin shit
So step away with your fist fight ways
Motherfucker this ain't back in the days, but you don't hear me though

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