General Chat

~~~~~~~~ to Karen

Allan

Ooops I missed a lot of replies just before I responded (Janey had pm'd me so I opened the link on the pm and read that, not realising there were more replies)

SRS Hi hon, lol, do I say rushing about a lot too then, lol Never realised I repeated myself so much - well there you go, after a good 60 years of chatting away I suppose I must have done lol!

Must remember to see what our Janey thinks later on

I guess most posters are now sleeping.
Sweet dreams, hope you don't have to spend too much time going back and forth to the loo
Lizx

I think we just say everyday phrases as we hear them. A new phrase comes along and we use it for a while, then another comes along and replaces it.
TV has a lot of influence on our speech these days, and if old phrases are used, we tend to copy them without noticing ourselves.

Why do I get the feeling that this thread is going back and forth and getting nowhere?

pmsl Berona and Sis!

You have blinded me with science Sis, I am going back to bed, came down to check something and got engrossed elsewhere.

It's a beautiful sunny day now with scarcely a cloud in the sky, yet a couple of hours ago it was so misty you couldn't see past the end of the garden but I haven't slept yet so must go.

Have a good weekend folks, whereever you go back and forth lol

Lizxx

CaroleB

methinks a clear case of B³!!

:0))

Allan

GOOD THREAD JANEY

Aha but it is when you are going backwards and forwards at the SAME time that the problems start. Well that is what my Irish Grandma used to tell me. BC XX

I think I would say back and forth on some occasions. Cant think what occasions offhand. I could also be buzzing around like a bluetailed fly (I am more refined than some people) except that these days I am too weary to buzz much.

Huia in New Zealand.

Great thread, back and forth is a bit posh for a good working class northern girl and I normally hear it from the older gen, I prefer back and to or I'm up and down like a brides nig...but thats going off track good morning everyone :)

'coming and going' is not the same as 'back and forth'!
People can be coming and going to a doctor's surgery. They are all visiting the doctor (which is one specific place) but when they leave, they could be going anywhere.
But - if the doctor sends a patient to a hospital for a test and the hospital sends him back to the doctor - then the doctor sends him to the hospital for another test, etc. - then he is going back and forth from one place to another place and back again.
I suppose this is as clear as mud!

I'll go quietly.

well on you aint gonna win Janey too much regional uk slang,,,,that all means same thing,
there and back,


now why didnt you ask about up an down,,,,,,thats universal.....}

Kay, that's what I said at the very beginning of this thread. It's a term that has been around a long long time, it's still used, but here, more likely in written English than spoken English, simply because other phrases local to the area are more likely to be used. It all depends on the region, accent or dialect you use yourself.

So the conclusion would be, it is still in use, but whether it is in common use depend very much where you are in the world today. There are no hard and fast rules, and it's neither right nor wrong, old or modern, common usage or uncommon usage.

Sorry Janey, no winner, it's not black and white, it's back and forth. (rather like this thread :_)))))

i am a Yorkshire girl and use both expressions i even meet myself coming back at times with all the comings and goings...lol

Hi Budgie, anything that requires getting up, ie out of bed, out of a chair, going upstairs or down, we tend to say up and down like you do.

Hia I'm originally a Lancashire Lass(very working class), brought up in Australia. We have always said back and forth as well as coming and going. A similar expression is "I've been going round the houses all day"

Wendy

Hast tha not heard of " tooing and froing all the way to Nobs Crook and back ! "

A wasted journey if ever there was !

Sheeeesh! I created a monster! ;)

And the WDYTYA wasn't even a rerun ... it wasn't on at all last night.

Well, I just checked back to the other forum. I expected to see all my babble deleted by a moderator -- it's actually a technical kind of forum and they frown on, wait for it, "chat". I've had several things deleted since I started playing there a couple of weeks ago, as being "irrelevant chat". Can you imagine!

So I don't want to add anything to the thread there in case that brings it to the attention of somebody who complains -- yes, they alert on "chat" in that forum. I might edit the last post I did though, which wouldn't bump it up (like here). 'Cause I kinda want to add the good northern girl's "Up and down like a bride's nigh..." to go along with the blue-bottomed fly!

Anyhow, I put it to Toronto boy No.1 last night, whether saying you went back and forth sounded odd to him, and he couldn't figure out what I was on about. Of course it didn't sound odd.

Now, on that "back and forth" vs "forth and back" - some kibbitzer raised that in the other forum too.

Not sure whether I mentioned it here, but the explanation seems to be that the expression originated to describe an actual swinging motion.

When you set a pendulum in motion, you pull it "back" first, and then it goes "forth". Or backwards and forwards. When you swing on a swing, you go back first, and then forward.

Granted, if you actually went back and forth to the bathroom, you'd look a little odd, and in a hurry in the dark you might get off course and not get there in time.

lolol I have been trying to work out what I would say naturally .... as back and forth seemed so old fashioned and correct. Guess what I do say it also to and fro'
So it's back and forth or to and fro' the kitchen, loo etc.
Strange to think that you can say something so often and not realise it in it's written context.

Haven't read all the replies so this discussion has probably moved on but in answer to the original post I have used...

back and forth
coming and going
to and fro
and
there and back

Btw I'm a northern working class girl ;-)

Maybe it's because I read a lot and so have heard, and consequently used, all the expressions.