Phase Me
AdventureMan and I were having one of those conversations we love so much – why we say what we do. This time, it was on the word phrase “phase”. We have a collection of words you use one way but not the other, and we are adding to it all the time.
Like with “phase” – we never say “Oh, man, I was so totally phased.” We never say “that phased me.”
We MIGHT say “I sort of phased out when he started talking about molecular electronics and phased back in as he summed it up,” but that is a phrase – phased-out / phased-in. I’m not sure they are related.
No.
We say:
That didn’t phase me.
I wasn’t the least bit phased.
We got throught he entire procedure unfazed. (It’s the same word.)
I’ve been searching the internet for any kind of explanation as to why we use this almost exclusively in the negative, and I can’t find much.
I did find a website, Urban Dictionary which asks for audience participation to define what words and phrases mean. Very interesting:
1. phase
(Votes) 132 up, 17 down
(Verb) To disturb, perturb, deter or intimidate. Usually used in the negative.
“They swore at me, but hey, I’m not phased.”
“You can’t phase me by talking while playing chess.”
This entry brought to you by Mrm who used the phrase in a recent comment and it was just too much of a co-incidence, so I had to write about it.
Update:
I just couldn’t let it go. Finally I discovered the problem. Me and Mark Twain have the same problem, thinking phase and faze are related. They are not. From Wiktionary:
English
Pronunciation
fāz, /feɪz/, /feIz/
Homophones: phase
Rhymes: -eɪz
Verb: to faze
third-person singular simple present: fazes,
present participle: fazing,
simple past: fazed,
past participle: fazed
To frighten or cause hesitation; to daunt, put off (usually used in the negative)
Jumping out of an airplane does not faze him, yet he is afraid to ride a roller coaster.
Related terms
unfazed
Translations
to frighten or cause hesitation; to daunt
Usage notes
Citations for faze in the OED start in 1830; usage was established by 1890.
The word phase is sometimes used incorrectly for faze; such notables as the New York Times and Mark Twain have made this error. This sometimes leads to the supposition that faze is an uneducated spelling of phase; they are distinct terms.
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You have me totally fazed out with the comings and goings of phase-outs and phase-ins.
You could say, “He is going through a phase”, or “the 3 phases of life”. Those are not negative.
BL – LLLOOOLLLLLL. Phase and faze are different, see revised above.
DV – You have your nerve, you genius, coming to this merely undergrad college level blog with your expertise! BTW, see revision, faze and phase are not related, but it is still weird that you always use it negatively -” it didn’t faze me” and never positively – ” I was totally fazed”
I can’t help it, I have to respond when I see an intellectual challenge 😉
I am not really a genius, I just have unconventional ideas.
There, their, and they’re 😛
are u going through a ‘phase’ phase?
DV – Your blog is rated “GENIUS!” I think I use too many exclamation points; other than that our vocabulary is similar. Maybe your ideas are higher level, too. 😯
Ansam! LLOOOLLLLLLLL!
Mrm – Haven’t you figured it out by now? I am always going through a faze!
I always think of phase in the scientific/mathematical way, sort of space time continuum and more of a noun that has been made into a verb (like xeroxing something) whereas faze is a verb. This one has never been a problem/issue for me.
But how about “phase” as a wave? Isn’t phase also a part of quantum mechanics, Momcat?
Yes–but both invoke the mathematical.
I am so fazed, Momcat!
love the update, very informative
Thanks, Mrm, I was gratified to know I am right up there making the same mistakes as the New York Times. 🙂