Because of course PRO BE|DO
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Ordan Buckley asked:
I'm curious if you have any thoughts on the slangy headline trend "X because of course X". Some examples:
World's largest Lamborghini dealer is in Dubai, because of course it is
Rob Gronkowski crashes Sean Spicer's briefing because of course he did
Seattle just broke a 122-year-old record for rain — because of course it did
Google Daydream doesn’t work on the Galaxy S8 because of course it doesn’t
Phrases of this form have become a common way for publications with a sufficiently breezy and informal style to flag "unsurprising news":
[link] The Arctic Is Warm Again, Because Of Course It Is
[link] An avocado bar is coming to Brooklyn because of course it is
[link] Butt Glitter Is A Thing, Because Of Course It Is
[link] Starbucks' Unicorn Frappuccino Inspired A Hairstyle, Because Of Course It Did
[link] ‘The Mummy’ Sexed-Up Its Female Mummy, Because Of Course It Did
[link] Samsung's Battery Factory Caught on Fire Because of Course It Did
[link] The founder of Blackwater is now part of the Trump-Russia story because of course he is
[link] Morrissey Is Selling This Horrible T-Shirt, Because of Course He Is
[link] Trump is low key taking credit for the Oscars flub because of course he is
[link] Drake Got a Tattoo of Sade Because of Course He Did
[link] Ben Carson Got Stuck In a Miami Elevator Because Of Course He Did
[link] Hunter Pence appeared on Bill Nye's new show because of course he did
[link] Ronda Rousey Is Acting On TV Now, Because Of Course She Is
[link] kim kardashian is teaching saint west how to snapchat because of course she is
[link] Joan Collins to be godmother of a cruise ship, because of course she is
[link] Lindsay Lohan Wrote a Poem to ISIS Because of Course She Did
[link] Chrissy Teigen Had a Nip Slip at the Super Bowl Because Of Course She Did
[link] Lena Dunham Gets Naked on 'SNL' Because Of Course She Did
[link] Sticker Charts Are A Bad Idea Now, Because Of Course They Are
[link] Samsung and Qualcomm said to be working on Galaxy S9 processor, because of course they are
[link] Unicorn noodles are now a trend, because of course they are
[link] Uber Employees created an #Undelete mural, because of course they did
[link] Pirates cancel Starling Marte jersey day, because of course they did
[link] France Is Generating Electricity From Cheese Because Of Course They Are
In this Stack Exchange answer, Sven Yarga offers the gloss "a slangy way of indicating that something inane or cool or bizarre is at once inexplicable and yet totally predictable, given the person or other entity involved", and finds examples going to back to 2007, noting that
Matches for the phrase skyrocket in 2013, and have continued to be extremely frequent up to the present.
Y said,
April 30, 2017 @ 1:45 pm
I really wish I didn't just learn about the Lohan ISIS poem.
David Morris said,
April 30, 2017 @ 5:06 pm
About six of these might qualify as actual news. Otherwise, why are the writers bothering to tell us? Is anyone actually interested? Does anyone actually read them?
Ray said,
April 30, 2017 @ 7:53 pm
this pattern strikes me as similar to the online construction “blah blah blah, because, X” (and conveys the same ironic, eye-rolly “I’m cool for saying this, and saying it this way")
https://www.myosynthesis.com/because-evolution
https://milo.yiannopoulos.net/2017/02/oscars-racism/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Because_the_Internet
http://memes.com/img/736259
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/11/english-has-a-new-preposition-because-internet/281601/
AntC said,
April 30, 2017 @ 8:41 pm
@Y I really wish I didn't just learn about the Lohan ISIS poem.
Indeed.
And its shambolic rhyming scheme, which included "kisses" at the end of a line; but didn't rhyme it with "ISIS". Because of Course She Didn't.
The line "but in this world we live in of terror" seems to be channelling Paul McCartney, but failing in so many ways.
Gwen Katz said,
May 1, 2017 @ 2:13 am
"At once inexplicable and yet totally predictable" is such a perfect encapsulation. It's specifically news that you would never have guessed, yet which you can only respond to with the weary resignation that, welp, what else did you expect?
(On which note: What does Language Log say about "welp?")
Aristotle Pagaltzis said,
May 1, 2017 @ 7:13 am
Yet just about all of these seem perfectly explicable to me. I don’t find “inexplicable yet predictable” an apt description of this turn of phrase.
I read “because of course” as an synonymous with “and why would you expect otherwise”? (I.e. unpredicted, not inexplicable.) To use that expression is to put emphasis on how the story confirms preconceived notions of who-/whatever it is about. Most of the time that’s negative – an eye roll or shoulder slump with a connotation of “just in case you thought about being more charitable than your preconceptions” – although it can also be positive: “that’s how awesome it is/they are”, possibly with a connotation along the lines of “just in case you didn’t want to be too much of a fan”.
Aristotle Pagaltzis said,
May 1, 2017 @ 7:15 am
Ugh, my punctuation and structure completely got away from me in the editing. That should say:
I read “because of course” as synonymous with “and why would you expect otherwise?”.
Aristotle Pagaltzis said,
May 1, 2017 @ 7:25 am
One thing that’s interesting to think about in light of that reading of the expression is whether its skyrocketing use indicates a rise in a certain kind of self-consciousness. Tacking on that expression converts what would otherwise be a simple statement of fact into a sort of micro capsule of a belief system, and it does that while explicitly drawing attention to that fact. So there’s a performative aspect to it as well.
J.W. Brewer said,
May 1, 2017 @ 7:48 am
Even though this usage is more consistent with a prior generation's syntactic expectations, I'm wondering if it's connected with the semi-jocular 21st century snowclone "because X" (which can be something like "because Science" or abstracted all the way to the reductio "because reasons").
Thomas Lumley said,
May 2, 2017 @ 12:26 am
In the past I've interpreted the sentiment more as (?faux) exasperation rather than surprise, though the first three of Ordan Buckley's examples don't really fit that very well (because of course they don't).
Philip L. said,
May 2, 2017 @ 11:27 am
'Roll the Bones' by the Canadian rock group Rush has this for its chorus
Why are we here?
Because we're here
Roll the bones
Why does it happen?
Because it happens
Roll the bones
It came out in 1991
Michael Watts said,
May 2, 2017 @ 1:11 pm
I would interpret this construct in a slightly different way. Channeling the writing style of Matt Levine, I think
means something like "Seattle just broke a 122-year-old record for rain, and that's exactly the kind of thing Seattle would do, those rainy rascals". It's not unsurprising, but it is humorously characteristic of Seattle.
Rod Johnson said,
May 3, 2017 @ 7:59 am
Re "welp": Compare "yep," "nope" (but not "sop," "ohp" or "byep). See Geoff's LL piece (with comments on!) from 2010.)
Alon said,
May 3, 2017 @ 8:51 am
@J. W. Brewer:
abstracted all the way to the reductio "because reasons"
Actually, that's generally understood to be the Ur-form of the snowclonelet in question.
Belial Issimo said,
May 3, 2017 @ 7:26 pm
Language Log reports on a weird new slang meme by finding about eight zillion instances in the wild and assigning it a formal structure because of course it does.
Ray said,
May 3, 2017 @ 10:28 pm
as for "welp," I've always spelled it "whelp." (ironically inexplicable and predictable)