Talk:not for nothing

Etymology/origin needed
Etymology/origin needed. Isn't this phrase associated particularly with the New York City borough of Brooklyn? 76.190.213.189 02:46, 23 February 2024 (UTC)


 * In AmE, there is no general or widespread notion that the phrase is specifically New Yorkish. That said, it might easily be in the category of phrases that either (1) originated in a certain locale or (2) have trended as a fad in a certain locale (albeit not originated there). I would be not at all surprised if a trend or fad for saying it had swept over Brooklyn at some point; Brooklyn in the 21st century is definitely a place with a bit of a predisposition for trendiness or fads to sweep through. Lastly, not for nothing, it must also be considered that most humans have a neurological predisposition for misattributing vocabulary: Bob says that [or] That sounds like something Bob would say. Bob is a Brooklynite. Therefore that sounds like something a Brooklynite would say. Well, it might also just be that Bob has a competent active vocabulary. But a lot of humans are predisposed to assume the first explanation (not at all unrelated to their neurological predisposition for tribalism) and not to consider (or to discount) the second one because a lot of people have mediocre active vocabularies and also have a weakness for extending the fact that nonmediocre ones are in a minority to a flawed assumption that they don't actually exist. Quercus solaris (talk) 16:55, 4 July 2024 (UTC)