It’s Your Thang
I’m writing to you from the great Pacific Northwest. A place of tall green pines, beautiful waters, and a people who feel the refs in the superbowl really did a number on the Seahawks. I tend to agree with them.
I’ve left Geoff at home with the hordes of unwashed children (ok, I took the baby) so that I could spend a little quality time with a sick parent. I got here just yesterday after a 2 and half hour flight with a child who refused to be taken down by a little Dramamine.
Last night my brother came over for dinner with his hordes of unwashed children (ok, they were washed) and we spent some quality time catching up on life. He brought up New Cool Thang, mentioning that he had enjoyed reading the posts he found there. He said to me, “Okay Kris, here’s a question for the ages. What does thang mean?”
“I dunno,” I replied.
“At my house it means pull-up diaper,” he stated.
“Pull-up diaper?”
“Yeah. At night we tell Ethan to pee, thang, and brush his teeth. He knows when he hears the word thang it’s time for the pull-up diaper.”
After he left I began to contemplate what the word thang means to me. I often call people whom I feel affection for “Sweet Thang”. I’ve got a daughter that is a saucy little woman that I call “Miss Thang”. So I’ve come to the conclusion that to me “Thang” means someone or something that I feel fondness toward. I know, weird.
So my question for you is this, what does “thang” mean to you?
Hmmm… To me it means we like to think a little out of the box ’round here…
Comment by Geoff J — February 15, 2006 @ 12:24 pm
“a little out of the box”? Thats a little when eating a Monster Thickburger is “a light snack”.
Comment by Kurt — February 15, 2006 @ 1:22 pm
I have always thought of thang as a casual general description for something you don’t know the technical name for. Like a do-hickie.
Comment by Eric — February 15, 2006 @ 3:22 pm
It means “thing.”
Comment by Susan M — February 15, 2006 @ 7:02 pm
Ok, but do you use it for something specific?
Comment by kristen j — February 15, 2006 @ 7:45 pm
I’ve only heard it in used in the context of “Sweet Young Thang”, or “precious Thang”, and used primarily by rock-n-roller types who are paying hommage to their muscial roots (in terms of blues music from the South, etc.) It has a fun, rock-and-roll quality about it to me.
Comment by meems — February 15, 2006 @ 10:39 pm
Nice! That’s what had in mind when I named the blog, meems. That blog tag could have been “Musings on Mormon doctrine, Life, and of course, Rock ‘n’ Roll”
Comment by Geoff J — February 15, 2006 @ 11:36 pm
Hey, if it’s got a rock n roll feel to it then we can’t ask for more!
Comment by kristen j — February 16, 2006 @ 8:57 am
I always thought it was a saucy way of saying “thing”. Perhaps saying that the object your were referring to was something a little elevated above a “thing”.
Comment by Ian M. Cook — February 16, 2006 @ 1:50 pm
I like the way you put that Ian, I think that’s true.
Comment by Kristen J — February 17, 2006 @ 11:51 am
Kurt
I guess it depends on how hungry you are…or how big your box is…
Kristen, I don’t have a specific object associated with thang although it appears I use it the context of an activity or interest, as opposed to referring to some sort of do-hickie.
“Debating is my thang” or “Spending my afternoon peeling potatoes is not my thang“
Comment by Téa — February 26, 2006 @ 2:50 pm