A thing

Feifei Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Feifei.

Neil And I’m Neil.

Feifei Where’s… your beard?

Neil I, uh, shaved it off. I fancied a change. Beards are such a thing these days.

Feifei Yup, ever since beards became a thing, I’ve found them a bit boring.

Neil ‘A thing’. Of course, we know what the word ‘thing’ normally means, but what does ‘a thing’ mean here?

Feifei Our phrase for today means ‘a trend’ or ‘something recognisable in popular culture’. If beards are ‘a thing’, it means they’ve become fashionable: lots of people have them.

Neil Yes. Cats on the internet - they’re a thing.

Feifei Oh, fidget spinners. They’re definitely a thing.

Neil Fidget spinners?

Feifei Yes, those little metal or plastic toys that you spin on your finger. Know them?

Neil Oh, those things that kids everywhere are playing with.

Feifei Not just kids. Anyway. What else is a thing? Listen to these examples.

Examples Using funny GIFs in your message is such a thing.

You know parkour: the sport of running and jumping across buildings? Why is that such a thing?

Organic powdered food. Since when has that been a thing?

Feifei A well-known use of this phrase was after American personality Kim Kardashian posted a picture of herself pregnant, with the words “pregnancy lips”.

Neil It’s not a term that many people had heard of, and prompted responses like this: “Pregnancy lips? Is that even a thing?”

Feifei Yes, when someone refers to a trend you haven’t heard of, or that you doubt exists, feel free to respond with ‘is that even a thing?’

Neil But there’s little doubt the phrase ‘a thing’ is itself ‘a thing’ - it’s now been included in major dictionaries.

Feifei There we are. A thing. No plans to grow the beard back, then?

Neil Only when being clean-shaven becomes too much of a thing!

Feifei and Neil Bye.