We got a thing goin' on...

Posted by ESC on September 05, 2004

In Reply to: We are kind of a "thing" now posted by Bob on September 05, 2004

: : We are kind of a "thing" now.
: : How did it begin to mean "couple"?
: : than you

: Inarticulate people, with very limited vocabulary, inhibited by adolescent self-consciousness, cannot bring themselves to be frank and honest, and must resort to safely vague, noncommital terms. (One of the pleasures of growing older is freedom from that tongue-tied state.)

THING - "Thing" mean a homosexual man in the 1930s and "a way of life" in hippie slang during the 1960s. "A thing going" was also "mainstream 1960s" slang for "a close, understanding relationship, as in 'We got a thing going." "Flappers 2 Rappers: American Youth Slang" by Tom Dalzell (Merriam-Webster Inc., Springfield, Md., 1996).

Another source says "thing" meant "obsession" during the 1930s. Cassell's Dictionary of Slang by Jonathon Green (Wellington House, London, 1998).

"Me and Mrs. Jones"
(Recorded by Billy Paul, 1971)

"Me and Mrs. Jones
We got a thing goin' on
We both know that it's wrong
But it's much too strong
To let it go now."