The New, Delightful Use of Because

The New, Delightful Use of Because The New, Delightful Use of Because The New, Delightful Use of Because By Maeve Maddox The headline over a recent article (Nov. 19, 2013) by Megan Garber in The Atlantic announces, â€Å"English Has a New Preposition.† The subhead expresses implied approval: Linguists are recognizing the delightful evolution of the word â€Å"because.† Linguists may be recognizing the jocular elliptical use of because as a â€Å"delightful evolution,† but I have my suspicions that grammarians are less than enthusiastic. The word because is used to introduce reasons. As a subordinating conjunction, its job is to join a subordinate adverbial clause to a main clause: Mr. Wilson will not be at the awards ceremony because he has broken his leg. Because the weather is frightful, the annual homecoming parade has been cancelled. The phrase â€Å"because of† introduces a noun phrase or a gerund: Because of the lateness of the hour, we decided not to stop for coffee. Because of running late, we skipped our usual stop at the coffee shop. A previously existing elliptical use of because is often heard in conversation, as in this example from the OED entry: Why didnt you leave the bottle?’ ‘Because!’ I said shortly. I wasnt going to explain my feelings on the matter. Linguists have dubbed the â€Å"new† use of because the â€Å"because noun† or the because+noun.† The most popular speculation about its origin is that it began as a recurring joke on Saturday Night Live. Neal Whitman gives this example from SNL in an article called ‘Because as a Preposition†: If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe you’ll look like a dummy and people will try to catch you because, hey, free dummy. SNL fans adopted the joke with such variations as â€Å"If life gives you lemons, keep them, because, hey, free lemons.† Whitman explains the evolution from the â€Å"hey† construction to the â€Å"because noun† construction: Before the â€Å"hey,† we have a regular English sentence. After the â€Å"hey,† we have an extremely condensed and abbreviated thought, represented by just a noun phrase. The humor in the â€Å"free dummy† and â€Å"free lemons† sentences comes from the speaker’s assumption that all he or she needs to say is â€Å"free dummy† or â€Å"free lemons,† and naturally you, the listener can fill in all the rest. A free dummy? Heck, yeah, who wouldn’t want a free dummy? Doesn’t everybody want one?   He points out that in the 2000s, the â€Å"because-hey† construction became popular in Internet memes. Eventually the hey dropped out, leaving only the because. I think that long before the internet intruded into our lives, the â€Å"preposition+noun† construction could be overheard in millions of homes: Child: Can I stay up a little longer? Mother: No. Child: Why? Mother: Because. Child: Because why? Mother: Because, Bedtime! Whatever its origin, the â€Å"because+noun† is in wide use in the speech of young speakers. It certainly suits the spirit of the times, with its laconic, sarcastic, and irreverent tone. And, in these grammar-challenged times, it’s extremely useful, relieving one of the labor of completing a thought. The because+noun may become a feature of the language, but for the present, it is a nonstandard elliptical construction that doesn’t belong in formal writing. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Creative Writing 101Is There a Reason â€Å"the Reason Why† Is Considered Wrong?Using "May" in a Question