Evocative phrases borrowed from film and theater
While interrupting a chronological sequence to go back in time is an ancient narrative technique, the word "flashback" first appeared in 1916.
Staff
Jargon, as we鈥檝e been talking about for the past two weeks, often gets a bad rap, but there are useful and often intriguing terms of art in many professions. This week, let鈥檚 look at a few common words that got their start as entertainment-industry jargon. 聽
The movies gave us the evocative cliffhanger and flashback. Cliffhanger first appeared in the Hollywood trade journal Variety in 1931, referring to the popular serial films that ended each episode with the hero or heroine in peril 鈥� tied to railroad tracks with the train approaching, surrounded by bandits, or, as in the blockbuster silent film 鈥淭he Perils of Pauline,鈥� literally hanging off a cliff. By the 1950s, the word had expanded to refer to 鈥渁 contest whose outcome is in doubt up to the very end鈥� 鈥� a close sports game, for example 鈥� or, even more broadly, any 鈥渟uspenseful situation,鈥� according to Merriam-Webster.聽
Flashback also debuted in Variety, describing the film technique of making an abrupt jump back to previous events. While interrupting a chronological sequence to go back in time is an ancient narrative technique, flashback first appeared in 1916. Today a particularly vivid memory can be called a 鈥渇lashback鈥� as well.
Various 鈥渃urtain鈥� idioms originated in the theater, referring to the large drapery used to signal important junctures in a play鈥檚 performance. When the curtain goes up, the performance begins; raise the curtain figuratively means to start something. At that point, what鈥檚 behind the curtain is revealed 鈥� raise or lift the curtain can also mean 鈥渢o make something public, disclose.鈥� When the curtain goes down, it indicates the play is over; to bring the curtain down is to end something. If the audience has really enjoyed the performance, they may clap so loudly that the actors come out to do one or more curtain calls, bowing all over again in acknowledgment. The final curtain call, or simply the final curtain, is the absolute end of the play, and is often metaphorically used to mean 鈥渄eath.鈥�
Musicians may perform an 鈥渆ncore鈥� during the curtain call. Encore is a common French word meaning 鈥渁gain鈥� or 鈥渕ore,鈥� but in English has a much narrower sense. In 18th-century Britain, audiences began to call out 鈥淓ncore!鈥� and 鈥淎ncora!鈥�(鈥渁gain鈥� in Italian) when they wanted to hear more from the performers. Ancora has mostly fallen by the wayside, but encore has become an English noun: 鈥渁 reappearance or additional performance demanded by an audience.鈥� More generally, it can be applied to any repeat performance or 鈥渟econd act,鈥� as in the 鈥渆ncore careers鈥� that some people begin later in life after retirement from their first job. 聽