This made so much sense last night while falling asleep

October 23, 2009 2:08 PM

How is "I should mind" used to mean "I don't really mind"? This and other grammar/language questions inside.

I'm trying to describe some interesting wordplay in the second verse of Berlin's "Blue Skies" and I can't figure out exactly how to articulate it.

Here is the section I'm looking at:

I should care if the wind blows east or west.
I should fret if the worst looks like the best.
I should mind if they say it can't be true.
I should smile smile that's exactly what I do.

To me, the first three lines sound like the singer is meaning "I should care" as "I don't really care if the wind blows east or west" (like a sarcastic, "oh, yeah, sure, I should care"), and this is continued over the next three lines as a way of basically saying he doesn't give a damn what anyone else says. The sincere "I should smile" in the fourth line means that what he really ought to be doing is smiling, and that's what he's going to do.

How do I describe the wordplay in the first three lines? It isn't really sarcasm, it's sort of a flippant expression. But I can't find another documented use of it (even though I feel like I've heard it before), so I have nothing to refer to to aid my explanation.

Any information is helpful, with or without citations.

posted by rossination to writing & language (11 comments total)

Rhetorical question?
posted by TruncatedTiller at 2:11 PM on October 23

Ha! I may have just found it. Is it a sort of Yiddishism, like "I should BE so lucky!"? From this page:

"Yiddishisms like "I should be so lucky!" use verbs in a way that I've just now decided to call the "ironic subjunctive," since I don't know another name for it. Those expressions have the same rationale and tone as "As if!" whereas, to my ear, "I could care less" doesn't come off the same way."

I suppose this would make sense, given Berlin's heritage and the preponderance of Jews writing and performing during the Tin Pan Alley era.
posted by rossination at 2:11 PM on October 23

Ah, good searching.

Before you replied, I imagined an implied "but I don't" follows each of those lines (except the last). From the rest of the lyrics, it seems that the world is downcast, but love came along and made everything splendid, even when they aren't.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:16 PM on October 23

It sounds to me like this person is describing social norms that they don't follow. Concerning the last one, it only sounds like they follow it to keep people from engaging them about the other three.

Ignoring my interpretation of the quoted material, it seems to me like the first bit of each line should almost be in quotes (not really, but mentally I almost add them), as that part is describing other people's opinions about subject matter. Only in the final line did the author add something that he does or feels, and even then the reader is left with the feeling that he's doing it for a reason not shared by those he is talking about.

I know I didn't really answer anything, but maybe this interpretation will help you ferret out the appropriate type of wordplay
posted by scrutiny at 2:19 PM on October 23

Hah, or you already found it. Nice work.
posted by scrutiny at 2:19 PM on October 23

Thanks for the responses so far, and I'll take any other suggestions folks have. I'm analyzing the whole song musically and lyrically, and looking at ways Berlin uses playful wordplay and musical devices to encourage listeners to keep their chins up through the tough times (since the blue skies are just up ahead!). It's a little literal, as analyses go, but I'm happy with what I have so far.

Any other examples of Yiddishisms or "as if"s in popular culture?
posted by rossination at 2:23 PM on October 23

I don't really think it's wordplay so much as the way filthy light thief describes it -- "but I don't". For instance, if I say, "I should exercise in the evenings" you would rightfully assume that I do not currently do so. "I should eat better" -- same deal. "You really shouldn't worry" -- you do worry. You would not bother expressing the deontic "should" unless there was an implied contradiction. The wordplay, as far as I'm concerned, comes in with the last line only. That's more straight up comedy -- he's set up the expectation with three examples (I should x, I should y, I should z -- but I do none of them) and follows with the twist of the fourth (I should -- and I do!).
posted by katemonster at 2:24 PM on October 23

English is only my second language, but nevertheless I'll spout my opinion here: I am much more in the filthy light thief camp before he deserted it. I read "I should mind" as "Other people expect of me to mind, it would be common sense to mind all these things and act responsibly. I should do it but I don't because I am so happy." It's an inner monologue, the singer reflects on his/her behavior, on what he/she ought to do and then tells us what he/she is actually doing.
I don't think it's an ironic subjunctive, since I see nothing ironic about it. It has nothing to do with "I should be so lucky", especially because the singer actually is so lucky. Ther is no connection to "as if".
posted by mmkhd at 2:45 PM on October 23

Maybe I'm telling you nonsense and interpreting to much into it, but in my defense I have to say that you started it first by mentioning Yiddishisms. There is a strong connection between Yiddish and German. The word for word translation of a sentence like
"Ich sollte mir das mal erlauben" is
"I should allow myself to do that" -> "If I would allow myself to act this way"
implying that there would be consequences.
"I should be so lucky"
"Ich sollte mal so glücklich sein" could be constructed in a similar vein.
And here I can see more of a connection to "as if" and ironic subjunctive.
Both these sentences are a reflection on somebody else's behavior/good fortune. The first one implies that if the speaker would act the same way as the person that he is commenting on, he would suffer some bad consequences that the person he's commenting on doesn't suffer from. (Some people can just get away with anything!)
The second sentence implies that the speaker would make more of the luck he sees another person having.
Consequently Kylie Minogue completely misses the point and uses the phrase wrongly.

On the other hand this might be just a silly conjecture pulled from some imagined Yiddish German similarities.

But if I am right I bolster my argument that Berlin is just writing straight prose and not being ironic in any way.
posted by mmkhd at 3:09 PM on October 23

On review, what katemonster said.
posted by mmkhd at 3:10 PM on October 23

It's primarily Yiddishism, with a secondary whiff of the logical sense katemonster and mmkhd are promoting, which allows the segue into the straightforward fourth line. Berlin was a genius at this stuff, and there is rarely only one thing at a time going on in his lyrics.
posted by languagehat at 5:31 PM on October 23