GOES |
“So he goes, “I thought your birthday was tomorrow,” and I’m—like— ”well, duh!” Perhaps this bizarre pattern developed in analogy to childish phrases such as “the cow goes “moo” ” and “the piggy goes ” oink, oink.” Is there any young person unaware that the use of “go” to mean “say” drives most adults crazy? Granted, it’s deliberate slang rather than an involuntary error; but if you get into the habit of using it all the time, you may embarrass yourself in front of a class by saying something witless like “So then Juliet goes ‘A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.’”