I need to make some good videos or this channel is toast.
We've been using this idiom since the 1980s.
Well, do you remember this?
"All right, this chick is toast!"
It may well be, and probably is true, that the idiom 'you're toast, he's toast, I'm toast,
etc. was not only coined in the movie Ghostbusters but by Bill Murray himself.
It's not often we get to witness an idiom being born.
But even the Oxford English dictionary agrees that this is the origin of the idiom 'to be
toast.'
To be toast means to be in serious trouble; to be defeated; to be ruined, finished, or
fired; or to be dead.
Except, we use it in the present tense for something that hasn't actually happened, but
is going to happen.
In other words, events that will occur are spoken of as if they have occurred.
These types of idioms, in linguistic terms, are called proleptic idioms.
Similar idioms, which often describe someone's future doom, are 'you're history,' 'you're
a dead man,' or 'you're dead meat.'
Bill Murray chose a figure of speech perfect for becoming an idiom.
To be toast can be applied to people or to things and is certainly still used.
"If you don't check the oil in your car soon, your engine is toast."
"I need to get to work on time today or I'm toast."
Don't confuse this idiom with 'toast of' as in "he's the toast of Broadway."
This means to be very well-liked or to be very popular in a certain place.
Bill Murray played the role of Dr. Peter Venkman in the 1984 movie Ghostbusters, which has
become a classic that just never gets old.
Even kids growing up today love this movie!
And adults too, of course.
We don't have to look any further than the disastrous effort to remake Ghostbusters in
2016 to understand how beloved, almost sacred, the original Ghostbusters is.
The remake had many problems, sure, but part of the outrage was just...how dare you!
In the 'toast' scene, Peter Venkman, speaking of the embodiment of Gozer, is supposed to
say "I'm going to turn this guy into toast" as written by scriptwriters Dan Aykroyd and
Harold Ramis.
"Gozer, huh?"
Murray decided to alter the line and instead, said 'All right, this chick is toast."
If you're confused about why he changed guy to chick, Gozer, in the film is somewhat androgynous
and this is just speculation but perhaps was supposed to look more male.
But the figure looks more than female enough that Murray and the others would think of
the figure as a woman.
According to the OED, the next written use of the 'to be toast' phrase used with Murray's
meaning occurred in 1985.
Now, other dictionaries besides the OED also give Ghostbusters credit.
Before, this, it seems that the closest idiom we had was 'to have someone on toast,' which
is used in the UK.
To have someone on toast means to have power over someone or to have such an advantage
over someone, you can treat them any way you see fit.
Of course, we really can't say for sure if 'you're toast' came from Ghostbusters.
New instances of its use in print may come up at some time but right now the evidence
is pointing towards Ghostbusters and Bill Murray.
So, until we find something new, I'm happy to think that Ghostbusters is the source.
What about you?
Do you remember using this idiom earlier, before the movie?