Some time ago, there was an article relating the anachronisms abounding in Downton Abbey. Today I saw the World War II movie Red Tails, in which the characters speak in a manner totally out of keeping with the era. One word usage in particular struck me as off-base. In one scene a character tells another to "man up", a term which according tothis article wasn't in vogue until the 1970s.

Does anyone here have OED online access? I am thinking it's before the 70s, but I'm not sure.

I am reviewing some books for a nursing award, and one of them is named, Man Up! A Practical Guide for Men in Nursing. The title, itself, turned me off.

Sounds like a book about Viagra use among male nurses.

I expect the scriptwriters [of Downton Abbey and Red Tails] must have started with a conviction, or at least a theory, and made choices along the way. It's something like the choices one has to make when translating a text: he must consider first the mood of the phrase, then try to find a phrase with a similar mood in the other language. If he directly translates a metaphor uniquely the author's, he runs the risk of being incomprehensible; in communicating the mood, how far can he stray from the author's image without supplanting the author's idea with his own?

The further apart the historical period from the intended audience, the more difficult the task. Downton Abbey takes place 1910-1918. Had the period been the Roaring 20's, & the intended audience 60+y.o., one might be able use the old colloquialisms throughout & be understood. Otherwise it might almost be better to use today's uppercrust Brit dialect. WWII period is even dicier. Watch an actual WWII-era movie: the lingo is hopelessly outdated, & would probably come through as sentimental & old-fashioned. Or imagine the movie The Madness of King George in 18th-c. British?

By the way, from the Ben Zimmer article Proof linked to, love that word mensch.

By the way, did you know there is a woman up? And a Man Down? - though the latter seems to be conjured up by women (perhaps the former, too. )

mensch

I wonder if Zimmer meant the Yiddish מענטש mentsh rather than German Mensch. They both literally mean "person, human being" but they are spelled differently and have different connotations.

In my experience, z, the Yiddish use often is spelled mensch, not mentsh. Remember that Jewish deli we took you to? That word, spelled like mensch, was one of the Yiddish words on the wall.

This Yiddish glossary spells it your way, but this site does not. You are correct, though (as usual) that mentsh is the right Yiddish spelling.