let it go

March 1, 2020 let it go

let it go

(1980’s | “forget it,” “give up on it,” “ease off”)

An expression more versatile than I had reckoned. I thought of it as meaning primarily stop dwelling on (or get over) something, and I found traces of such use in the late seventies. It may also mean turn a blind eye (the cop saw him shoplifting but let it go), which may have been available back then, but to tell the truth I don’t remember. Related, it may signify “stop pursuing,” as in a line of questioning, or “stop acting as if it is true,” as in a belief. If you’re talking about a grudge, it means something like forgive and forget. As in the memorable song from “Frozen,” it may mean turn your back on the past and make a new start. Which contrasts oddly with the apparent passivity of letting go of something; yes, you’re relinquishing your old self, but you’re also actively promoting yourself as a whole new person. Despite the ubiquity of the song, I don’t think you hear the expression used exactly that way very often in normal conversation; that definition remains an outlier. “Let it go” does not mean “unleash it” or “let ‘er rip,” although one might say “let it fly.”

That deceptive passivity gives the phrase its ambiguity; is letting it go an action, or the cessation (or suppression) of an action? Is one required to effect the other? It must be a conscious decision, an act in itself, but it may require a resolve to refrain from certain thoughts or deeds. Letting it go often requires persuasion, implying that it’s hard to do on one’s own; we need assurance from others that we’ll be better off if we abandon that festering grievance or disappointment. It is taking a load off your mind, ridding yourself of deleterious baggage, allowing old wounds to heal.

The ancestors of this expression, I take it, were “let yourself go,” which we may trace at least as far back as Cole Porter, and the simpler “let go,” which I remember from youth, or even its elaboration, “let go and let God,” a Christian injunction meaning surrender to God and let him take over. In other words, let your unconscious dictate your actions, or more simply, follow your pastor’s advice. Of course, “let it go” always had a literal sense, as in what one kid says to the other who has hold of a precious object. It also finds an echo in the primal “let me go” from childhood. Then there’s “let it go at that,” which meant “enough said” or “I’ll shut up now.” I doubt there’s any immediate connection, but we do find a number of new expressions that are simply abridged versions of existing ones. As “let it go” has evolved, it has taken on yet another meaning not quite like any that came before, “get on with your life.” These things happen even in the best languages.

Tags: Christianity, English, forgiveness, Frozen, language, learning from experience, moving on, renunciation, words

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