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Nadya asked this question about Slaughterhouse-Five:
What does "So it goes" mean? The narrator seems to say that every time someone dies, so I was wondering what it meant.
james wells I am a unique position to answer this as my grandmother was from french and Irish. She constantly said this when people died, or something bad happens…moreI am a unique position to answer this as my grandmother was from french and Irish. She constantly said this when people died, or something bad happens. She would say, "Oh, i burned the bread. So it goes. or, oh, grandmother died, so it goes.
I asked her why she said this, and she said well, when you cannot do anything about it, so it goes.
My dad and I both say it, and to me it means "eff it". Usually we say it when we give up and call someone else to take care of it (like a contractor to fix the plumbing), Or when someone we don't like wins the white house.
I forgot to mention, that in french "So it goes" translates to "se la vive." Google says something else (You live it), but in my mind it means, "Such is life."(less)
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Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
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