Episode 242: Keeping Up With the Joneses

 

This week Shauna and Dan explore the phrase "Keeping Up With the Joneses". Along the way your hosts ponder what massive changes must happen in a 100 year life span and who would play Dan in a movie about his life. Bonus: An anthropologist talks sociology

 

 

Bunny Trails: A Word History Podcast
Episode 242: Keeping Up with the Joneses
Record Date: July 28, 2024
Air Date: July 31, 2024

Intro

Shauna:
Welcome to Bunny Trails, a whimsical adventure of idioms and other turns of phrase.

I’m Shauna Harrison

Dan:
And I’m Dan Pugh

Each week we take an idiom or other turn of phrase and try to tell the story from its entry into the English language, to how it’s used today.

Opening Hook
Have you ever seen your co-worker or neighbor do something you like and then find yourself wanting to do, or maybe have, that same thing? That kind of behavior is called Keeping Up With the Joneses.

Meaning

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, to keep up with the Joneses means:

Quote
to strive not to be outdone by one's neighbors; to emulate one's neighbors
End Quote
https://www.oed.com/dictionary/keep_v?tab=phrasal_verbs#40082644

To start with this phrase let’s look at the two components, Keep Up With, and the Joneses.

“Keep up” in this sense is being used as an intransitive verb. The OED defines it as:

Quote
To continue alongside, keep abreast; to proceed at an equal pace
End Quote

It’s been used in this way since the early 1600s. So keeping up with someone means to proceed at an equal pace as them. Which makes good sense in this phrase. Throughout our life, we are trying to keep up with others around us, what we see on movies, series, and social media, all of which shape our ideas of what we should be doing, what we should have, and when we should do or have it.

But, why the proverbial Jones family? This one is a little more difficult to pin down, but the name Jones has been a stand-in for a general family since the late 1800s.

Here’s an example from 1879 in the work “Memoirs of a Station Master” by E. J. Simmons. I’m taking this quote by way of the New York Times. In it, Simmons was writing about the social aspects of a railway station:

Quote
The Jones's, who don't associate with the Robinson's, meet there.
End Quote
https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/15/magazine/on-language-up-the-down-ladder.html (Paywalled)

Here’s an example from Mark Twain, written in a short poem in 1910, though it was not published until after his death.

Quote
The outside influences are always pouring in upon us, and we are always obeying their orders and accepting their verdicts. The Smiths like the new play; the Joneses go to see it, and they copy the Smith verdict. Morals, religions, politics, get their following from surrounding influences and atmospheres, almost entirely; not from study, not from thinking.
End Quote
https://pressbooks.pub/writingtextbook/chapter/corn-pone-opinions-by-mark-twain/

In these examples we see the Joneses, the Smiths, and the Robinsons all used as generic “others” who are stand-ins for the average, everyday family.

So why do we predominantly use the Jones family now? This appears to have originated as a phrase in 1913 with a comic strip published in the newspapers of the day called “Keeping up with the Joneses”. The strip was written by Arthur Momand, who published under and went by the name “Pop”. In the strip, the main characters are the McGinis family. In the strip they are constantly trying to match the lifestyle of their neighbors, the Jones family.

Here’s a quick paragraph about Pop Momand from Lambiek Comiclopedia:

Quote
Arthur R. Momand was an early American newspaper comic artist. He was born in San Diego, and attended the Trinity School in New York City. In 1907 he began his career as a sketch artist for The New York World, owned by Joseph Pulitzer. He also created several series for the paper…

In 1913, he created the strip 'Keeping up with the Joneses', a title that would go down in history as a phrase meaning trying to keep up with the standards of your acquaintances. Momand drew his parody of American domestic life for about 150 daily newspapers in the United States and Canada from 13 March 1913 until 16 April 1938, and always signed it Pop….
End Quote
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/m/momand_ar.htm

Pop was born in 1887 and died in 1987. Despite the acumen, or lack thereof, I sometimes show on this podcast, I know how to do math. So I know it is perfectly reasonable for a person to live 100 years.  But my brain still struggles with someone being born in 1887 and dying in a year I remember quite well.

It’s interesting this phrase could have gone with a different name. Robert Hendrickson, in his work, "The Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins", noted:

Quote
Momand first thought of calling the strip 'Keeping Up with the Smiths,' but 'finally decided on 'Keeping Up with the Joneses' as being more euphonious.'
End Quote
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/m/momand_ar.htm

Euphonious is a fancy way of saying it sounds better. And I agree that Keeping up with the Joneses is better than keeping up with the Smiths, but I’m biased from hearing the term for my whole life so I’m not sure I’m a good judge of it.

The comic strip Keeping Up With the Joneses was turned into books and movies during the comic strip's 25-year run, which really helped spread the phrase to a broad American audience.

Let’s look at a few ways the phrase was used outside of the context of the comic strip.

1924
To show how far this influence spread in such a short time, I’ll start with this one in the Belfast News-Letter out of Antrim, Northern Ireland and dated 01 September, 1924. This is from an article talking about how the cost of living in Ontario, Canada is more expensive than living in Ireland, but not because of the food cost.

Quote
Fruit is cheap and plentiful in Ontario, but vegetables seem more costly than in Ireland. I do not think that the food bill keeps up the cost of living in Canadian cities, perhaps it is “keeping up with the Joneses”.
End Quote
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000038/19240901/145/0009


1926
Here’s one from the Laclede County Republican out of Missouri, USA dated January 1, 1926. It’s from a piece called “The Fault of Parents” and focuses on a Judge from the 34th Judicial Circuit of Missouri and his comments regarding juvenile crime.

Quote
Mother and Father are so busy making money or trying to keep up with the Joneses that they haven’t time to maintain a home for their children. They keep a mere hotel.
End Quote
https://www.newspapers.com/image/589423485/?match=1&terms=%22up%20with%20the%20Joneses%22

Harsh words. Though putting it in a context of my own experiences, I wonder if this is really what was happening, or does Judge Harris simply not realize that sometimes the reason Mom and Dad aren’t home as often is because they are trying to keep the electricity on and Judge Harris makes too much money to see how the rest of America lives. But I wasn’t alive in 1926 so maybe I’m the one being too harsh.

1934
This is from the Somerset Daily Herald out of Pennsylvania, USA dated September 13, 1934.

It’s a snippet from a work called “The Joneses in Reverse”. The article is a lamentation of the straying of the American people from the teaching of Christianity. This one sentence, though, really captures how we use the phrase even today.

Quote
It’s all a matter of “keeping up with the Joneses,” for it is the Joneses who start the things with which the balance of us imagine we have to keep up.
End Quote
https://newspaperarchive.com/somerset-daily-herald-sep-13-1935-p-4/

1941
This next one is from The Gazette out of Montreal, Canada dated January 3, 1941. It’s from an article in which the author claims America has become too soft as a Nation because it doesn’t realize fitness, self-control, and power all go together. As with the previous quotes, I’ll skip the ‘historical figure yelling out clouds’ parts and get right to our point.

Quote
How many of us are wasting our moral energies in various and frustrated longing to keep up with the Joneses, to have a mink coat, to own <the newest model> car, to have a louder title, a fatter salary, a more important job than the next man
End Quote
https://www.newspapers.com/image/419663079/?match=1&terms=%22up%20with%20the%20Joneses%22

It occurs to me this phrase has been used in an overly negative way over the years.

1956
One more, this one from the Evening Star dated December 02, 1956 out of Washington DC, USA. This one is more neutral than the articles we’ve used so far in the episode.

Quote
Been trying to “keep up with the Joneses”? Then you’ll certainly want to meet the Joneses

By Claire Huffaker

Here’s a peek into the lives of a strange and wonderful couple, Mr. and Mrs. Average American.
End Quote
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1956-12-02/ed-1/seq-247/#date1=1756&sort=relevance&date2=1963&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&index=0&words=Joneses+keep+up&proxdistance=5&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=%22keep+up+with+the+joneses%22&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

We will delve into this article to learn more about the average American family in 1956 in our behind the scenes video. These release every Friday on Patreon and they feature the video recording of the show, lightly edited, including a short section about our week before the show and a special bonus feature after the show, which this week is about the proverbial Joneses. Join us at Patreon.com/bunnytrailspod

And speaking of, it’s time to say ‘thank you’ to our sponsors - our Patrons!

A Quick Thank You
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Modern Uses

1965
Keeping Up With The Jones is a 1965 song sang by Faron Young featuring Margie Singleton. It’s a classic Country and Western style and song. Here is the opening line:

Quote
Well the Joneses bought a house, we did too
Then a new car so we bought one too
‘Coz we had to keep up with the Joneses
It was the usual thing to do
End Quote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTNZ1Kaf_QE

The song devolves into the Joneses getting into legal trouble and breaking up, and the singers, not to be outdone, do the same thing. I can’t tell if the song is supposed to be satire or not, mostly because the current American timeline no longer draws distinctions between what is absurd and what is real. And I’m just not sure how far back that goes.

1977
In 1977, Waylon Jennings had a hit with the Country song Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love). The entire song is about breaking away from a life keeping up with the Joneses, which is mentioned in the second verse:

Quote
So baby, let's sell your diamond ring
Buy some boots and faded jeans and go away
This coat and tie is choking me
In your high society, you cry all day
We've been so busy keepin' up with the Jones
Four car garage and we're still building on
Maybe it's time we got back to the basics of love
End Quote
https://genius.com/Waylon-jennings-and-willie-nelson-luckenbach-texas-back-to-the-basics-of-love-lyrics

Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EKHUA1aBLA


2002
Keeping Up with the Joneses: Envy in American Consumer Society 1890-1930 is a look into the changing view on envy in America. It is written by Susan J. Matt. Here is the synopsis from this 2002 book from the publisher, University of Pennsylvania Press:

Quote
A century ago many Americans condemned envy as a destructive emotion and a sin. Today few Americans expect criticism when they express envy, and some commentators maintain that the emotion drives the economy. This shift in attitude is Susan Matt's central concern. Keeping up with the Joneses: Envy in American Consumer Society, 1890-1930 examines a key transition in the meaning of envy for the American middle class. Although people certainly have experienced envy throughout history, the expansion of the consumer economy at the turn of the twentieth century dramatically reshaped the social role of the emotion. Matt looks at how different groups within the middle class—men in white-collar jobs, bourgeois women, farm families, and children—responded to the transformation in social and cultural life.
End Quote
https://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Up-Joneses-American-1890-1930/dp/0812236866

2006
Keeping Up with the Jonesin - spelled J-o-n-e-s-i-n, which is a slang term for relaxing, was released in 2006 and is sung by Jamey Johnson and features George Jones. It’s pretty much what you’d expect from a Country song in the mid-2000s.

Quote
Lord, I quit the drinkin', the smokin', an' the honky-tonk life
The day that a ring and a preacher made her my wife
Yeah, an' I said "I do", but I didn't, have a clue I'd miss all the whiskey an' women
I tried to be true, but it's all I can do, keepin' up with the jonesin
End Quote
https://genius.com/Jamey-johnson-keepin-up-with-the-jonesin-lyrics

Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XPS3vktpT4

2016
Keeping Up With the Joneses is a 2016 movie starring Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher as an average couple raising a family and Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot as the new neighbors, the Joneses. Here’s the synopsis from 20th Century Studios:

Quote
An ordinary suburban couple (Zach Galifianakis, Isla Fisher) finds it’s not easy keeping up with the Joneses (Jon Hamm, Gal Gadot) – their impossibly gorgeous and ultra-sophisticated new neighbors – especially when they discover that Mr. and Mrs. “Jones” are covert operatives.
End Quote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPfYXXg65qA

And of course, we will link to the trailer for the movie in the show notes which are available on our website, bunnytrailspod.com as well as our Patreon.

2018
Keeping Up With the Joneses is a book series by author N.S. Johnson. It’s a spicy series of short works that appear to follow a Mrs. Jones. I won’t be reading them as they are not my thing, but if you are curious as to the nature of them I’ll read the first few titles.

Book 1: Receiving the Delivery Guy's Package
Book 2: Giving the Co-Worker a Rise
Book 3: Hedging Mrs. Jones' Trim

Which I think gives you plenty enough to recognize what kind of book series this is. Reader beware.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/296191-keeping-it-up-with-the-joneses

There are so many other uses of the phrase and allusions to it, but we don’t have time to list them all. Here are some rapid fire ones:

A 1969 hit song by the Temptations: Don’t Let the Joneses Get You Down
A 1990 life simulation videogame by Sierra Entertainment called Jones in the Fast Lane
The reality TV show Keeping Up With the Kardashians which is a play on this phrase, replacing Joneses with the Kardashian family name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeping_up_with_the_Joneses

Wrap Up
I’ve never been one for trying to keep up with the Joneses where ‘things’ are concerned. I’m a function over form kind of guy. When it comes to doing things, however, I’d rather spend my money on experiences than stuff. And sometimes someone tells me about something they have done and I think it sounds really cool so I also want to try to do it. But I’m a planner and penny pincher so it often takes me years before I’m able to go do a similar thing. So I don’t really try to keep up with the Joneses as much as I try to get ideas for cool things to do from the Joneses. Which admittedly, is a distinction without much of a difference where experiences are concerned. So maybe the caution isn’t that we are keeping up with the Joneses, it’s more that we should be careful about who we decide the Joneses are to us.


Dan:
That’s about all we have for today. If you have any thoughts on the show, or pop culture references we should have included,
reach out to us on Patreon, patreon.com/bunnytrailspod or comment on our website bunnytrailspod.com

Shauna:
It’s poll time!

This week we asked about shoes. What do you wear around the house?

A full half of our Patrons go barefooted at the house, with the rest of our Patrons being split between just socks and some sort of house shoes, meaning a shoe or slipper that is only worn inside the home.

Dan:
I was curious that no one said they wore their regular shoes inside as I was raised like that where we just wore the same shoes inside and outside. But I don’t really do that anymore, mostly because I work from home and prefer to be barefooted most of the time.

Shauna:
Mary agrees with you on that aspect, Dan, as she says:

Quote
Much to the chagrin of my husband, I am almost always barefoot, but when I do wear something, it is a pair of flip flops I bought from a friend of mine who owns an orthopedic shoes store. They are rubber and have support so they kind of massage my feet while I’m walking around. They are great after a long day.
End Quote

JGP adds

Quote
It's very dependent on the time of year for me. Where I live temps outside can range ridiculously so in winter it's slippers and socks, spring and fall it's just socks and in summer we go barefoot.
End Quote

That makes sense to me… I have a preference for no outside shoes being worn in the house because humans walk on all sorts of questionable substances when we’re out and about. As for myself, I wear whatever I feel like that day which changes throughout the year and makes no sense concerning the weather or anything else. It is frequently just socks or barefoot. Although, I do love my slippers.

As a reminder, our silly polls mean absolutely nothing and are not scientifically valid. And patrons of all levels, including our free tiers, can take part. Head over to patreon.com/bunnytrailspod to take this week’s poll!

Outro

Shauna:
Thanks for joining us. We’ll talk to you again next week. Until then remember,

Together:
Words belong to their users.