The idiom “go with the flow” means being relaxed and adaptable to change. It originated in the early 1900s as a metaphor for sea waters. Modern English speakers use shorter phrases like “chill” or “relax” to express the same meaning. The association with water metaphors has become less common among younger speakers.
The English idiom, “go with the flow,” generally refers to someone who lets things happen, who is relaxed about random events, or who is versatile or able to change plans. This particular phrase has a certain cachet based on the rhyme scheme. It is not uncommon for modern English speakers to use it, usually as a request or suggestion or, in other cases, as a command. It can also be used to describe someone, who always bows to the majority, or rarely goes against convention.
Historians of the word date this phrase to the early 1900s, suggesting that the phrase “go with the flow” was originally based on a metaphor for sea waters. An alternative phrase that used to be used quite often is “go with the tide.” It seems that in modern times, the phrase “go with the flow” is usually preferred over the others. The opposite idea can also be expressed with phrases such as “go against the tide” or “row against the tide”.
Today’s English speakers have a variety of other phrases that express the same meaning as “go with the flow.” Younger speakers might also tell someone to “relax” or “relax”, both are shorter “phrasal verbs”, a linguistic construction that is used quite often, especially in modern English. Also, English speakers might advise someone to “take it easy”.
By examining the reasons for the shorter sentences above by eliminating the use of longer sentences, such as “go with the flow”, linguists can see a very definite trend in the English language towards using a single verb to express a multitude of meanings attaching other single words to it. For example, using “chill” as an alternative to longer sentences has become increasingly common. Predictably, adding the prepositional “out” has become relatively unnecessary, as younger speakers usually understand the verb on its own. In modern parlance, some speakers have added the highly idiomatic suffix “-ax” to the word “chill”, resulting in the single word “chillax”. Also, similar phrases include “be chill” or “be cool” or “cool out”, some of which directly violate English grammar rules, reflect dialectal usage.
In general, it seems that with younger English speakers, the association of a calm temper with cold temperatures has eclipsed the idea of associating these types of behaviors with water metaphors. Metaphors of water, such as “go with the flow” have started to seem overly poetic to many English speakers. These phrases, however, still retain their meaning and are familiar to most native English speakers.
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