Can a person happen? Is "Zodanga happened" correct?
I was watching movie *John Carter* where there was some dialogue like this:
> — What happened here?
— Zodanga happened.
Here Zodanga was a bad guy in the movie.
I don't understand how **a guy** can **happen** at some place, like it was said in that conversation? We generally use *happened* like this:
> — What happened to you?
— Oh! I have been suffering from a head ache *or*
met an accident *or*
I haven't been sleeping lately,
but we never say "Silvia happened to me" (as if Silvia was a bad person here).
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1 Expert Answer
Ericka S. answered • 06/23/19
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This is a colloquialism that is often used in a rather casual manner to describe someone in a way that equates them to something like a natural disaster.
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Benjamin P.
It's a fine example of a language joke. Most people born in an English speaking country, particularly the U.S. or Canada, will understand how the joke operates: the character is portrayed as larger-than-life and therefore elevated to the level of a natural disaster so that their name can be substituted into a sentence format such as, "An earthquake happened."06/24/19