11-20-2015, 03:24 PM | #1 |
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Nostalgia
We need to keep this alive.
Model A's are mentioned. GEE WHILLIKERS ! WORDS AND PHRASES REMIND US OF THE WAY WE WERE. About a month ago, I illuminated some old expressions that have become obsolete because of the inexorable march of technology. These phrases included "Don't touch that dial," "Carbon copy," "You sound like a broken record" and "Hung out to dry." A bevy of readers have asked me to shine light on more faded words and expressions, and I am happy to oblige: Back in the olden dayz we had a lot of moxie. We'd put on our best bib and tucker and straighten up and fly right. Hubba-hubba! We'd cut a rug in some juke joint and then go necking and petting and smooching and spooning and billing and cooing and pitching woo in hot rods and model A's in some passion pit or lovers' lane. Heavens to Betsy! Gee whillikers! Jumpin' Jehoshaphat! Holy moley! We were in like Flynn and living the life of Riley, and even a regular guy couldn't accuse us of being a knucklehead, a nincompoop or a pill. Not for all the tea in China! Back in the olden dayz, life used to be swell, but when's the last time anything was swell? Swell has gone the way of beehives, pageboys and the D.A.; of spats, knickers, fedoras, poodle skirts, saddle shoes and pedal pushers. Oh, my aching back. Kilroy was here, but he isn't anymore. Like Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle and Kurt Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim, we have become unstuck in time. We wake up from what surely has been just a short nap, and before we can say, "I'll be a monkey's uncle!" or "This is a fine kettle of fish!" we discover that the words we grew up with, the words that seemed omnipresent as oxygen, have vanished with scarcely a notice from our tongues and our pens and our keyboards. Where have all those phrases gone? * Bigger than a bread box. Banned in Boston. The very idea! It's your nickel. Don't forget to pull the chain. Knee high to a grasshopper. Turn-of-the-century. Iron curtain. Domino theory. Fail safe. Civil defense. Fiddlesticks! You look like the wreck of the Hesperus. Cooties. Going like sixty. I'll see you in the funny papers. Don't take any wooden nickels. Heavens to Murgatroyd! And awa-a-ay we go! Oh, my stars and garters! It turns out there are more of these lost words and expressions than Carter had liver pills.* We of a certain age have been blessed to live in changeful times. For a child each new word is like a shiny toy, a toy that has no age. We at the other end of the chronological arc have the advantage of* words that once did not exist and words that once strutted their hour upon the earthly stage and now are heard no more, except in our collective memory. It's one of the greatest advantages of aging. We can have archaic and eat it too . See 'ya later, alligator! |
11-20-2015, 03:44 PM | #2 |
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Re: Nostalgia
Thanks Pete, I needed that
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11-20-2015, 03:47 PM | #3 |
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Re: Nostalgia
After a while crocodile!
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11-20-2015, 03:49 PM | #4 |
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Re: Nostalgia
You know Pete, maybe you should write a book of this same type. You might "Get Rich Quick".
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11-20-2015, 03:51 PM | #5 |
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Re: Nostalgia
Oh yeah ! A walk down memory lane. But I'm not going to tell you to 'Put a Sock in it", because "You hit the nail square on the head."
I'd tell you more, but, in my "Buster Brown Shoes" 'I'd walk a mile for a Camel.," while "I'm going to get my ears lowered", so I can catch a flicker and see Clara Bow - "The IT girl" (she's the 'Cat's Meow'). I should have just grabbed a Hack, 'cause my dogs are barking' ! And don't forget, while driving your 'fliver', the Burma Shave signs, and all the folk wisdom they gave us. "I want my Maypo." And Fiber Magee - don't open that closet door. "The Shadow knows" (he's the guy with the 'Gat') - Inner Sanctum So - who else in this old codger group is living a 'Life of Riley' ? Last edited by DougVieyra; 11-21-2015 at 12:52 AM. |
11-20-2015, 06:11 PM | #6 |
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Re: Nostalgia
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11-20-2015, 06:49 PM | #7 |
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Re: Nostalgia
here are a few of Burma Shave signs I remember:
Hardly A Driver Is Now Alive Who Passed On Hills At 75 Burma Shave Don't Stick Your Elbow Out So Far It Might Go Home In Another Car Burma Shave He Tried To Cross As Fast Train Neared Death Didn't Draft Him He Volunteered Burna Shave |
11-20-2015, 07:16 PM | #8 |
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Re: Nostalgia
Fortunately Fedoras are back in style. I love these phrases and should try to incorporate them more into my daily life than some other phrases.
Mike
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11-20-2015, 07:16 PM | #9 |
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Re: Nostalgia
just now got these off a 1938 movie starring adolfe menjou. follow that cab-like a revolving door-for the luvva pete-cheese it, the cops-as the crow flies
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11-20-2015, 08:39 PM | #10 |
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Re: Nostalgia
Cool dadio. Those were the cat's pajamas.
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11-21-2015, 12:52 AM | #11 |
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Re: Nostalgia
Sitting in the cat-bird's seat, Cocoa puffs train,Shuffle off to Buffalo, in a Pig's eye, snug as a bug in a rug, beat you like a red-headed stepchild,Slower than molasses in January.
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11-21-2015, 01:06 AM | #12 |
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Re: Nostalgia
bitchen
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11-21-2015, 01:10 AM | #13 |
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Re: Nostalgia
All I can say is that you guys are "windier then a popcorn fart"!
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11-21-2015, 01:11 AM | #14 |
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Location: Manitoba, Canada
Posts: 68
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Re: Nostalgia
slower than molasses running up hill in January now thats slow. Those kids are as active as two cats on a hot tin roof. Hornier than a two peckerd owl. Better quit before i get carried awy
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11-21-2015, 03:14 AM | #15 |
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Re: Nostalgia
The story of........"Big"Guy Fellows, the only friend I ever really had, but he don't like me see.
Not since that dame down at the Dirty Dime Saloon came between us, she was a hot little flapper with gams that went all the way up, and togged to the bricks, she looked me in the peeper's and I knew she was swell, I was dizzy for the dame, she was a real pip, if you know what I mean. So she throws me a honey cooler, and I knew she had me pegged for a wheat, I figured her for a prosty but I wasn't minding. So I walks up to her and offers her a snipe, and asks her for an egg harbors, but she ain't going for that, seems she's the canary in the joint. I realized she was a scat singer, and the place was jolly up, but I gots a tin ear for them kind of beats, but the cat on the gooble pipe was kippy. That's where Guy Fellows came it, he asks me for a sawbuck, but alls I got is a fin. Well, he sees me eyeing the doll and tells me she a B-girl, so I garb him by the nerts and tell him to blow. I must have had to much giggle juice in that joint, or the dame slipped me a mickey in the hootch, because I woke up in a flop house a week later and my fin was gone, and so was...Guy Fellows. PS: If any ones see Guy Fellows tell that SOB I'm looking for him, I want my fiver back.
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11-21-2015, 03:35 AM | #16 |
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Re: Nostalgia
Your firing on all cylinders
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11-21-2015, 04:30 AM | #17 |
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Re: Nostalgia
measurements a bee,s knee . a nats fart , or a bull roar,
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11-21-2015, 04:48 AM | #18 |
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Re: Nostalgia
A
Abyssinia - I'll be seeing you Apple - Big cities B Baddy - A person of ill repute Badmouth - Talking harshly about someone or something Baloney/Boloney - Nonsense B-girl - A female who encourages customers to buy drinks at the bar Biggie - Big Shot Blat - Newspaper Bobbie Pin - A hair pin once used on bobbed hair C Carny - A carnival worker Carryout - Food taken away from the point of service or sale Chizz - Swindler Chrissake - Vulgar/profane oath Cliff-hanger - A movie/film or event intended to build suspense Clip-joint - A high priced club C'mon - Expression to Come on Cojones - Courage/'guts' Crapper - Toilet Curvaceous - A female of shapely anatomy D Demo - A sample of work/records/music/writing/photography Dilly - Personable character Dong - Penis Doozer Double-Dip - Two separate actions, two helpings of food, working two jobs E Emcee - Master of Ceremonies (M and C) Eighty-six - To stop/put an end to. Originated in restaurant menues. F Fave - Favorite Flatout - To Do Flopperoo - A failure Footy - Flirtacious foot play Fringer Futz - Waste time G Gang-up - To gather together/to gang Gas - Fuel for transportation/automobiles Gee - Drugged Ginzo - Italian ancestry Glam - Glamorous Goof - Waste Time Gook - A person of Asian ancestry Gotcha - Expression for I've got you! Guesstimate - Best guess possible given the facts and figures H Hackie - Taxi cab driver Hair-do - Hair Style Ham - Acting up or Corney Harrumph - A sound emitted indicating dissatisfaction or to gain attention Hasta-la-vista - Spanish Good-bye Hepcat/Hepster - Person in the know Hetero - Hetero sexual Hi-de-ho - An expression of good will. Homegirl - A female from a hometown of individual using slang/peer group Hoo-ha - Commotion Hooverville - A temporary town filled with make-shift buildings Hot-damn - An expression of glee or luck Hunh - An expression of question or of opinion Hype - Exagerated description I Iffy - A condition that is at once doubtful and positive Itsy-Bitsy - Tiny J Jeeves - Butler Juke - A form of entertainment emitting from a Juke Box/musical records or an eatery or entertainment venue K Killer-diller- Really excellent person, place, experience, or thing L Logo - Abbreviation for Logotype/symbolic/brand Lucky - Lucky Strike Cigarettes M Macher - Man of importance. Main-Line - To inject drugs intraveneously Meths - Drinking methylated spirits Mocky - Of Jewish heritage. Moxie - Guts/nerves Modoc -Aviator's glamorous flashy style Mojo - Narcotic Moody - To gain favor though a insidious approach Moola - Money Mootah/Mooter - Marijuana Moxie - That extra flair N Nada - Nothing, zip, zilch Narker - Informant Nasty - Not good Nerts - Eupheism for Nuts Nibcocked - Pointed penis Nice-Nellyism - Prudish behavior Nit-witted - Dull/un-intelligent Not at all - No problem/No need to mention it Nudie - A show/magazine featuring nudity Nympho - Nymphomaniac O Off base - Taken by surprise Oh yeah - Really? Okie-doke Okay Oomph - An extra punch/zest/appeal of beauty Okie - Resident of Oklahoma Oops - Expression of dismay for a mistake Orgasmic - Sexual state P Patsy - That's all right Payola - On the payroll through illegal practices Peck - Peckerwood/Black Slang Pen-pal - Long distance friend Pep-pill - A stimulant Pimpish - Having the characteristics or traits of a pimp Pint-size - Dimmunitive stature Pix - A variety of pictures Pizzazz - A punch of style/show in appearance Playgirl - A girl/woman who is enjoying life/out on the town Poop - To tire Pot - To waste Preggy - Enciente Pricey - Expensive Prosty - Prostitute Punchy - A condition of confusion or high anxiety Pushy - Bossy/teetering on obnoxious Q Queenie - Effiminate male Queeny - Effiminate Queer - Homosexual Queerie - Homosexual R Raggy - Referring to Ragtime music Raunchy - Debased S Scaredy-cat - A frightened individual Schlepper - An undesirable person, a bum Schmaltzy - Overly sentimental/corney Schmeck - A Drug/Heroin Schmooz - To chat and befriend/gain favor Schnozzle - The Nose Shack-up - Cohabitation Shitless - Sensless/Often used with unbelievable fear Skidrow - Run down part of town Skivvy - Under clothing Slap-happy - Gleefully joyful beyond sense Sleep-over - Spending the night at one anothers house Schmooch - Kiss Snazzy - Dressed Stylish Snit - A temper fit Soap opera - A drama Speako - Speakeasy Spliff - Cannibus/rolled Starry-eyed - Agog Stinkeroo - Something unfavorable, either person, place, circumstance or thing Strip-tease - Stripper Sucky - Not a desirable circumstance/ a wound Swacked - Inebriated Sweet-talk - Expressions of flattery Swingy - Pertaining to music/swing Switcheroo - To make a switch or change T Tampax - Tampon Temp - Temporary employee Thataboy - Expression of encouragement. That's a boy! Atta boy! Tizzy - A state of anxiety or confusion and jittery nerves Tongue-in-cheek - Sly, Mischeifous, Capricious Toots - Referring to a girl or woman U Up-do - A free flowing hairstyle Up-Tight - Anxious V V.I.P. - Very Important Person Virgy - Virgin W Wack - A crazy person. Wacky - Wild, crazy or peculiar Wee-Wee - To urinate Whamo - Sudden or violent slam/explosion Whanger - Penis Whatcha - Query/What do you?, What are you? Whatsa' matter - What is the matter Woofer - Constant talk/chatter
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11-21-2015, 07:25 AM | #19 |
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Re: Nostalgia
"I've got to see a man about a horse" or "I'm going to shake the dew off the lilly". "The cat's meow". "A fart in a carload". "That's cookin with gas". "More excuses than Carters has pills". "Tits on a boar hog".
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11-21-2015, 08:50 AM | #20 |
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Re: Nostalgia
I can remember when "gay" meant happy or festive.
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