An annoying term.

[ortega76]

I was described as "old school" the other day at work but in the context of someone who works hard and has high standards. I'll take that as a compliment.

 

[Rundquist]

Here's one difference between the old and new usages of the term:


-- Old usage: "He's of the old school."

-- New usage: "He's old school."


See the difference? Hear the difference? He's no longer from a school. Today, he is a school!



.

I agree with Mark that the term has been misused over the years. Of course anything that’s overused can become irritating no matter how cool it was to begin with. A term that I would probably not use myself is “Fly”. I think that the first guy to use the term was Oscar Brown Jr. in the song “Mr. Kicks”. When he used the term though (from the 1962 record “Between Heaven & Hell”), it was ultra hip. “When a young cat full of sly tricks spends his evenings chasing fly chicks, ten to one he’s looking for kicks”. The terms overuse in the late 80’s & early 90’s has robbed it of its “hip” factor, but it still sounds cool when you hear Oscar use it in that old recording. Unfortunately “Between Heaven & Hell” is out of print, but an earlier version of the song is available as a bonus track on “Sin & Soul”. Oscar passed away two years ago. I got to see him three or four times before though. He was incredible. Check out some of his lyrics and then check out his music.

http://www.chitown.com/http/word/OBjr.html

 

[Haversack]

I don't know if there is any cross-fertilization going on, but to describe someone as "fly" or being a "fly man" is something of a compliment in the Glaswegian argot and has been so since at least the 1930s. It means a particularly crafty or devious person.

Haversack.

 

[Rundquist]

I don't know if there is any cross-fertilization going on, but to describe someone as "fly" or being a "fly man" is something of a compliment in the Glaswegian argot and has been so since at least the 1930s. It means a particularly crafty or devious person.

Haversack.

There you go!

 

[nightandthecity]

a lot of terms that are - or used to be - hip US slang turn out to be of venerable useage in Britain. I grew up with "Fly". And "Cool" and "man" go back to the middle ages..."blue"/"the blues" and "wicked=good" into the 18th century. "Honky" is archaic southern English dialect for a "low idle dissolute fellow" (and a "tonk" is a dance frequented by same, hence honky tonk).

There's a lot more examples but I'm too tired to start looking in books....

 

[nightandthecity]

Can square dance calling be considered rap?

I think I read somewhere that there is a direct line from West Indian quadrille dance calling to Jamaican toasting to rap......and another line running from the tradition of improvised mock sermons in England.

everything comes from somewhere. Everything has roots.

 

[scotrace]

Back in the day, we used to describe something really cool as "decent!"


I think Meatloaf topped the charts then.

 

[Senator Jack]

"Decent"

Hah! Haven't thought about that for years. I remember when I first heard someone use that up in Connecticut and I had no idea what they were talking about.


Other phrases I'm tired of:

"On the trolley"
"Hittin' all sixes"
"So's yer old man"
"Yeah, Jack, it was...ummm...good."

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[LizzieMaine]

Oh gee, "decent" is still very much in use up here. If something is extremely decent, it's *wicked* decent. And if it's even more so, it's "some old wicked decent, yessah!"

 

[Benny Holiday]

Cab Calloway's late 30's recording of "Are You hep to the Jive?"

contains the line, "Are you fly, are you fly?"

Old Aussie slang terms rarely heard these days: 'ripper', 'bonza' = great; although Melbournites still love the term 'grouse' (as Matthew Dalton will no doubt attest!)

A buddy of mine who's originally from California loves the way Aussies have destroyed the use of the letters 't' and 'l' when we speak Orstrayan. We count upwards from twelve as 'thirdeen, fourdeen, and fifdeen.' And saying 'my car, bike, house' etc. is actually 'me car, bike, or house'. Well,
the ritzy people on the North Shore of Sydney speak 'proper', but the rest
of us sound Colonial. And love it! lol

 

[Rundquist]

I think I read somewhere that there is a direct line from West Indian quadrille dance calling to Jamaican toasting to rap......and another line running from the tradition of improvised mock sermons in England.

everything comes from somewhere. Everything has roots.

That makes sense. The same slave ships that brought slaves to the U.S. also stopped off in the Caribbean. From there, African music developed on two separate paths. The American slave owner was basically a control freak. He did not allow the slaves to keep their drums. The slave owner in the Caribbean did allow the slave to keep his drum. That’s the difference in the development of African music in the Americas, but the parallels are also very apparent.

Anyway, in Latin Caribbean music (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and so on) there is a call and response section in the music. The singer (or “sonero”) sings something extemporaneously, and then the rest of the band sings back a response. A good sonero is judged on his voice (obviously), how clever his words are, and how melodic & rhythmic he can be. In Jazz, the singer sings nonsense syllables (scatting), and is judged on melody & rhythm.

So the idea of improvising lyrics on the spot is not new. Unfortunately the art of improvising lyrics is almost gone. In salsa/mambo music today there are only a handful of great soneros that would stack up to those from yesterday. Hardly any of the new Jazz singers can scat, and when they do, a lot of it is memorized. Some of the early rappers were improvisers. Almost none of them today are. I am not really a rap fan, but the parallels are there if you look. Cheers