Terms Which Have Disappeared

[Trenchfriend]

German "Springinsfeld".

Means "(young) madcap" or "harum-scarum" or "greenhorn" or "nitwit".

 

[Stearmen]

Showing, if you wait long enough, all sayings will come back in style. I have heard quite a lot recently, young people saying, both in person and on TV, "let's blow this popsicle stand!"

 

[tonyb]

Showing, if you wait long enough, all sayings will come back in style. I have heard quite a lot recently, young people saying, both in person and on TV, "let's blow this popsicle stand!"

I use that phrase myself, but if I ever visited an actual PopSicle stand, I can't recall when they might have been. I get the implication, though, and I suspect the youngsters who use the phrase these days do as well.

 

[earl]

Speaking of bowling-alley "pin boys" here's a shot of several of them at work in a bowling alley in Brooklyn in 1910 -- they weren't just "boys," they were little boys seven or eight years old. This photo was taken at 1 AM, according to the caption on the back, which also notes that "Boss kept several younger boys out of the picture." The Gerry Society didn't much care about working-class boys, it seems.

Although mechanical pinsetting machines became popular in the twenties, they still had to be loaded with pins by a pin boy, so the occupation of "pin boy" continued to exist well into the fifties when automatic pinsetters became common. By that point, though, the law had finally caught up with the industry, and pin boys had to be at least sixteen years old in most states.

Now that brought back a vague memory. When a young child in my very small home town in South Dakota, we had a 4-lane bowling alley and it used a "pin boy."

 

[Trenchfriend]

I had a very nice twinset before the moths got to it.

"Mothproofing" is something you don't hear much about anymore. Pity.

Often, I'm looking around, for fun, what's going on, on women-clothing, after looking at our mens-clothing. There are even cardigans, made of (poloshirt)piqué-fabric, woohoo!

 

[Fading Fast]

I just used it, without thinking about it, today, but you really don't hear things called "spic 'n span" meaning spotlessly clean anymore.

 

[Stearmen]

A term I do here a lot, White Body or Body In White, but never knew the origins. If you are into production racing, NASCAR, V8 supercars, and so on, you probably have heard the term. It means, the bare body they get before they turn it into a race car. No engine suspension, interior, nothing. I always assumed, the term applied to how the car was a blank canvas. Wrong, it goes back to the dawn of motoring, when cars had a lot of wood in them. The wood was given a wash of white tinted preservative to protect it from moisture. Hence, White Body!

 

[Jayessgee]

This term hasn't really disappeared. However, I would not have thought of it as a term deserving to be included in a nostalgia topic like this. I have considered this a "Modern expression." I think it is close enough to be included. I might just make this a new topic, old terms still with us.
Anyway, that term is, "my man."
What brought it to my attention was watching an old 1930's Charlie Chan flick on You tube. (Gads I love that channel! I just connect it from my computer through to my TV. Practically no commercials and no fees either!)
But, asked to follow someone #One Son jauntily replies "Let's go my man!" Of course that leads him right into being kidnapped. This was Charlie Chan at the Berlin Olympics.

 

[Jayessgee]

A term I do here a lot, White Body or Body In White, but never knew the origins. If you are into production racing, NASCAR, V8 supercars, and so on, you probably have heard the term. It means, the bare body they get before they turn it into a race car. No engine suspension, interior, nothing. I always assumed, the term applied to how the car was a blank canvas. Wrong, it goes back to the dawn of motoring, when cars had a lot of wood in them. The wood was given a wash of white tinted preservative to protect it from moisture. Hence, White Body!

Another possibility or perhaps contributed to retention of the expression is that unpainted metal is referred to as being "In the white."

 

[skydog757]

I very seldom hear the the term "Rub shoulders with . ." (As in "Tommy was out rubbing shoulders with the Mayor the other night.") I throw it out there myself every now and then and the twenty-somethings that I work with have no idea what I mean.

 

[LizzieMaine]

In the Era, any small suitcase, valise, or overnight bag was universally known as a "grip." I haven't heard them called that in years.

 

[JennDarling]

In the Era, any small suitcase, valise, or overnight bag was universally known as a "grip." I haven't heard them called that in years.

My auntie will sometimes ask me "got your grip?" when I'm leaving for work in the morning with my purse and work bag. I wonder if she picked the term up from her dad, he grew up back in that time period.

 

[Fading Fast]

In the Era, any small suitcase, valise, or overnight bag was universally known as a "grip." I haven't heard them called that in years.

Any connection to the movie "grip" which I think is kind of a factotum on a movie set?

 

[Stanley Doble]

In the custom body era of the twenties and thirties bodies for luxury cars were often made in batches of 50 or 100 and put into storage until needed. The bodies were painted with white lead primer. When a customer ordered a car the body would be painted and trimmed to order and installed on a chassis.

"Body in white" referred to a finished body shell with no paint, upholstery or glass. It is still possible to order a body in white for current production cars and sometimes this is done to rebuild a late model wreck.

Stock car racers began using these bodies in the late 50s. It was easier than stripping down a new car, as so much of the car was hand built and had no interior except a driver's seat.

 

[HudsonHawk]

In the Era, any small suitcase, valise, or overnight bag was universally known as a "grip." I haven't heard them called that in years.

I still hear the term "grip bag" occasionally. It's been pretty much replaced by "carry on", even in a non-airplane setting.

 

[skydog757]

"Johnny" was simply a common name for the common man in 19th century slang, sort of the equivalent of "Joe Blow" or "Joe Doakes" in the Era. If some generic man was being referred to, he was "Johnny." Hence "Stage Door Johnny" was a man who loitered outside stage doors waiting to put the make on chorus girls, "Johnny On The Spot" was always the first guy on the scene of whatever was going on, and "Johnny Come Lately" was the fellow who jumps on the bandwagon long after it's started rolling.

I also remember the phrase "Let George do it"; referring to any task that the speaker did not plan on doing.

 

[Stearmen]

In the custom body era of the twenties and thirties bodies for luxury cars were often made in batches of 50 or 100 and put into storage until needed. The bodies were painted with white lead primer. When a customer ordered a car the body would be painted and trimmed to order and installed on a chassis.

"Body in white" referred to a finished body shell with no paint, upholstery or glass. It is still possible to order a body in white for current production cars and sometimes this is done to rebuild a late model wreck.

Stock car racers began using these bodies in the late 50s. It was easier than stripping down a new car, as so much of the car was hand built and had no interior except a driver's seat.

Now that you mention it, if the original term was used to refer to the preserved white wood parts on early cars, and later custom high end car parts, would it not go back to say the horse drawn hand made coaches? Seems logical.

 

[Stanley Doble]

That seems likely but I don't know for sure/

 

[vitanola]

In the custom body era of the twenties and thirties bodies for luxury cars were often made in batches of 50 or 100 and put into storage until needed. The bodies were painted with white lead primer. When a customer ordered a car the body would be painted and trimmed to order and installed on a chassis.

"Body in white" referred to a finished body shell with no paint, upholstery or glass. It is still possible to order a body in white for current production cars and sometimes this is done to rebuild a late model wreck.

Stock car racers began using these bodies in the late 50s. It was easier than stripping down a new car, as so much of the car was hand built and had no interior except a driver's seat.

The term "in the white" has been in use for furniture since at least the early eighteenth century, and has been used for carriagework nearly as long.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There was a brief time in American life, around 1947-48, when the phrase "Open the door!" was never heard without being followed by the word "Richard!"