Terms Which Have Disappeared

[HudsonHawk]

That's great isight. I always wonder how disasters like that happen. While the Cimmaron might have been the nail in the coffin (as someone else just said), the phrase, which I remember well, "the Cadillac of X" was probably doomed anyway as luxury foreign cars entered the US market in mass in the 1980s and 90s. Until then, the pecking order at GM was clear with Cadillac sitting at the top competing only with Lincoln (and the US market was all about the Big Three). But with all these new-to-the-US luxury brands coming in, and many of them more expensive than Cadillacs, the phrase didn't stand a chance.

Rolls Royce...the Cadillac of automobiles.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Rolls Royce...the Cadillac of automobiles.

Packard, the Rolls Royce of Cadillacs. "Ask the man who owns one."

 

[vitanola]

Peerless, the Pierce Arrow of Packards.

What's next? "Orient, the Brush of DeDion Buton Motorettes"?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Dodge, the Buick of Plymouths.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

My Great-Great-Grandfather was a very wealthy man, but penny wise and dollar foolish. During the Depression, he had two Pierce-Arrows, which he bought new for a good amount of money. He put water in the radiators, instead of anti-freeze and cracked the blocks on both of them one winter.

Peerless, the Pierce Arrow of Packards.

What's next? "Orient, the Brush of DeDion Buton Motorettes"?

 

[tonyb]

Its funny, but mules have made resurgence around here...not as beasts of burden, but as pets. One lives about a half mile from my house. Most mornings, just at daylight, he's outside braying like crazy, I guess asking for his breakfast. Even a half mile away, he's so blasted loud I can hear him from inside my kitchen.

AF

Do mules make good eating?

 

[Stanley Doble]

Do mules make good eating?

If you like Alpo.

 

[Haversack]

"Mercedes-Benz - The Rich Man's Volkswagen" A phrase I remember hearing in the early 1960s.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

[video=youtube;gtQLIU4ze0g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtQLIU4ze0g[/video]

 

[tonyb]

If you like Alpo.

I've had horse. And I've had worse.

It wasn't bad at all. Indeed, if I hadn't known better, I would've thought it was beef.

 

[tonyb]

A friend, commenting on my beater Chevy Astro, a one-time passenger van that gets used more like an old pickup these days (it's hauled several tons of all sorts of debris over the past couple of years), said if I gave it a good wash "it would shine up like a new penny." Hadn't heard that one in what must be decades now.

It reminded me of my neighbor up at the old house, who, on spotting a particularly comely young woman saunter by, said she was "prettier than new money."

These days, most of my financial transactions are done with debit cards. I typically go several days without handling cash at all. Even the parking meters and vending machines take plastic these days. I can take payment on my cell phone now, with or without the "square" thing. All I need is the info on the card.

 

[TallErik]

At least Cadillac is finally building some great cars again. This is likely the best line up of cars (the 2014 Cadillacs) that the company has ever produced. Wait til you see what's coming! The Cadillac of Cadillacs will be in production soon.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Speaking of "the square thing," when was the last time you heard the word "square" used as anything but a perjorative.

Once upon a time, you could count on getting a "square deal" from someone who was "on the square," and if you had any problems with him you knew he'd "square it" with you. To be square was to be honest, forthright, solid, and reliable. To be considered "square" was a respectable, admirable thing.

It's time for the squares of the world to unite. Square Pride!

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Speaking of "the square thing," when was the last time you heard the word "square" used as anything but a perjorative.

Once upon a time, you could count on getting a "square deal" from someone who was "on the square," and if you had any problems with him you knew he'd "square it" with you. To be square was to be honest, forthright, solid, and reliable. To be considered "square" was a respectable, admirable thing.

It's time for the squares of the world to unite. Square Pride!

Interestingly, my Mom used to use the term "square" in that matter. Of course as a young lad I found it to be like fingernails on a chalkboard.

 

[dhermann1]

The Cub Scout oath, as I recall, had a final phrase of, "To be square, and obey the law of the pack." The term was already outdated in the mid 50s. It had already acquired its Beatnik meaning of being hopelessly conventional and banal. (Remember the Beatniks???)

 

[tonyb]

Among many of my friends and associates, people you probably wouldn't think of as "squares," it's fairly common to hear phrases such as "are we square, then?" when looking for reassurance that an exchange has met to the satisfaction of all concerned; and "he's on the square," to vouch for a person's reliability.

"Square" can be almost as flexible as "cool," it seems. To be cool with something generally means it is viewed favorably, but to be cooling to something means almost the opposite.

 

[dhermann1]

It does have its natural inherent rectangular connotation.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^

For good or ill.

 

[tonyb]

This entire discussion might be seen as a philological study. (Why do I get that laughing thing when an L is followed by an O which is followed by another L?)

Might it be that some terms that were once used metaphorically or euphemistically have come to be the more literal/direct way of expressing the concept? "Gay," in reference to homosexuality, comes to mind.

George Lakoff's "Metaphors We Live By" is a compelling take on the matter.

 

[GHT]

"Field Day!" Used to hear it all the time, just seems to have faded away.
"Hobson's Choice!" No one today has heard of it. You can take it or leave it, Hobson's choice. In other words, no choice at all.
"Swing the lead!" To malinger, seems to have been replaced by "Duvet Day."