Terms Which Have Disappeared

[Stanley Doble]

Capehart was a brand of record player that featured an elaborate automatic record changer similar to what you would see in an old juke box.

This made it possible to listen to a symphony or opera continuously as the machine changed up to 20 records automatically.

Remember, in those days the only records were 78s that were limited to 3 to 4 minutes per side.

In this story the owner was a single man of moderate means who lived in a one bedroom apartment and did not own a car. His one luxury was classical music, played on his highly polished Capehart.

The fabulous Capehart

http://www.myvintagetv.com/updatepages1/capehart/capehart.htm

In the early 40s Capeharts cost $1000 and up. List price for a new Chevrolet was $695.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Though the term might not be disappearing, the usage has..."trade", instead of "shop" as in "I trade at the Winn-Dixie" or "Let's go trading on Saturday". Most of my relatives used "trade" back in the day, but hardly any do now.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Trade" implied something beyond simply shopping at a store, at least around here. If you said "I trade at Sid's Market," it meant that you not only shopped there, but that it was a personal affiliation, like the church you attended or the baseball team you rooted for. Trading at Sid's meant you'd never set foot in the First National or the IGA no matter what incentives they offered. You knew Sid and he knew you, and you had a personal stake in the business relationship.

People don't have that kind of relationship with their vendors anymore. They don't know the manager of the local grocery store personally, and they don't care to know him. All they care about is getting double coupons on Friday or saving ten cents on the twelve-roll bundle of toilet paper.

 

[HudsonHawk]

"Trade" implied something beyond simply shopping at a store, at least around here. If you said "I trade at Sid's Market," it meant that you not only shopped there, but that it was a personal affiliation, like the church you attended or the baseball team you rooted for. Trading at Sid's meant you'd never set foot in the First National or the IGA no matter what incentives they offered. You knew Sid and he knew you, and you had a personal stake in the business relationship.

People don't have that kind of relationship with their vendors anymore. They don't know the manager of the local grocery store personally, and they don't care to know him. All they care about is getting double coupons on Friday or saving ten cents on the twelve-roll bundle of toilet paper.

That kind of loyalty to a merchant or a brand has largely disappeared everywhere. About the only place I see it anymore is with beer and firearms.

 

[Gingerella72]

Kids today probably wouldn't know what you meant by the phrase "hang up the phone".

With automatic windows being the standard norm in cars for decades now, do people still say "roll down the window?" What else would you say - put the window down? Buzz down the window? Open the window? Or do they still say roll down the window without knowing you used to have to literally roll down the window?

 

[esteban68]

ditto and ten bob for 50 pence!

Common term in Belfast until at least my teens and would probably still be used by people of my age or older.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Then there's obsolete terms that are still in use today such as Steamroller. I don't think I've ever seen an actual STEAM roller in my life. I still hear people refer to the modern diesel version as a steamroller.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I told one of the kids at work the other day to "polish the mirrors," and she looked at me with complete incomprehension. "You mean 'wash' the mirrors?" she asked. "No," I said, "I mean *polish* the mirrors. Buff them to a shine with a dry cloth to remove any smears and streaks left from washing."

This is all the result of the schools not teaching home-ec anymore.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I told one of the kids at work the other day to "polish the mirrors," and she looked at me with complete incomprehension. "You mean 'wash' the mirrors?" she asked. "No," I said, "I mean *polish* the mirrors. Buff them to a shine with a dry cloth to remove any smears and streaks left from washing."

This is all the result of the schools not teaching home-ec anymore.

Perhaps she thought "polish the mirrors" was a euphemism for something sinister.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

People don't have that kind of relationship with their vendors anymore. They don't know the manager of the local grocery store personally, and they don't care to know him. All they care about is getting double coupons on Friday or saving ten cents on the twelve-roll bundle of toilet paper.

I left my home town shortly before my 18th birthday to go to college. When I lived there, we had neighborhood groceries. I can think of eight without spending a lot of effort, there may have been more. At those businesses, customers generally had accounts which they would pay monthly. "Put it on the bill." was an often-heard phrase. Yes, we had two "supermarkets" in my town, and an A&P store in the adjacent town, but those family-run businesses continued until the 1980's.

And don't forget "The Dobie Gillis" show, a 1960's sitcom in which the father of the teenaged title character operated a grocery store. Markets (as in "the market") have changed, and neighborhood groceries are no longer economically viable businesses. None of the neighborhood groceries I grew up with still exist, and even the two supermarkets have disappeared.

 

[Zombie_61]

Then there's obsolete terms that are still in use today such as Steamroller. I don't think I've ever seen an actual STEAM roller in my life. I still hear people refer to the modern diesel version as a steamroller.

Along those lines, I still tend to use the term "towmotor" in reference to a forklift. I've gotten some nice confused reactions from youngsters with that one.

I once used the term "fire plug" (in reference to a fire hydrant) in front of a good friend who is a former firefighter. Being only a few years younger than I am he recognized the term, but I thought his head was going to explode. lol

 

[LizzieMaine]

There's still a lot of us around who call any excavator a "steam shovel." Especially those of us who remember Mike Mulligan.

 

[kaiser]

My maternal grandfather (born 1898) would always refer to sums less than a dollar in terms of "bits"; two bits, four bits, six bits. He always referred to automobiles as "machines", as in, "Watch out! That machine is backing up!"

The one about the car being a machine is something I have heard as well. When I was a teenager living in rural Indiana in the mid 1970's we had an old neighbor lady ( at this point in time I think that she was in her mid 80's ) who's discription of a car passing her house was " a green machine came out of the south " Good and colorful way of putting it.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I also like "kite," the World War I Royal Flying Corps and World War II RAF term for an airplane considering that the fabric and wood construction of World War I aircraft wasn't really that much different to that of a kite.

 

[Atticus Finch]

1st Degree - Persuasion.

2nd Degree - Intimidation.

3rd Degree - Pain.

Those were the traditional 'three degrees'.

I have always thought the term "The 3rd Degree" came from the series of questions asked of a man seeking to become a 3rd Degree Mason.

AF

 

[vitanola]

Kids today probably wouldn't know what you meant by the phrase "hang up the phone".

So I suppose that "Ring off, already!" would be an Elusian mystery.

When was the last time that you heard someone refer to "The Refrigidaire", "Flivver", or "Boneshaker".

"Put out the lights", "Doozy", and even "Range" are little heard today.

The owner of a Model A will look with puzzlement at the fellow who refers to their machine as "One of those New Fords", unless Perhaps that person is driving a Model T.

 

[vitanola]

Capehart was a brand of record player that featured an elaborate automatic record changer similar to what you would see in an old juke box.

This made it possible to listen to a symphony or opera continuously as the machine changed up to 20 records automatically.

Remember, in those days the only records were 78s that were limited to 3 to 4 minutes per side.

In this story the owner was a single man of moderate means who lived in a one bedroom apartment and did not own a car. His one luxury was classical music, played on his highly polished Capehart.

The fabulous Capehart

http://www.myvintagetv.com/updatepages1/capehart/capehart.htm

In the early 40s Capeharts cost $1000 and up. List price for a new Chevrolet was $695.

Yes but of course the D-22 was fitted with a record changer of good quality, and RCA Victor was offering all of their symphonic and operatic stuff in Automatic Sequence. The $600.00 RCA machine was a better sounding, more powerful phonograph than the Capehart, but it had no cachet, and it didn't come with a customer's choice of Period cabinet work, looking more like a particularly attractive washing machine than a Chippendale or Sheraton chest.

 

[Shangas]

I have always thought the term "The 3rd Degree" came from the series of questions asked of a man seeking to become a 3rd Degree Mason.

AF

The Three Degrees (persuasion, intimidation & pain) were introduced by the New York City Police Department in the 1890s. It was how they interrogated violent criminals.

While we're on old terms and sayings, my dad (born 1948) is the only person I know who still uses the term "Hunky Dory". How many folks around today would still know what that means?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Pretty much the same thing as "ducky."

 

[Haversack]

I was always given to understand that 'The Third Degree' dates back to either the Inquisition or the Spanish Inquisition. (12th or 16th C.) The First Degree being simply showing the instruments of torture to the victim. The Second Degree being having the victim watch the instruments of torture be used on someone else. And the Third Degree being using them on the victim.

Out here in California, the term 'French Laundry' previously also had the unspoken message that it was not a Chinese Laundry.

Haversack.