Terms Which Have Disappeared

[2jakes]

⇧ Everything almost always has an earlier-than-thought origin or antecedent.

Fading Fast, there's a Clint Eastwood western where the
the town is painted red.
You know where the term,
"painting the town red" originated?
I believe it has to do with having a good time
But it might have other interpretations.

 

[Trenchfriend]

A british term, which I like:

"To paint the town red". Means going out and celebrate anything. British humor.

Trenchfriend, Feb 4, 2016

Site 124.

 

[2jakes]

A british term, which I like:

"To paint the town red". Means going out and celebrate anything. British humor.

Trenchfriend, Feb 4, 2016

Site 124.

So there's no earlier-than-thought origin ?
Ok.....fine.



I'm too lazy to go to Site 124 at this time.
But thanks!

 

[BlueTrain]

Funny you should mention that. There was a pond, all of two or three blocks (depending on the shortcuts) from home, that was owned by a local sporting goods store and used for, I guess, demonstrating boats. It's surprising how many boats people own that far inland. I don't know if it was entirely a natural pond or not but it had been improved by being enlarged with a sort of canal that created an island. I think a few boys would swim, some skinny-dip but it wasn't a body of water I would have dared to get in and I never did. Never saw any girls around there. Today, though, the pond is still there, owned by someone else who I think uses it for fishing tournaments. It has a fence around it. Things change, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. But generally speaking, there were no ponds or other places decent enough for swimming around there, with or without bathing suits.

I wonder if girls ever skinny-dipped? I also wonder if I had ever thought about it, if I would have been bothered by the "skinny" part.

 

[2jakes]

Funny you should mention that. There was a pond, all of two or three blocks (depending on the shortcuts) from home, that was owned by a local sporting goods store and used for, I guess, demonstrating boats. It's surprising how many boats people own that far inland. I don't know if it was entirely a natural pond or not but it had been improved by being enlarged with a sort of canal that created an island. I think a few boys would swim, some skinny-dip but it wasn't a body of water I would have dared to get in and I never did. Never saw any girls around there. Today, though, the pond is still there, owned by someone else who I think uses it for fishing tournaments. It has a fence around it. Things change, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. But generally speaking, there were no ponds or other places decent enough for swimming around there, with or without bathing suits.

I wonder if girls ever skinny-dipped? I also wonder if I had ever thought about it, if I would have been bothered by the "skinny" part.

Skinny-dipping was mostly a boy's thing back then
in my neck of the woods.
Although there was always one gal (tom-boy)
who was tough and we didn't mess with her.
She went in with her panties on.
(they were home-made from a flour sack)
She never told me but I knew she liked me.
I never had problems with bullies picking on me with her around.

You had to be there in those times where there was no thought given as to
where you questioned it or bothered you. Every kid was doing it.
It was just something to do on a hot summer day when there was
no public swimming pools.

When I was 20, I was very conscious about holding an umbrella when it
rained.
About the same time on a visit to Tokyo. Everyone was carrying an umbrella.
So I bought one and had no problem using it.

 

[ChrisB]

Fats Waller's work is a delightful treasure trove of "slipping naughty stuff past the ofays."

One never knows, do one?

 

[Stearmen]

Fading Fast, there's a Clint Eastwood western where the
the town is painted red.
You know where the term,
"painting the town red" originated?
I believe it has to do with having a good time
But it might have other interpretations.

There is a lot of argument on when the saying first appeared as you can see. All of them are great stories regardless of truth! https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-5465,00.html

 

[Stearmen]

I was routinely called "four eyes" and worse names growing up. Didn't faze me a bit.

In junior high I wrote a short story in which a character who affected a monocle was referred to as "Three Eyes."

I had a friend years ago we called "tiny!" You can probably imagine his real size. He would get off the wing of our Navy SNJ-5 and the shock on the landing gear would uncompres at least four inches. It didn't even notice my 165lbs. As you might also have guessed, he was the nicest most gentle guy you could ever know.

 

[Stearmen]

Oh my giddy aunt!

 

[2jakes]

Sh-t on a Shingle or SOS.

Unofficial US military food term served mostly at breakfast.

I had to be really hungry to eat that at 4 AM in the chow hall.

 

[BlueTrain]

It's an acquired taste, just like beer.

 

[BlueTrain]

I just heard out token New Yorker use an expression that I rarely ever heard but technically, it's still current. We were discussing something that she was confused about and she said she was "out to lunch," mainly because she hadn't had her coffee (which she pronounces the same as I do) yet.

That then reminded me of an expression that I hear in old movies but never in real life, as in he "took a powder." I'm not quite sure what the meaning was but it seemed like it meant someone wasn't present but not for a good reason.

 

[tonyb]

...
That then reminded me of an expression that I hear in old movies but never in real life, as in he "took a powder." I'm not quite sure what the meaning was but it seemed like it meant someone wasn't present but not for a good reason.

I assumed it was a reference to a visit to the "powder room," a place to which a person might escape for reasons other than, um, powdering her nose. But cursory research offers other theories as to its origins, one of which is that certain laxatives came in powder form, and that a person taking such a laxative might have an urgent need to depart one's company.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Take a powder" pops up in a decent number of film noir movies. Quite often with someone being told to "take a powder" either by one guy trying to get another one away from a girl the first guy wants or by a mob boss telling someone in his "gang" to do so until the "heat is off" as the cops are looking for the underling for something illegal that guy just did.

 

[2jakes]

I just heard out token New Yorker use an expression that I rarely ever heard but technically, it's still current. We were discussing something that she was confused about and she said she was "out to lunch," mainly because she hadn't had her coffee (which she pronounces the same as I do) yet.

That then reminded me of an expression that I hear in old movies but never in real life, as in he "took a powder." I'm not quite sure what the meaning was but it seemed like it meant someone wasn't present but not for a good reason.

I would've interpreted it as to when there is
is a meeting to discuss issues and because
she was "out to lunch" she missed the details
and is confused.
When someone says, "took a powder".
For me it means that they left in
a hurry because for whatever reason they don't want to hang
around.
Another old phrase that is similar
would be, "take it on the lam".
Not sure if I have spelled it right
but it means taking off
in a hurry.
Although for some, drinking coffee
will act as a laxative which makes
for going to the bathroom a nescessity.
Btw:
The "correct-spelling" mode is off.
And so is my spelling !

 

[2jakes]

"Taken for a ride".
I've heard this phrase in gangster movies.
For those that don't know, it means someone is taking you on a "one way trip" in which you never
come back.
Mostly likely you will "meet your maker".


Although I have heard it used as to when someone tricks another
by deception and takes advantage
most likely taking money or has
the "upper-hand" in a situation.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Take....him....for...a....ride!"

--Wheeler Oakman in "The Lights Of New York (1928), the very first all-talking feature. This was the moment that created the cliche.

Guess where the microphone is.

 

[2jakes]

Guess where the microphone is.

"Number please?....

 

[MisterCairo]

"To paint the town red". Means going out and celebrate anything. British humor.

"Humour" with a "u" if you please!

Sh-t on a Shingle or SOS.

In the Canadian military, anything served on bread or toast, usually some version of minced or shredded meat in a sort of "gravy", emphasis on the air quotes...

she said she was "out to lunch,"

Used by me and my family, and many others we know, to mean clueless, confused or otherwise ignorant of context or circumstances.

Although I have heard it used as to when someone tricks another
by deception and takes advantage
most likely taking money or has
the "upper-hand" in a situation.

"Taken for a ride" has that meaning where we're from.

 

[2jakes]

"Humour" with a "u" if you please!