Terms Which Have Disappeared

[scottyrocks]

She was a pistol.

In fact, that was the substitution made when I first heard that one: 'Is that a pistol in you pocket, or are you just happy to see me?' I think the alliteration sounds better, apologies to Ms. West.

 

[MisterCairo]

Along with "Shenanigans", other words from the period when recent Irish immigrants were the disfavored minority: hooligan, malarkey, paddy wagon. Any others come to mind?

Not Irish, but ne'er do well, ruffian and blackguard are among my favourites!

 

[Zombie_61]

Not Irish, but ne'er do well, ruffian and blackguard are among my favourites!

And let's not forget the ever popular "rapscallion".

 

[Fading Fast]

To needle someone as in to annoy by constantly throwing small criticisms their way.

I can here my dad's friend saying it to his wife - "stop needling me -" as it was a refrain of their relationship. It didn't mean anything - nor did her criticism - it, oddly, reflected a comfort or closeness to their relationship. But more broadly, it was a more common term back in the '50s and '60s based I whom I saw use it when I was growing up.

 

[BlueTrain]

It is true that many things have their origins decades ago (but not light years). In fact, there was a television show, which aired decades ago, which featured the origins of some common technology in wide use today, like computers. I have a book on the subject but, well, you know, nobody reads books anymore.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Wastrel" was once a very satisfying term to describe a parasitical young idler frittering away his inheritance on riotous living. Chicago department store heir Marshall Field III was a prototypical wastrel until he underwent psychoanalysis in the early 1930s and completely changed his point of view.

 

[Bugguy]

I don't recall what I was listening to, but my ears perked up when I heard mention of it only costing a "sawbuck". I'd rather have a sawbuck than a "fin".

 

[BlueTrain]

Does anyone refer to "Orientals" these days? Asian is the term I hear all the time. Or the Orient? The mysterious Orient?

 

[LizzieMaine]

There's still a Chinese restaurant in Bangor called "The Oriental Jade," which is about the only place you'll still hear that word in use.

 

[Fading Fast]

Does anyone refer to "Orientals" these days? Asian is the term I hear all the time. Or the Orient? The mysterious Orient?

You're right. That was a reasonably common term, I'm guessing, up until 20ish years ago. And based on movies and books, it was the dominate term in the '30s and '40s. Any idea why it evolved to Asian?

 

[BlueTrain]

When the Orient Express quit running?

And then there's Occidental.

 

[BlueTrain]

On second thought, use of the word "Oriental" may have disappeared around the same time people stopped being described as "swarthy."

 

[Fading Fast]

When the Orient Express quit running?

And then there's Occidental.

Occidental, for the West, has always seemed a bit academic or, at least, not common as I've only come across it in academic books and a few other places, but Oriental, for Asia, was in common usage for decades.

 

[Upgrade]

Oriental is a bit outdated, but it's up in the air over whether it is racist. Celestials, Chinaman, and Jap also have fallen out of usage, some with more emotional baggage than others.

Of course, Asian has fewer syllables than Oriental.

In any case there was a bill passed last year that prohibited the use of Oriental, negro, Eskimo etc. in legislation in an effort to "modernize terms relating to minorities".

https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/4238/text

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Asian" is currently considered to be more accurate. "Oriental" has been used to refer to everything from people of East Asian descent to people of middle-eastern descent, to Russians -- you'd sometimes see articles during WWII talking about "Stalin's wily Oriental mind," and things like that.

Not that "Asian" has any less potential to be confusing. The Nation of Islam was using "Asiatic" as far back as the 1930s to describe any non-white person, and I'd imagine that persons of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Laotian, Cambodian, or Vietnamese descent might be annoyed at being all lumped together by well-meaning white people, especially given the way that some of said white people tend to exoticize or -- ah -- fetishize persons of Asian descent.

"Celestial" is a word I always associate with bad pulp/comic book detective fiction, in which Dan Turner or Slam Bradley is always beating up a roomful of identical ball-headed pigtailed stereotypes. Even by the thirties it was not particularly respectable.

 

[BlueTrain]

I think "exotic" still has some meaning. To me, it evokes something or someone who is interesting, mostly unfamiliar and has a captivating charm. It definitely evokes far away places, some not so unfamiliar, like Hawaii, other places less well known, like Sumatra. It might be Africa, it can certainly be the Far East or the South Seas. But it can't be Europe and it can't be cold, except for central Asia, like Nepal or Tibet. Added interest comes from Tiki bars run by ex-pat British or Americans.

 

[vitanola]

Occidental, for the West, has always seemed a bit academic or, at least, not common as I've only come across it in academic books and a few other places, but Oriental, for Asia, was in common usage for decades.

Years ago, practically in another lifetime, I knew an old busybody on Orchard Street who was half Chinese and half Jewish. She was what you would call an Oriyente. She used to say that I was an occident waiting to happen...

 

[Upgrade]

Jewess and negress have also fallen out of favor though they pop up in Doyle and Dickens.

 

[BlueTrain]

The last place I saw "negress" was, incredibly enough, in the Whole Earth Catalog.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Not a term, but a gesture -- how long has it been since you saw someone express contempt toward an authority figure by thumbing their nose at them? In the Era, this was a very popular way of expressing a sentiment similar to "Up Yours" or "F. You" toward some dignitary you disrespected. The type of people today who go around with middle-finger stickers displayed on the rear of their pickup trucks would, in the 1930s, go around with a radiator ornament depicting a devil figure with a thumb raised to its nose.