Terms Which Have Disappeared

[BlueTrain]

"Good as gold?"

 

[Trenchfriend]

The "Golden Rule".

Who's got the gold, this one make the rules.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Sixteen to one!"

 

[scottyrocks]

Well, actually, it's the other way around. Easter falls near Passover. Passover came first.

I don't believe I made any mention of chronological order, either then or now.

 

[tonyb]

You can bet your last denarius on it?
My only Roman expression is "Deader than Julius Caesar. " I use that one quite often.

The since-departed Old Man was fond of saying, in response to what he deemed an absurd proposition, "and if George Washington hadn't died he'd still be alive today."

A old co-worker expressed the same sentiment by saying, "and if rabbits packed pistols dogs wouldn't f**k with 'em."

 

[BlueTrain]

That's a little like saying you never have to worry about your heart. It'll last as long as you live.

 

[ChiTownScion]

"Sixteen to one!"

I know that I've said this before, but Bryan is one of the most misunderstood men of history- both among those who see themselves as his supporters and his detractors. He was both ahead of, and behind, his times.

 

[Fading Fast]

I have no doubt this has come up in this thread before, but over Christmas I used "riff-raff" and got an odd look from the people under 30 in the room (the one with some brains got it from context, the rest, all-but-in-unison, said "what?").

 

[LizzieMaine]

The under-30s must be Rocky Horror fans.

I've described a certain sketchy bar in town to tourists as "the place where riff meets raff" and often get a limp, quizzical smile in response.

 

[HudsonHawk]

The under-30s must be Rocky Horror fans.

I've described a certain sketchy bar in town to tourists as "the place where riff meets raff" and often get a limp, quizzical smile in response.

Back in my rock n roll roadie days, we used to describe it as "where high tech meets low life".

 

[HudsonHawk]

I wonder if the same people who make smart nuanced arguments about why a country like ours - whose traditions and history are deeply entwined with Christianity / whose "culture" one could say has a Christian imbuing - should shift toward Happy Holidays versus Merry Christmas would make the same argument that, say, a predominately Arabic country, with Christian and Buddhist minority cultures, should not use Arabic expressions for, say holiday greetings, and, instead, find generic ones to make the Christian and Buddhist minorities feel more included. Or, would these same people be arguing that we should respect the history and traditions of a predominately Arabic country and let them continue using their Arabic expressions.

IMHO, either view has an argument. One, all countries and cultures should "homogenize" their traditions and customs to make every minority within that country feel included or, two, a country should keep its historical traditions and customs out of respect to its history and majority and that the minorities in those countries should understand that is part of the bargain one strikes living in a country with a different majority culture.

As someone who frequently visits the largest Muslim country in the world, which also has significant Christian and Hindu populations, I can attest to the fact that they have no problems including everyone in the appropriate greetings. Now, Muslim holidays and Christian holidays don't typically overlap, but it doesn't seem to infuriate anyone that they live among others and have no problems issuing sincere greetings and well wishes at times that are significant. Of course, I find most Muslims to be nicer, in general, than most Christians.

 

[Fading Fast]

As someone who frequently visits the largest Muslim country in the world, which also has significant Christian and Hindu populations, I can attest to the fact that they have no problems including everyone in the appropriate greetings. Now, Muslim holidays and Christian holidays don't typically overlap, but it doesn't seem to infuriate anyone that they live among others and have no problems issuing sincere greetings and well wishes at times that are significant. Of course, I find most Muslims to be nicer, in general, than most Christians.

Indonesia is one Muslim country and, based on several close friends from Iran and Saudi Arabia, not necessarily representative of all Muslim countries (they have outright told me you, unfortunately, don't want to be Christian in those two countries). That said, my post was not a comment - at all - on Muslim countries - or their people - but on whether those in the West who are passionate about secularizing the West - even trying to micromanage Christmas greetings - in part, based on an argument of inclusiveness, would apply the same standard to Muslim countries or would be more accommodative to a country's majority culture when it isn't Christian.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Indonesia is one Muslim country and, based on several close friends from Iran and Saudi Arabia, not necessarily representative of all Muslim countries (they have outright told me you, unfortunately, don't want to be Christian in those two countries). That said, my post was not a comment - at all - on Muslim countries - or their people - but on whether those in the West who are passionate about secularizing the West - even trying to micromanage Christmas greetings - in part, based on an argument of inclusiveness, would apply the same standard to Muslim countries or would be more accommodative to a country's majority culture when it isn't Christian.

I've spent time in the Middle East too, and you're right, they're not very accepting of Christians or other religions, though they're not as hostile as many here make them out to be. There's a sense of almost "don't ask, don't tell", and don't throw it up in their faces by doing things like putting a nativity scene in your front yard. But I disagree that people who are trying to be inclusive here are the ones wanting to micromanage greetings. It's just the opposite. The "War on Christmas" is a fabrication, created to justify hostile attitudes and absolve some Christians from non-Christian-like behavior, IMO. My point about Indonesia was that it represented a group of people who try their best to be inclusive, not because they want to secularize their country, but because they just don't want to be jackasses.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The public secularization of Christmas has been going on at full tilt for a very very long time in the US, especially since the grandfathers of the Boys discovered the holiday in the late 19th century. No American alive today has ever lived in a world where "Happy Holidays" and "Seasons Greetings" weren't a commonplace part of the scene, and where secular commercialization was not the overwhelmingly prevalent public mood of the holiday season -- and yet that so many today seem to believe otherwise is simply proof of how effective the strategy of "repeat a lie often enough and people will accept it as the truth" can really be. Henry Ford, Gerald Winrod, and Gerald Lucifer KKKodfish Smith -- who started and perpetuated the "War on Christmas" meme for their own purposes in the 1920s,30s, and 40s -- would be proud.

 

[vitanola]

"Fifty-four Forty or Fight!"

Haven't heard that one in a while...

 

[BlueTrain]

In doing a little research on another topic I just post on, I saw the term "golden age," (or era) which of course exists here, if only in our minds. But such and such an age is used a lot. The bronze age, the space age, the digital era and so on. But remember when a few cars were available with a push-button transmission selector? That was the push-button age. But we're beyond that now, I assume. On a certain Ford model, you dial in your gear selection.

 

[Upgrade]

Bronze age is certainly used in a different sense than golden age which remains metaphorical if anything.

There used to be a trend of naming periods of time after English monarchs, Victorian, Edwardian, “Restoration” (to an extent), Georgian etc.

Of course, there’s a slight problem trying to call the current era as Elizabethan.

 

[vallettavalentine]

One I just remembered is "good egg." I used that over the New Years' weekend and a friend of mine remarked that she hasn't heard the saying in a long while.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The phrase "Golden Age" has been around for a very very long time, pretty much as long as there have been civilizations to look back gauzily on their past. In the Era with which we concern ourselves, there was a popular religious magazine called "The Golden Age," which referred to a postulated post-millennial era in which Millions Now Living Will Never Die. Unfortunately, that didn't pan out.

Some very wise observer, referring to the late 20th Century's obsession with childhood nostalgia, once said "The Golden Age of anything is eight."

We are, right now, living in the Golden Age of Web-Streaming, the Golden Age of Pre-Packaged Lunch Meats, the Golden Age of Expanded Polypropylene Cushioned Footwear, the Golden Age of Water-Soluble Encaspulation of Cleaning Products, and the Golden Age of Memes.

 

[Fading Fast]

Just used "shenanigans" in another thread - it seems to be disappearing.