Terms Which Have Disappeared

[Just Jim]

I can remember some of the older folk when I was a child who used euphemisms for profanities ("gol-dernit" and the like), but only a couple who wouldn't even use the word "swear". I had occasion recently to speak with an older gentleman about his great-grandson, and he commented "I swan, that boy ain't got the sense God gave a squirrel."

(And I now have a new personal nightmare: being 80+ years old and finding myself raising a 6 year old.)

 

[2jakes]

 

[skydog757]

One that's fallen out of use is "Don't worry about him, that guy's got it knocked"; which I took to mean having it taken care of. I used to say it all of the time in my teens, but I just read it in a novel this week and it brought it back.

 

[The Jackal]

I can remember some of the older folk when I was a child who used euphemisms for profanities ("gol-dernit" and the like), but only a couple who wouldn't even use the word "swear". I had occasion recently to speak with an older gentleman about his great-grandson, and he commented "I swan, that boy ain't got the sense God gave a squirrel."

(And I now have a new personal nightmare: being 80+ years old and finding myself raising a 6 year old.)

I remember people using swan in place of swear, typically they would draw it out a bit at the beginning like s-wan or by saying "swanny".

Being in the military (which is typically known for heavy use of profanity), I picked up and still occasionally use replacement words used by people in key positions that weren't allowed to use actual profanity.

 

[LizzieMaine]

When Norman Mailer wrote "The Naked and the Dead" in 1946, his editors required him to come up with an acceptable substitute for the Army's Favorite Word. Hence the use in that novel of the word "Fug." As in "Fug You," "Fug It," "All Fugged Up," "Mother Fugger," etc. For a while "Fug" found its way into postwar culture as a popular substitute for That Word.

 

[2jakes]

When Norman Mailer wrote "The Naked and the Dead" in 1946, his editors required him to come up with an acceptable substitute for the Army's Favorite Word. Hence the use in that novel of the word "Fug." As in "Fug You," "Fug It," "All Fugged Up," "Mother Fugger," etc. For a while "Fug" found its way into postwar culture as a popular substitute for That Word.

"fubar"
from movie, S.P.R. (T. Hanks).
Not sure of it's military authenticity .

 

[EngProf]

"fubar"
from movie, S.P.R. (T. Hanks).
Not sure of it's military authenticity .

Paul Fussell has a section on WWII obscene acronyms in his book "Wartime" and FUBAR is mentioned.
As for SNAFU, it was such a common word that the Army made a series of animated training films starring "Private Snafu", who always did everything wrong. (looked a bit like Lou Costello...)

In S.P.R, it was always irritating to me that they had to explain common Army slang to a person who had been in the Army long enough to make Technician 5th Grade (effectively Corporal). It was just like the '50's science fiction movies which always had to have a dumb crewman to whom they had to explain things. (So the *audience* would know that there is no air or gravity in space... "Gee, captain, why are we floating around?")

 

[Zombie_61]

"fubar" from movie, S.P.R. (T. Hanks). Not sure of it's military authenticity.

The Internet says it originated during World War II (most cite the year 1944), and is said to have originally been military slang.

Edit: D'oh! EngProf beat me to it while I was typing.

 

[The Jackal]

Definitely still used in the military, F'd up beyond all recognition and situation normal, all f'd up

 

[2jakes]

"Chow hall"!
Wonder if that's still used?
It was when I was in.
Also kp, latrines,mess hall.

 

[The Jackal]

chow hall/mess hall are still the terms used, at least where they still exist. quite a few bases are closing them down either due to less troops or in favor of promoting the restaurants on base. Civilian workers have dominated the last 2 bases I was on, and they typically either won't or can't use the chow hall, so they end up getting shut down.

 

[Trenchfriend]

"Schabernack", instead of "prank"...

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Are American soldiers still referred to as GIs? It was still in use when I served in the late '60s and prevailed in Vietnam pidgin: "GI numbah 10!"

 

[Fading Fast]

In the 1956 movie Tea and Sympathy, a boy who doesn't fit in with the other boys at a boarding school - isn't into group activities, sports, etc. - is referred to as an "off horse." I think, only think, I've heard it used in other old movies and books.

 

[Fading Fast]

I should have put this in the prior post - are others familiar with the term "off horse?"

 

[HudsonHawk]

chow hall/mess hall are still the terms used, at least where they still exist. quite a few bases are closing them down either due to less troops or in favor of promoting the restaurants on base. Civilian workers have dominated the last 2 bases I was on, and they typically either won't or can't use the chow hall, so they end up getting shut down.

"Mess Hall" is still used in all the oil field work camps. You will also occasionally hear it called the "canteen".

 

[Hercule]

Yes-sir-ee-Bob! I wonder where that one came from?

 

[scottyrocks]

Yes-sir-ee-Bob! I wonder where that one came from?

There are many explanations for it. Here's one from https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-etymology-of-yessiree-Bob

<< It comes from "Yes sir!" The "ee" added to the end of "sir" is an exclamation of informality, positivity, and excitement. During the mid-19th century, "Bob" was used as a euphemism for "God," as in "So help me, Bob!" >>

Other explanations are less indepth, such as:

<< There are many recorded 19th and 20th century examples of "yessiree" as an excited rustic (e.g., hillbilly or cowboy) exaggeration of "Yes sir!" But as far as I can tell the "Bob" ending doesn't show up until the mid-20th.

Unless there's a confirmed usage before ~1950, the best guess seems to be that "Bob" came from a catch phrase on a long-running American children's show called "Howdy Doody," where one or more characters frequently said that to the host, whose name was "Buffalo Bob."

Google shows the first occurrence of the full phrase in print as 1956. >>

and,

<< There is no need to do an etymology on such a phrase: it is simply an exaggeration of the words, yes and sir, and someone’s name. “Yessiree, Bob!” is a colloquialism that came into use in the United States in the 1900’s. I heard it spoken by elder persons when I was a child. The phrase is as old as dirt; but if you are not a native speaker of English, I would not use it because it will not sound genuine. I doubt very many Americans today could say it and sound genuine: it is obsolete. >>

 

[LizzieMaine]

Vaudeville "rube" comedians were using that phrase alongside "waaaal, I swan!," "by cracky!" and other intentionally-stereotypical rusticisms before World War I, and it was also a favorite phrase of grizzly comedy-relief sidekicks in 1930s B westerns. It was, by then, a simple and direct way of communicating to your audience that your character was an enthusiastic but simple-minded hayseed.

It was a trite stereotype when Bob Smith was still an obscure radio singer in Buffalo. Nobody ever called him just plain "Bob" on "Howdy Doody," either -- he was originally "Mister Smith," when he appeared in the costume of a circus animal trainer, and then, when he first donned the buckskin cowboy suit in 1950, always "Buffalo Bob."

 

[Hercule]

There are many explanations for it. Here's one from https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-etymology-of-yessiree-Bob

<< It comes from "Yes sir!" The "ee" added to the end of "sir" is an exclamation of informality, positivity, and excitement. During the mid-19th century, "Bob" was used as a euphemism for "God," as in "So help me, Bob!" >>

Other explanations are less indepth, such as:

<< There are many recorded 19th and 20th century examples of "yessiree" as an excited rustic (e.g., hillbilly or cowboy) exaggeration of "Yes sir!" But as far as I can tell the "Bob" ending doesn't show up until the mid-20th.

Unless there's a confirmed usage before ~1950, the best guess seems to be that "Bob" came from a catch phrase on a long-running American children's show called "Howdy Doody," where one or more characters frequently said that to the host, whose name was "Buffalo Bob."

Google shows the first occurrence of the full phrase in print as 1956. >>

and,

<< There is no need to do an etymology on such a phrase: it is simply an exaggeration of the words, yes and sir, and someone’s name. “Yessiree, Bob!” is a colloquialism that came into use in the United States in the 1900’s. I heard it spoken by elder persons when I was a child. The phrase is as old as dirt; but if you are not a native speaker of English, I would not use it because it will not sound genuine. I doubt very many Americans today could say it and sound genuine: it is obsolete. >>

Goodness, thank you. Certainly it all makes sense.