Terms Which Have Disappeared

[hatguy1]

By the way I think Hatguy meant Flivver = Model T Ford and glad rags = any kind of dressy outfit you would wear to a party or social occasion..

Yep. You're right. Was getting late in my day when I posted that. Intended a / between flapper dress and glad rags to differentiate. Didn't realize the spelling of the term was flivver, tho. Honestly, only time I ever heard that was in the original series Star Trek episode "A Piece of the Action." I had (until now) thought they said "flibber" when referring to the cars. I learn something new every day. Thanks.

 

[Shangas]

Also called "Tin Lizzies".

 

[HudsonHawk]

In older times, also called "The Rabble", or even more insultingly, "The Great Unwashed".

I'm often called a "rabble rouser".

 

[HudsonHawk]

I think "fireplug" is a regionalism -- it was always "hydrant" here, but I still hear "plug" from people raised in the midwest or south.

A regionalism that's almost completely died out here is "piazza" for porch. When I was growing up, we'd go out and set (never *sit*) on the piazza and listen to the ball game. If you say that now, though, people think you're talking about sitting on food.

I find regional terms fascinating. Do you sit on a "sofa" or a "couch"? Put your groceries in a "bag" or a "sack"? Is the sweet the sweet stuff on the top of your cake "frosting" or "icing"? This is probably a whole other topic.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We set on the couch, after going to the grocery -- where we put our groceries in a carriage and wheel them to the counter where they're put in a bag. We didn't get any frosting, but we did get a few bottles of soda. Unless we're from Eastern Massachusetts, and got tonic.

 

[vitanola]

Here we still sit on a "Davenport", Groceries are carried in a "Sack" ( though some of our Kentucky immigrants still call it a "poke", that antique regionalism is considered risible). "Frosting" and "Icing"are two different things here, "Frosting" being a spreadable, full bodied substance, "Icing" on the other hand is a thinner coating which is commonly drizzled and allowed to harden. We drink "Pop", though the older folks among us still drink "Soda Pop"

 

[Chicago Jimmy]

We always called it "pop" and put groceries in a bag. I told my nephew a story when we were kids we cut through the gangway to get to the alley. He had no idea what a gangway was. Also we call sneakers..gym shoes.

 

[TallErik]

How about referring to people as "ladies" and "gentlemen". On purpose.

 

[Zombie_61]

I find regional terms fascinating...

Me too. I'm interested in the etymology of certain words and phrases, particularly when the connection between the word/phrase and the item it's describing isn't obvious. There might be a difference between a "sofa" and a "couch", but these days they're interchangeable in most peoples' minds.

Here we still sit on a "Davenport"...

This is another phenomenon that is probably a topic of it's own--brand names that become synonymous with the items they produce. "Davenport" for "sofa" (or is it "couch"?), "Kleenex" for "tissue", "Coke" for "cola flavored soft drink", "Band-Aid" for "bandage", "Towmotor" for "forklift", and in Australia (as I understand it) "Akubra" for "hat". It's one thing to get people to remember and purchase the product you make, but to have your brand name become a synonym for that product? Now that's effective marketing!

How about referring to people as "ladies" and "gentlemen". On purpose.

I'm not sure this has disappeared just yet. It's still quite popular among announcers, emcees, and entertainers: "Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, and welcome to..." Granted, these days it's used more often to describe a group of women or men rather than to describe a group of women or men who actually act like ladies or gentlemen, but it's still in use. :biggrin:

 

[LizzieMaine]

When I was growing up, all macaroni was called macaroni. Except spaghetti, which was called spaghetti. Otherwise, whether it was elbows, lasagna, ziti, shells, or the skins on a ravioli, we called it "macaroni." In the North End of Boston, you had the Prince Macaroni Company, which was the source for all the macaroni we ate, and we figured North End of Boston Italians ought to know what they were talking about.

Then some time in the '80s, people came along who started calling macaroni "pasta." We'd never heard that word before, never used it, and when people started talking about bringing "pasta salad" to the bean supper we'd look at them funny and say "you mean macaroni salad?" And they'd squint at us and get a supercilious look on their faces and say "Yes, that's right, pasta salad."

To this day, the word "pasta" makes my skin crawl.

 

[HudsonHawk]

When I was growing up, all macaroni was called macaroni. Except spaghetti, which was called spaghetti. Otherwise, whether it was elbows, lasagna, ziti, shells, or the skins on a ravioli, we called it "macaroni." In the North End of Boston, you had the Prince Macaroni Company, which was the source for all the macaroni we ate, and we figured North End of Boston Italians ought to know what they were talking about.

Then some time in the '80s, people came along who started calling macaroni "pasta." We'd never heard that word before, never used it, and when people started talking about bringing "pasta salad" to the bean supper we'd look at them funny and say "you mean macaroni salad?" And they'd squint at us and get a supercilious look on their faces and say "Yes, that's right, pasta salad."

To this day, the word "pasta" makes my skin crawl.

My wife, who is Italian, is just the opposite. Macaroni is a type of pasta, as is spaghetti, lasagna, rotini, linguine, fettuccine, etc. Don't say "macaroni" unless you mean macaroni.

What makes her skin crawl people who say "sauce". In her universe, it's "gravy".

 

[Fading Fast]

My wife, who is Italian, is just the opposite. Macaroni is a type of pasta, as is spaghetti, lasagna, rotini, linguine, fettuccine, etc. Don't say "macaroni" unless you mean macaroni.

What makes her skin crawl people who say "sauce". In her universe, it's "gravy".

My Grandmother from Connecticut called it macaroni; whereas my Father, whose father came from Cleveland, called it pasta (and he was not putting on airs as he was just glad to have food after living through the depression) - so maybe there was a regional element at one time to it. And an older neighbor of ours called all of it (spaghetti included) "noodles" (but she was her own woman in many ways).

 

[LizzieMaine]

Every East Coast Italian over the age of 50 I've ever known grew up calling it "macaroni." Nobody here ever heard the word "pasta" until the '80s, when suddenly it was everywhere. It was as though a law was passed all of a sudden, and nobody ever bothered to tell us.

"Pasta" smacks to me of people who display their macaroni in glass jars on the counter so you won't know they actually just buy Prince's or Mueller's down at the grocery store just like the proles.

 

[vitanola]

My Grandmother from Connecticut called it macaroni; whereas my Father, whose father came from Cleveland, called it pasta (and he was not putting on airs as he was just glad to have food after living through the depression) - so maybe there was a regional element at one time to it. And an older neighbor of ours called all of it (spaghetti included) "noodles" (but she was her own woman in many ways).

You and I are about the same age, Miss Maine. When I was growing up in Cleveland the word "Pasta"was in common use. Our principal supplier was a local firm, "Ippolito's Ideal Spaghetti and Macaroni Company", which advertised quite heavily and referred to its products as "Pasta". The difference in terms may well be due to the different terms used by our dominant suppliers. I would suspect that a more detailed dissertation about the varying terms for this product could be quite a feather in someone's cap.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, now that I think of it, there *was* "pastafazool." But that was what Dean Martin called it -- we just called it macaroni and beans, which was something you ate when there was absolutely nothing else left to eat.

 

[vitanola]

Well, now that I think of it, there *was* "pastafazool." But that was what Dean Martin called it -- we just called it macaroni and beans, which was something you ate when there was absolutely nothing else left to eat.

Van and Schenck liked the stuff, too:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtMYV9R52V8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

As did the Happiness Boys:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xNMY1Q3Xt8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

And Tom Stacks:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b2XWitybjA&feature=youtube_gdata_player


Everybody seem to like-a da Pastafazool!

 

[Atticus Finch]

It has been a long time since I’ve heard someone exclaim, "You ain't just whistling Dixie!" but when I was a child, this term was commonly used by people who wanted to underscore a point that had just been made by someone else. I've never understood why Dixie was the song embraced by this explicative, as opposed to, say, Moon River or Inagaddadavida or The Battle Hymn of The Republic. I guess whoever coined the phrase needed a short, one-word title or maybe he just liked Southern music written by northerners.

AF

 

[Stanley Doble]

In the movie of John Philip Sousa's life there is an episode where he plays in the South in the 1870s or 1880s, against the advice of his manager, right after another Northern band got run out of town.

He marches into the fairgrounds playing "Dixie". From the bandstand he announces the day's program. Every second number is " Dixie" and every time he says "Dixie" the crowd cheers.

From this, I took it that "Dixie" was a popular song in the South in those days.

So it seems by the 1900s "whistling Dixie" meant something everyone had heard, over and over.

 

[gtdean48]

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, to "whistle dixie" is "(to engage) in unrealistically rosy fantasizing". Usually, it's used in a negative way..."Don't just whistle Dixie", for example, means "Don't sit on your ass wasting time".

 

[Zombie_61]

Every East Coast Italian over the age of 50 I've ever known grew up calling it "macaroni." Nobody here ever heard the word "pasta" until the '80s, when suddenly it was everywhere. It was as though a law was passed all of a sudden, and nobody ever bothered to tell us.

"Pasta" smacks to me of people who display their macaroni in glass jars on the counter so you won't know they actually just buy Prince's or Mueller's down at the grocery store just like the proles.

Despite your personal dislike of the word, as a wordsmith surely you recognize "pasta" is more accurate when describing a non-specific type of noodle, while "macaroni" refers only to a specific type of noodle, i.e. all macaroni is pasta, but not all pasta is macaroni.

On a semi-related note, I personally don't care what anyone calls it as long as it tastes good. :essen: