Terms Which Have Disappeared

[LizzieMaine]

Ah, but where I come from nobody ever called macaroni a noodle. Noodles have eggs in them, macaroni doesn't. Noodles are that limp stuff in the chicken soup or the Noodles Romanoff, and are never, ever served with tomato sauce.

 

[Zombie_61]

Regardless of what people called it where you come from, macaroni is indeed a type of noodle...made from pasta.

 

[Shangas]

Dunno about this one, but what about "blueprints"? I mean when's the last time anyone ever saw ACTUAL blueprints? To my knowledge, they haven't been used in decades. These days, it's all computer-models and such.

 

[3fingers]

We still have a set of prints for every project. However, they are no longer blue. The last ones in our cabinet that are blue are from the late 50's. After that they are printed on white paper with a giant mimeograph machine (purple ink and all). Those fade badly and become hard to read. We have been having some of the more valuable ones reprinted while they are still legible. Now they are printed on a large computer printer. There are still folks out there who can hand draw a beautiful print, but I'm sure the skill is becoming rarer every year.

 

[Renault]

"Go put your TARGET (22 rifle) in the TURTLE (automobile trunk or boot) and well go hunting later."

 

[HudsonHawk]

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.

My wife learned to make fantastic pasta e fagioli (which literally means "pasta and beans"). She cringes when someone calls it pastafazool. According to her grandmother (from Italy by way of the North End of Boston) no one except bums from New Jersey call it that.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Ah, but where I come from nobody ever called macaroni a noodle. Noodles have eggs in them, macaroni doesn't. Noodles are that limp stuff in the chicken soup or the Noodles Romanoff, and are never, ever served with tomato sauce.

Noodles may or may not contain eggs. Macaroni is a type of pasta. Pasta is a type of noodle made from durum wheat.

And it's not sauce, it's gravy!

 

[HudsonHawk]

Dunno about this one, but what about "blueprints"? I mean when's the last time anyone ever saw ACTUAL blueprints? To my knowledge, they haven't been used in decades. These days, it's all computer-models and such.

I use blueprints all the time. How else do the construction workers verify they're following the plan?

 

[Renault]

How many here still "blue" their whites and bed sheets?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

How many here still "blue" their whites and bed sheets?

I used to but I noticed no difference from when I didn't. Plus I'm more prone to wearing colored undershirts than just plain white.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I blue my sheets and pillowcases with Mrs Stewart's Bluing -- it's essential to do this when line-drying all-cotton sheets or eventually they'll yellow. And then if you blue them they'll turn green.

 

[Renault]

My grandmother used the same stuff. I still have her cast iron wash kettle 25 gallon. I remember when I was real small before she had a modern washing machine. ( there was still an old
Wringer on the back porch). I would help her gather kindling to heat her wash water! That was a long time ago! And I remember her sheets were the whitest I can ever remember!!!

 

[LizzieMaine]

And as far as pastafazool is concerned...

Lizzie's Macaroni and Beans

Soak 1 lb dry navy beans overnight in just enough water to cover them. Drain, rinse, put beans in large soup pot, add enough water to cover them about an inch. Boil 1 1/2 hours, adding water as necessary to maintain level.

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan, add two cloves garlic, finely chopped, cook a minute or two. Add 1 tbsp flour, 1/2 tsp oregeano, 1/4 tsp marjoram, 1/4 tsp basil, cook to a yellowish-tan color. Add 1 6 oz can tomato paste and 1/2 cup chicken stock. Cook until smooth.

Add 1 cup chicken stock to the pot of beans, and stir in the tomato mixture. Add 2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper. Add 1 lb macaroni shells. Continue cooking until macaroni is done.

Eat.

(Note -- no onions are used because I'm violently allergic to them. Besides, onions are a crime against civilized humanity.)

 

[tonyb]

In my world, we still dial the phone. And amongst some folks with whom I communicate with some regularity, phrases such as "drop the dime" and "it's your nickel" need no explanation.

I still take in picture shows, even if that phrase was falling out of favor fairly early in my life. Perhaps I unconsciously use it as a nod to one of my favorite films (how long before that term -- "films," for motion pictures -- fades away?) in whose title it appears.

As to the names of specific brands standing in for all products of the type (a la Kleenex) ... The older folks of my early years called all refrigerators Frigidaires. When microwave ovens appeared, they were all Radar Ranges. All but the exceptionally long-lived of that generation have long since shuffled off this mortal coil.

Conversely, the etymology of more recent coinages may well be lost on the now elderly, as well as on the very young or not yet born. "Jump the shark" comes to mind.

Too often I hear people misuse expressions such that it is obvious they have no idea what their origins (or even their meanings, alas) truly are. I heard a young person say she was "at the edge of her rope." Shudders. And then there's "I could care less," a particular peeve of mine, as I take it as a sign that its speaker gives very little thought to what he or she is saying.

 

[Shangas]

Talking of brands and products - my grandmother always referred to toothpaste as 'Colgate'. And never anything else. It's the brand she grew up with. In 24 years of knowing her, I don't think I ever once heard her say 'Toothpaste'.

 

[tonyb]

I blue my sheets and pillowcases with Mrs Stewart's Bluing -- it's essential to do this when line-drying all-cotton sheets or eventually they'll yellow. And then if you blue them they'll turn green.

For a couple of years, several years ago now, I had a job that all but required I wear a crisp white shirt. I had no washer or dryer at the time, but I did have a double sink in the kitchen. I got pretty darned good at hand washing, line drying and ironing my shirts, so as to save myself trips to the laundromat (or, in keeping with the theme of this thread, the washeteria, or the laundrette, or the washhouse). Mrs. Stewart and I became well acquainted.

 

[hatguy1]

Dunno about this one, but what about "blueprints"? I mean when's the last time anyone ever saw ACTUAL blueprints? To my knowledge, they haven't been used in decades. These days, it's all computer-models and such.

Back in the '80s we made prints of drawings (done on mylar). Those prints were actually blue LINE drawings because the machine printed in varying shades of blue with lines of the drawing being darker blue and the background being light blue. But actual "blueprints" in the correct sense? We didn't use them back then even.

 

[Renault]

I made many a right of way and speed zone strip map on an old blue line machine up until the early nineties when the machine finally gave up the ghost! Think the bulbs got too expensive. I can still smell the chemicals!! Mmmmm,,, chemicals.......

 

[earl]

In my world, we still dial the phone. And amongst some folks with whom I communicate with some regularity, phrases such as "drop the dime" and "it's your nickel" need no explanation.

I still take in picture shows, even if that phrase was falling out of favor fairly early in my life. Perhaps I unconsciously use it as a nod to one of my favorite films (how long before that term -- "films," for motion pictures -- fades away?) in whose title it appears.

As to the names of specific brands standing in for all products of the type (a la Kleenex) ... The older folks of my early years called all refrigerators Frigidaires. When microwave ovens appeared, they were all Radar Ranges. All but the exceptionally long-lived of that generation have long since shuffled off this mortal coil.

Conversely, the etymology of more recent coinages may well be lost on the now elderly, as well as on the very young or not yet born. "Jump the shark" comes to mind.

Too often I hear people misuse expressions such that it is obvious they have no idea what their origins (or even their meanings, alas) truly are. I heard a young person say she was "at the edge of her rope." Shudders. And then there's "I could care less," a particular peeve of mine, as I take it as a sign that its speaker gives very little thought to what he or she is saying.

Boy those phrases bring back memories. Older folks referring to refrigerators as "frigidairs." Hey, I resemble that remark. As to referring to certain products by brand names, I recall referring to photocopying something as "Xeroxing it." Earl

 

[tonyb]

Yup. "Xeroxing" was in common usage, and not so long ago. I suspect it'll fall out of general use (if it hasn't already), seeing how you're likelier to come across copying machines of many makes other than Xerox, and because in this age of hand-held digital devices, paper copies aren't deemed as necessary as they once were.

Gotta wonder how long "Googling" will be be around.