Terms Which Have Disappeared

[V.C. Brunswick]

In my day, you met the lady, courted her, married her, lived together, then had kids. How quaint is that?

And now when you meet the lady it's down to the last two. :eusa_doh:

 

[Fading Fast]

Staying somewhat with the theme, the term "making love" used to mean (or based on the context of the old movies that I see it in) used to mean courting or trying to get a woman interested in you. I'm confident LizzieMaine can give us a precise definition, but what is funny is that in many old movies - where nothing sexual or untoward is even hinted out - the characters will say things such as "he was making love to her outside," or "he makes love to all the cute women." I wonder if a kid or young person today stumbling onto an old movie would completely misinterpret that.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The parents of that generation called it "sparking."

 

[HudsonHawk]

The parents of that generation called it "sparking."

I still hear "sparking", though not typically from the younger crowd.

 

[jamespowers]

The parents of that generation called it "sparking."

That is what Granny from The Beverly Hillbillies called it. lol lol

I think it is in this episode:
[video=youtube_share;vqsW85iN9bE]http://youtu.be/vqsW85iN9bE[/video]

 

[GHT]

The parents of that generation called it "sparking."

Sparking! Must be an Americanism, I've heard of spanking, as in the monkey, another wierd Americanism.

 

[Stearmen]

Sparking! Must be an Americanism, I've heard of spanking, as in the monkey, another wierd Americanism.

Is that any worse then Shaking hands with your John Thomas?

 

[GHT]

Is that any worse then Shaking hands with your John Thomas?

I take your point and draw a veil over this particular subject.

 

[A Bomber General]

One term that has also faded from view is the davenport. My grandmother always referred to the couch as the "davenport," but could never explain why she called it a davenport instead of a couch.

 

[Zombie_61]

One term that has also faded from view is the davenport. My grandmother always referred to the couch as the "davenport," but could never explain why she called it a davenport instead of a couch.

"Davenport" was a series of sofas made by A.H. Davenport and Company. They were so popular that the word "Davenport" became interchangeable with the words "sofa" and "couch" in some parts of the U.S. in the same way that brand names like Kleenex and Band-Aid became interchangeable with facial tissues and bandages.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^^

Now I know that. Thanks.

 

[Tomasso]

"He/She looks like a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs."

 

[jamespowers]

"Davenport" was a series of sofas made by A.H. Davenport and Company. They were so popular that the word "Davenport" became interchangeable with the words "sofa" and "couch" in some parts of the U.S. in the same way that brand names like Kleenex and Band-Aid became interchangeable with facial tissues and bandages.

You mean they weren't referring to him?:

 

[Stearmen]

Plum, as in , plum tuckered out, or he's plum crazy.

 

[Stearmen]

Half a bubble off plumb. Meaning, some one who is not all there up stairs.

 

[Zombie_61]

You mean they weren't referring to him?:

I don't even know who he is. [huh]

 

[John Galt]

In "The Lost Weekend," one of the female characters says "natch" for "naturally" and I have always wondered if that abbreviation was in common use at the time or just something that was specific to that character.

This was commonly used in the old Archie comics (of the 1930's, I think). I used up read them on the stairs of my great grandparent's home. They had sat in a stack there since their own kids were young.


"Faint hat never won fair lady."

 

[John Galt]

Staying somewhat with the theme, the term "making love" used to mean (or based on the context of the old movies that I see it in) used to mean courting or trying to get a woman interested in you. I'm confident LizzieMaine can give us a precise definition, but what is funny is that in many old movies - where nothing sexual or untoward is even hinted out - the characters will say things such as "he was making love to her outside," or "he makes love to all the cute women." I wonder if a kid or young person today stumbling onto an old movie would completely misinterpret that.

Agatha Christies' Hercule Periot uses this phrase frequently...



"Faint hat never won fair lady."

 

[dh66]

Plum, as in , plum tuckered out, or he's plum crazy.

Plumb tuckered out, plumb crazy, half a bubble off plumb.
Plumb means straight upright, as opposed to level, which is straight horizontal. Both plumb and level are as straight as you can get, hence the expression "on the level" or plumb crazy - as crazy as one can be.

Half a bubble off either plumb or level is close to 45°, so that's reeeally off. Not upright or on the level.

Sorry, it's always been a pet peeve of mine when someone would put a level on some thing upright, like a wall, to check how "level" it is. If it were level it would be on the floor. Walls are plumb (or should be, at least).

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk 2

 

[Fading Fast]

Agatha Christies' Hercule Periot uses this phrase frequently...


The expression "making love" for courting is really funny today because it will pop up in a very innocent old movie in a sentence like "he was making love to her all night," meaning he was courting her or promoting himself to her all night (normally meaning all night at the dance or dinner), but to today's ear it sounds like they were, shall we say, intimate and alone all night, which would be beyond scandalous in the movie at the time. It's an expressions whose meaning has changed significantly over time, but since we have evidence of the old use in old movies, we can enjoy the time-warped humor.