Terms Which Have Disappeared

[tonyb]

Alas. All the world's a second-grade playground.

Not quite that young in my case. But I'm happy that a piece of my 12-year-old self survives to this day. Makes it easier to be around kids, for sure.

 

[2jakes]

Not quite that young in my case. But I'm happy that a piece of my 12-year-old self survives to this day. Makes it easier to be around kids, for sure.

I teach tennis, mostly to kids.

Being on the tennis court with them has got to be the most refreshing thing in this world for me.

There is no baggage or cynicism.

 

[Zombie_61]

I hear it, and use it, with great frequency. Among my favorite variations is Jesus H. Christ. Gotta get that H in there.

And the "H", of course, stands for "Howard". "Our Father, who art in Heaven, Howard be thy name."

 

[LizzieMaine]

My grandfather preferred "J. H. *baldheaded* C." I pointed out that the Apostle Paul was the one, in fact, who was baldheaded, but he wasn't impressed.

 

[CONELRAD]

This song by Blind Andrew Jenkins on this 1930 record for W.K. Henderson's KWKH radio in Shreveport, Louisiana has the line, "just join the good old MMM, like the boys of '76." I have never been able to figure out what the MMM stood for in that context. Does anyone around here happen to know what he's referring to?

 

[Fading Fast]

This song by Blind Andrew Jenkins on this 1930 record for W.K. Henderson's KWKH radio in Shreveport, Louisiana has the line, "just join the good old MMM, like the boys of '76." I have never been able to figure out what the MMM stood for in that context. Does anyone around here happen to know what he's referring to?

Lizzie?

 

[LizzieMaine]

That's most likely a reference to the "Methodist Minute Men," an informal association of Methodist laymen popular in the South around the 1910s-20s. They were trained as speakers and evangelists, and would appear at picnics, funerals, and other such gatherings to give short inspirational talks. They were named after the Revolutionary War-era Minute Men, hence the "boys of '76" reference -- the idea was that like Minute Men being ready to fight on a minute's notice, an M M M would be ready to preach on a minute's notice.

 

[Fading Fast]

That's most likely a reference to the "Methodist Minute Men," an informal association of Methodist laymen popular in the South around the 1910s-20s. They were trained as speakers and evangelists, and would appear at picnics, funerals, and other such gatherings to give short inspirational talks. They were named after the Revolutionary War-era Minute Men, hence the "boys of '76" reference -- the idea was that like Minute Men being ready to fight on a minute's notice, an M M M would be ready to preach on a minute's notice.

- The above information was brought to you by Lizzie-pedia a more in-depth, accurate and passionate source for knowledge than Wikipedia.

 

[CONELRAD]

That's most likely a reference to the "Methodist Minute Men," an informal association of Methodist laymen popular in the South around the 1910s-20s. They were trained as speakers and evangelists, and would appear at picnics, funerals, and other such gatherings to give short inspirational talks. They were named after the Revolutionary War-era Minute Men, hence the "boys of '76" reference -- the idea was that like Minute Men being ready to fight on a minute's notice, an M M M would be ready to preach on a minute's notice.

Thank you! I had wondered if it had something to do with minute men with the reference to the "boys of '76", but I couldn't figure out any sort of connection, and all my attempts at Google research just turned up results for "mmm" as in "mmm, tasty."

Investigating W.K. Henderson further with the minute men lead, it seems he indeed had an organization called the "Minute Men" or "Modern Minute Men" that was composed of independent merchants and business owners to rally against his hated chain stores.

 

[Stearmen]

Bug Out!

 

[MisterCairo]

People don't say "Jesus!" or "Jesus Christ!" to express excitement or disapproval anymore because it's not PC to do so.

Sadly I hear it all the time, and I've never understood why anyone would consider it appropriate, regardless of one's beliefs. That's one I'll be glad to hear the last of.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Are children still admonished to "Mind your Ps and Qs?"

 

[Fading Fast]

Are children still admonished to "Mind your Ps and Qs?"

Good one that seems to be going away. While it meant (at least in my house), to mind your manners, the two most oft-sighted origins are servers in pubs keeping track of pints and quarts they were serving to ensure they got the bill right or printers making sure they oriented their "Ps" and "Qs" correctly when preparing the master copy. Based on that, my guess is the phrase will continue to fade away as both of those issues have been made obsolete by technology - computerized billing in restaurants and advances in printing. Also, does any one teach manners anymore (says the cranky old guy who is basically kidding).

 

[Historyteach24]

Are children still admonished to "Mind your Ps and Qs?"

I don't use P's and Q's with my kids, its more of "mind yer business"

 

[Stanley Doble]

"bees wax"
"bees knees"

Finally figured out that "bees knees" is comic or broken Italian for business.

 

[Dirk Wainscotting]

Stormy said: ↑
People don't say "Jesus!" or "Jesus Christ!" to express excitement or disapproval anymore because it's not PC to do so.

Sadly I hear it all the time, and I've never understood why anyone would consider it appropriate, regardless of one's beliefs. That's one I'll be glad to hear the last of.

I say variations like 'Jesus wept!' or 'Christ on a bike!' quite a lot. I'm not that bothered about whether it's PC or not.

 

[PeterB]

A term I haven't heard for years is "kopasetic". Does anybody know where that came from?

 

[Stormy]

People don't say "I beg your pardon" anymore. In fact, I haven't heard "Pardon me" in quite some time.

 

[Dirk Wainscotting]

People don't say "I beg your pardon" anymore. In fact, I haven't heard "Pardon me" in quite some time.

True. Decline of general manners disguised as 'informality'.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

A term I haven't heard for years is "kopasetic". Does anybody know where that came from?

"Copacetic" means everything is satisfactory. It was briefly in use by '40s jazz musicians as a faux-aristocratic expression, and revived in the '60 by Project Mercury astronauts: "Houston, all is copacetic."