Terms Which Have Disappeared

[KILO NOVEMBER]

A quick Google turned up an apparently-reliable history of "Captain Billy's Whizbang". Definitely post-WWI. I've seen bits and pieces of The Music Man over the decades, from high school drama productions to TV broadcasts of the movie starring Robert Preston in the title role, but I can't say I remember any point where the present date is specified.


I suppose the lesson here is, "Don't confuse entertainment with history.."

 

[LizzieMaine]

Just used "Bamboozled" and realized two things: (1) I have no idea where / when I picked the word up and (2) I haven't heard it used in a long time.

It was used as the title of a Spike Lee movie about fifteen years ago, and in using it he was quoting Malcolm X, who used it frequently in his speeches. But it was an antiquated word even then.

 

[Fading Fast]

It was used as the title of a Spike Lee movie about fifteen years ago, and in using it he was quoting Malcolm X, who used it frequently in his speeches. But it was an antiquated word even then.

I'm pretty sure my Dad or Grandmother used it, but am just shy of absolutely sure. If they were using it, it probably goes back at least to the '30s give or take where most of their "antiquated" words came from.

 

[MisterCairo]

I've started using "gosh" a lot recently.

I don't know why.

Very 'Leave It to Beaver' if you ask me...

 

[Zombie_61]

I wonder if any parents ever threaten to ship their kids off to military school these days. My parents were usually pretty direct with their verbal warnings--"Stop it," or "Knock it off," or something similar--but when Mom said, "I'm going to ship you off to military school," I knew I was really getting on her nerves. I knew she'd never actually do it, but the true meaning was loud and clear.

 

[LizzieMaine]

My mother used to threaten to send us to "Sweetser," which was an orphanage/home for the incorrigible in Maine. I never had any idea of what the actual place was like, but I always envisioned a Victorian workhouse type of deal.

 

[Zombie_61]

I didn't know what "military school" was either. But the war in Vietnam was being broadcast regularly on the news when I was growing up in the 1960s and, having seen quite a lot of that footage, I envisioned some sort of a "boot camp for kids" and knew I wanted nothing to do with anything related to the military.

 

[TimeWarpWife]

Whenever I was getting on my grandmother's last nerve she'd tell me she was going to send me to live with "Miss Hattie." Miss Hattie was a middle-aged neighbor woman with long, stringy gray hair, who wore men's overalls, flannel shirts (even in the blistering heat of summer) and hats. She lived alone in a decrepit old house with a bunch of cats and drove a sinister looking ancient black truck. She was the antithesis of the proper southern lady at this time in the mid to late 60s. Somehow I got it into my mind that she was a real, living, breathing witch and she scared the heck out of me. All my grandmother had to do was mention "Miss Hattie" and I straightened right up. The threat of military school didn't have an affect on me because the one in our town was for boys only and you had to be rich to go there - I didn't qualify on either count. But utter the words "Miss Hattie" and that put the fear of God in me.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There was a local thug in our area named Gus Heald who brutally murdered two women, and even after he was sent to prison he was used as a boogeyman by all the parents in our neighborhood. "Don't you kids wander off after dark, Gus Heald's gonna get ya!" The threat wouldn't have worked at all if his name had been Percy Muckenfuss, but "Gus Heald" had just the right vibrant timbre to terrify you at the very mention of the name.

 

[Fading Fast]

I didn't know what "military school" was either. But the war in Vietnam was being broadcast regularly on the news when I was growing up in the 1960s and, having seen quite a lot of that footage, I envisioned some sort of a "boot camp for kids" and knew I wanted nothing to do with anything related to the military.

My parents brought out the "we'll send you to 'military school'" on me which was silly because, and they'd admit this now (or my living mother would), I was a good kid, they just believed in using a sledgehammer to put in a thumbtack. She has said that they both believed in scaring me hard on the little things so that there would never be a big thing.

It worked. I found where the guardrails were, lived in between them and had almost no issue with my parents. They were not actively engaged, so as long as I didn't create a problem - and I didn't - I was left alone. But to your point - I didn't really know what "military school" was either, but it sounded harsh and brutish. I had no interesting in finding out and certainly wasn't going to ask my parents for an explanation (even as a kid, I wasn't that stupid).

 

[Jayessgee]

According to on-line dictionaries the first recorded use of "whiz bang" was 1915. It is described as "imitative" meaning the shell made a 'whiz' sound followed by a sharp detonation-"BANG."
Speaking from some experience, not much especially in comparison to the "Great War" (itself a long unused, or at least very seldom used, term) the practice of identifying shells direction, approach, type and threat potential, is an acquired art form, at least, acquired by the survivors.
In it's most common form, shells rumbling, whooshing, or whispering are overgoing and of little concern. Whistling shells are incoming, the sharpness and intensity of the whistle indicating the potential proximity of impact in relation to the hearer. Worst of all is a sharp whistle suddenly cut off. You are in it's cone of sound projection and are about to get it!

 

[Capesofwrath]

 

[Fading Fast]

^^^ Thank you both.

 

[Bushman]

My mother didn't bother to stop the car. She'd have her left hand on the wheel and her right fist would be swinging around the back seat, and it didn't matter who got hit as long as the message was conveyed. Ah, happy days.

Heh, that was my Dad. I learned at a young age to lift my legs up if I didn't want them smacked.

Other common phrases growing up for me included...
Dad: "If you don't eat that food, I'll shove it down your throat." (Usually it had been after he caught me sneaking snacks before dinner)
Mom: "Eat! There's starving kids in Africa!"
And, of course as my mother was Italian, "Mangia!"

 

[Trenchfriend]

I have no kids, but a todays standard-phrase in Germany, if things going to be serious, is for example:

"Think about it. Otherwise, it will be none-funny to you."

Or other phrases like that.

Psychological pressurizing.

 

[2jakes]

The term:
“taking you the woodshed for a whipping"


Running out the door to avoid a spanking
& the look mom gave me that said,

”sooner or later, you’re gonna have to come in"

 

[Bamaboots]

Heard this one a few times, growing up.

"Boy, I'll slap the taste out of your mouth."

 

[2jakes]

My father also used to say this,
but it was my mom who actually dealt the spanking !

.

I used to own a pair of Wellingtons just like the sheriff’s.
Really nice boots they were.

 

[Bamaboots]

My father also used to say this,
but it was my mom who actually dealt the spanking !

.

I used to own a pair of Wellingtons just like the sheriff’s.
Really nice boots they were.

Oh, we need to get you in a better pair than that.

 

[2jakes]

Oh, we need to get you in a better pair than that.

Riiiigggttthh !

Btw:
Another term that I hardly hear today is...”dag nab it”

For example:

” I can’t seem to find a good pair of vintage Wellingtons,
all I see is the western style with the thick soles...dag nab it!"