Terms Which Have Disappeared

[Trenchfriend]

Was anyone ever told to make sure that they wore clean underwear, in case they were ever involved in an accident? Or was that advice unique to my mother?

One of the oldest, typical german-parents advices. "Wear always fresh underwear, in case, that one time you must go into the hospital."

All modern people here laugh about it. If the hospital-staff is interested in anyones underwear.

 

[Zombie_61]

When was the last time you heard of someone dying of old age?

The use of the term "old age" in that context has been replaced by the more or less politically correct "natural causes".

Speaking of "old age" Olivia de Havilland will be 100 years old on July 1st, and Kirk Douglas on December 9th.

Was anyone ever told to make sure that they wore clean underwear, in case they were ever involved in an accident? Or was that advice unique to my mother?

Around here it was worded differently--"Never wear dirty or torn underwear, just in case you're in an accident,"--but the meaning was the same. I only heard it once, because my response was, "Well, I'll just tell 'em they got dirty/torn in the accident."

 

[GHT]

The use of the term "old age" in that context has been replaced by the more or less politically correct "natural causes".

How a date with the grim reaper is natural, is beyond me.

 

[BlueTrain]

I remember sitting in a parking lot of a little shopping center where there was a liquor store, which around here are state-operated. The men, and I'm pretty sure they were all men, emerging from the liquor store had the most serious looks, yet somehow satisfied and contented at the same time. People buying beer never look like that. Most wine is a little more like buying groceries and in fact, we buy our supply at the grocery store, but clearly liquor is a very serious drink.

 

[Upgrade]

They do say that beer is a social drink.

 

[BlueTrain]

Well, they're all social drinks. I rather imagine beer being a casual drink. Wine drinkers can be a little snobbish but that really isn't common or even a problem. You might say that those who drink the hard stuff are looking for efficiency. All of this is dependent on how many drinks have been consumed, of course. Marx (Carl, not Groucho) said religion is the opiate of the working class. Boy, was he ever wrong.

Do you serve the good wine first?

 

[Zombie_61]

How a date with the grim reaper is natural, is beyond me.

"If we may assume as an experience admitting of no exception that everything living dies from causes within itself, and returns to the inorganic, we can only say ‘The goal of all life is death’..."
Sigmund Freud, "Beyond the Pleasure Principle", 1922

Or, in simpler terms:

"No one here gets out alive."
Jim Morrison, "Five to One", 1968

 

[Stearmen]

"If we may assume as an experience admitting of no exception that everything living dies from causes within itself, and returns to the inorganic, we can only say ‘The goal of all life is death’..."
Sigmund Freud, "Beyond the Pleasure Principle", 1922

Or, in simpler terms:

"No one here gets out alive."
Jim Morrison, "Five to One", 1968

When people tell me they don't ride motorcycle because of how dangerous they are, I remind them that most people die in bed! So logically, the most dangerous place in the world is a bed.

 

[Zombie_61]

When people tell me they don't ride motorcycle because of how dangerous they are, I remind them that most people die in bed! So logically, the most dangerous place in the world is a bed.

Except for inexperienced riders, motorcycles are no more dangerous than any other mode of transportation. It's the other drivers that are usually the problem.

 

[BlueTrain]

Especially those out-of-state drivers!

 

[MisterCairo]

My grandparents were fond of "conniption". Does anyone still suffer these?

My family uses the full term "conniption fit".

 

[MisterCairo]

The grippe is indeed an archaic name for the flu.

Unless you're a french speaker, in which case grippe means influenza. Any Canadian buying cold and flu meds sees "grippe" on every container (mandatory bilingual labelling).

 

[GHT]

My family uses the full term "conniption fit".

Never heard of that, is it similar to a hissy fit?

 

[HudsonHawk]

Never heard of that, is it similar to a hissy fit?

A hissy fit is a mild tantrum. Usually just a verbal whine about not getting your way. A conniption fit is a much hight level of outburst, typically accompanied by physical violence. And you don't "have" fits, you "pitch" them.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Never heard of that, is it similar to a hissy fit?

If I recall correctly, you are from the other side of the pond. According to Dictionary.com, this word is of American origin from the mid-nineteenth century, so it's understandable why you may not have heard it before.

One mid-nineteenth century Americanism you may know is "sockdologizing old man trap", a comic line delivered in "Our American Cousin" at the point when John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln.

 

[LizzieMaine]

One mid-nineteenth century Americanism you may know is "sockdologizing old man trap", a comic line delivered in "Our American Cousin" at the point when John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln.

Everybody's a drama critic.

 

[MisterCairo]

If I recall correctly, you are from the other side of the pond. According to Dictionary.com, this word is of American origin from the mid-nineteenth century, so it's understandable why you may not have heard it before.

One mid-nineteenth century Americanism you may know is "sockdologizing old man trap", a comic line delivered in "Our American Cousin" at the point when John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln.

Ironically, I learned the term from my parents using it.

They emigrated to Canada from the UK! It is probable they heard it here and picked it up.

We also use hissy fit.

Never heard of that, is it similar to a hissy fit?

 

[Rumor Control]

"I'm gonna cut me a switch...."

 

[HudsonHawk]

"I'm gonna cut me a switch...."

We had to go cut our own switch. Brutal.

 

[Upgrade]

If I recall correctly, you are from the other side of the pond. According to Dictionary.com, this word is of American origin from the mid-nineteenth century, so it's understandable why you may not have heard it before.

One mid-nineteenth century Americanism you may know is "sockdologizing old man trap", a comic line delivered in "Our American Cousin" at the point when John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln.

That reminds me of an episode of the Civil War drama, Mercy Street. "Absquatulate" and "bloviate" were peppered throughout.

Apparently, the 1830s was a ripe time to make up pseudo-Latin words like "hornswoggle", "sockdologer", and "discombobulate".

http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-abs1.htm

http://wordsworthonline.blogspot.com/2007/02/absquatulate.html