Terms Which Have Disappeared

[Zombie_61]

I think I posted this once before, but the word cool never goes out of style - cool is always cool.

Hep, groovy, neato, the bomb, swell and others all have had their day at being some variation of cool, but they all sound dated now, but cool is still cool.

I wonder why it has such longevity?

Probably because, unlike "hep", "groovy", "neato", "the bomb", "swell", and others, people don't sound like complete morons when they use it.

 

[BlueTrain]

Police cars have nicknames, too. An older generic term used in some places was a "black and white," because that was how they were painted. Paint jobs like that in the U.K. led to them being called "Panda cars," I believe. "Patrol car" seems fairly accurate as well as modern but "prowl car" sounds like something out of a radio drama.

 

[Trenchfriend]

"Bulls-seesaw"...

 

[BobHufford]

Police cars have nicknames, too.

I remember hearing "Radio Car" in some older films.

 

[MisterCairo]

So far nobody has made up a derogatory term for riding in a car.

Lazy?

 

[Stearmen]

So far nobody has made up a derogatory term for riding in a car.

"Screen Test" where the purp is put in the back seat, without a seat-belt, then the brakes are applied hard and suddenly! With the screen dividing the front and back seats, and the purps face, well, you get the picture. Very against the rules these days! I am sure their are plenty of other Police slang for passengers in patrol cars.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Cop talk is another subject that deserves its own thread. I once attended a panel of LAPD officers at a mystery convention and they were talking about how writers seem to assume all cops use the same slang. This was when "NYPD Blue" was at the top of the charts and they complained that even screenwriters had LA cops talking like New York cops. For instance, LA cops don't say "the perp," they say "the suspect." LAPD doesn't have "precincts," it has "divisions,"and so forth. It was fascinating.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Somewhere, Jack Webb is rolling in his grave.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Germany likes the phonetical.
-NYPD (Men In Black)
-LAPD
-SFPD (Basic Instinct 1)
and so on...

 

[skydog757]

I know some older sports fans that insist that basketball games are divided into "periods", not "quarters". I think both are acceptable these days, but I do remember when it was always a period in basketball and a quarter in football. I'm not talking about men's college basketball which is played in halves, and referred to as such.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Cop talk is another subject that deserves its own thread. I once attended a panel of LAPD officers at a mystery convention and they were talking about how writers seem to assume all cops use the same slang. This was when "NYPD Blue" was at the top of the charts and they complained that even screenwriters had LA cops talking like New York cops. For instance, LA cops don't say "the perp," they say "the suspect." LAPD doesn't have "precincts," it has "divisions,"and so forth. It was fascinating.

I can actually remember when Dennis Farina was still a Chicago detective and not a name recognized actor. They put him on the NYC based Law & Order series, and my first thought was, "Yeah... he's about as 'Manhattan' as Western & Belmont."

 

[Stearmen]

I know some older sports fans that insist that basketball games are divided into "periods", not "quarters". I think both are acceptable these days, but I do remember when it was always a period in basketball and a quarter in football. I'm not talking about men's college basketball which is played in halves, and referred to as such.

NBA Rule No.5

Timing:
• All periods of regulation play in the NBA will be twelve minutes.
• All overtime periods of play will be five minutes.
• Fifteen minutes will be permitted between halves of all games.
• 130 seconds will be permitted between the first and second periods, the third and fourth periods and before any overtime period.
• A team is permitted 30 seconds to replace a disqualified player.
• The game is considered to be in the two-minute part when the game clock shows 2:00 or less time remaining in the period.
• The public address operator is required to announce that there are two minutes remaining in each period.
• The game clock shall be equipped to show tenths-of-a-second during the last minute of each period.
End of Period Exceptions:
• If a live ball is in flight, the period ends when the goal is made, missed or touched by an offensive player.
• If the official's whistle sounds prior to the horn or :00.0 on the clock, the period is not over and time must be added to the clock.
• If the ball is in the air when the horn sounds ending a period, and it subsequently is touched by: (angel) a defensive player, the goal, if successful, shall count; or (beer) an offensive player, the period has ended.
• If a timeout request is made at approximately the instant time expires for a period, the period ends and the timeout shall not be granted.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I know some older sports fans that insist that basketball games are divided into "periods", not "quarters". I think both are acceptable these days, but I do remember when it was always a period in basketball and a quarter in football. I'm not talking about men's college basketball which is played in halves, and referred to as such.

They are officially "periods". But it's kind of like how I cringe when people refer to the baseball "playoffs". They don't have "playoffs" in baseball...they have "the postseason".

 

[Trenchfriend]

Not more often heared in Germany:

"Wonneproppen" (bundle of joy)

 

[Fading Fast]

Not more often heared in Germany:

"Wonneproppen" (bundle of joy)

Yup, haven't hard "wonneproppen" in a long time.

Kidding aside, "bundle of joy" is an expression that is fading in the US too. "My little bundle of joy" is something mothers used to say that I haven't heard in a long time.

 

[LizzieMaine]

They are officially "periods". But it's kind of like how I cringe when people refer to the baseball "playoffs". They don't have "playoffs" in baseball...they have "the postseason".

We always considered "the playoffs" as referring only to the League Championship Series, once divisional play started. The World Series was a whole separate, and transcendent event. Or, if you were an older fan, The World's Series. Either way, it was unquestionably the pre-eminent event of the sports year -- even people who weren't baseball fans would refer to events in early October as "around World Series time."

I never heard of all these events being aggregated together as "The Postseason" until the post-realignment era in the '90s, and I never liked it -- because it cheapens The World Series.

 

[Fading Fast]

We always considered "the playoffs" as referring only to the League Championship Series, once divisional play started. The World Series was a whole separate, and transcendent event. Or, if you were an older fan, The World's Series. Either way, it was unquestionably the pre-eminent event of the sports year -- even people who weren't baseball fans would refer to events in early October as "around World Series time."

I never heard of all these events being aggregated together as "The Postseason" until the post-realignment era in the '90s, and I never liked it -- because it cheapens The World Series.

I'm still very cranky about the divisions being increased and, then, the wildcard being added in baseball - the season is very long and should be enough to winnow it down to - as it once was - four teams so that the regular season, despite all the games, really means something. Also not happy about inter-league play - the best of each league can meet in the World Series and decide who has the best team and thus the best league.

 

[HudsonHawk]

We always considered "the playoffs" as referring only to the League Championship Series, once divisional play started. The World Series was a whole separate, and transcendent event. Or, if you were an older fan, The World's Series. Either way, it was unquestionably the pre-eminent event of the sports year -- even people who weren't baseball fans would refer to events in early October as "around World Series time."

I never heard of all these events being aggregated together as "The Postseason" until the post-realignment era in the '90s, and I never liked it -- because it cheapens The World Series.

MLB has always referred to the regular season as the "championship season". Anything played beyond the championship season was considered "postseason". Major league teams began staging "postseason" games as early as 1884. It was not referred to as "playoffs" because it was typically just an arrangement of two teams, including the World Series, and only required one "round". Even after divisional play came in 1969 necessitating a league championship series, it was referred to simply as "postseason". A "division series" was required due to the strike in 1981, and then again when MLB added the wild card in 1994. MLB has never referred to it as "playoffs", and even today, calling it the "postseason" is a nod to the good old days, not an affront against it.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I'm still very cranky about the divisions being increased and, then, the wildcard being added in baseball - the season is very long and should be enough to winnow it down to - as it once was - four teams so that the regular season, despite all the games, really means something. Also not happy about inter-league play - the best of each league can meet in the World Series and decide who has the best team and thus the best league.

I am not one of those who thinks there is too much baseball being played. Probably another reason I will also be rounded up and shot under Lizzie the Great's reign.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Not to get semantic, but "postseason play" is not "The Postseason." The former is a designation of chronological placement, the latter is Boys From Marketing NFL/NBA speak. Oh, and Ortiz nonwithstanding, Dump The DH. The one thing I like about interleague play is getting to see pitchers hit. It's like going to the circus and watching a bear ride a tricycle -- it's not that it's done well, it's that it's done at all.

The use of the MLB acronym as the trade name for major-league ball a la the NFL is also annoying. As late as the 1970s, if you got a letter from the Commissioner's office in response to the one you had written criticizing the DH or suggesting that Bowie Kuhn's head must be full of Play-Doh, the letterhead simply said BASEBALL. Not that I would know this personally, you understand...