Terms Which Have Disappeared

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Mark Twain, a champion curser, once criticized an unskilled swearer for "knowing the words but not the music."

As I recall the story, it was Mrs. Clemmens who objected to Mr. Clemmens' bad language, apparently often and to no avail. At some point she struck on the idea of speaking to Mr. Clemmens using the same vocabulary he used which so offended her.

A little surprised, but amused, Mr. Clemmens replied to Mrs., "Ah my dear, you know the words but not the music!"

 

[vitanola]

Colder then an old maids bed!

I always have said "Colder than a Mother-In-Law's kiss".

Thank you Fred Allen.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

"What's that got to do with the price of tomatoes?" Meaning, what relevance has that to the subject at hand? I haven't heard it used in many years and always wondered where it came from.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I always have heard it as tomato juice.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Price of tea in China

 

[LizzieMaine]

And "Not for all the tea in China!"

 

[Zombie_61]

Colder then an old maids bed!

I always have said "Colder than a Mother-In-Law's kiss".

Thank you Fred Allen.

"Colder than a grave digger's backside," though the actual phrase uses the three-letter slang word for "backside" that is also used to describe a hoofed beast of burden such as a donkey.

One of the most amusing variations I've heard comes from a Tom Waits album: "Colder than the ticket taker's smile at the Ivar Theater on a Saturday night." The Ivar Theater, in Hollywood, California, was a legitimate playhouse when it opened in 1951, but by the mid-1970s had devolved into a burlesque theater featuring women who could be described as "semi-attractive" at best, with an older woman with a monotone voice acting as emcee who would announce each performer the same way: "Up next is (insert phony stage name here). Lay down the greenery, you'll see the scenery."

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Colder than a grave digger's backside," though the actual phrase uses the three-letter slang word for "backside" that is also used to describe a hoofed beast of burden such as a donkey.

We have that phrase here, but sub "clamdigger" for "gravedigger." If you have ever known a professional clamdigger, the comparison is apt.

 

[SSuperDave]

If something was burnt or very dark in color, my dad would say that it "was blacker than a supply sergeant's heart"

 

[BlueTrain]

I recall a school teacher in high school telling us that the "W.P.A." from the Roosevelt days stood for We Piddle Around. I'm not at all sure what she thought of the program. Also, Sears, and no doubt others, used to sell pants called "putter pants," which I think were basically lightweight utility work pants for suburbanites (and others, too, of course). They had patch pockets and an elastic waist.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Some of the Nam vets I attended college with used a great butchered hybrid French & Vietnamese term to describe someone who acted crazy. "He's beaucoup dinky dau," from dien cai dau.

 

[skydog757]

They went through that place like a dose of salts.

 

[tonyb]

We've already chewed over at length the various meanings of "cool."

So how about "hot"?

In the phrase "hotter'n a three-dollar pistol," "hot" means "stolen." (I've considered that it might be a reference to a cheap handgun getting hot to the touch after firing off a few rounds, but that seems doubtful. But I'm hardly a firearms expert, so take that into consideration.)

In "hotter'n a three-dollar hooker," it means something else entirely.

 

[Fading Fast]

We've already chewed over at length the various meanings of "cool."

So how about "hot"?

In the phrase "hotter'n a three-dollar pistol," "hot" means "stolen." (I've considered that it might be a reference to a cheap handgun getting hot to the touch after firing off a few rounds, but that seems doubtful. But I'm hardly a firearms expert, so take that into consideration.)

In "hotter'n a three-dollar hooker," it means something else entirely.

Good catch ⇧. "Hot" is like "cool's" less cool [] brother. "Hot" has had staying power, but not the power of "cool" nor the always-in vogue that "cool" has. "She's hot" sounds a bit tired, dated today - but still usable; "he's cool" is, well, still cool, still current and impactful. Didn't Superman have a weaker brother - "hot" is "cool's" weaker brother.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And then there's the distinction between "Hot Jazz" and "Cool Jazz," which you will recognize immediately upon listening examples of both. The "cool" variety arose as a critique of the perceived bombastic excesses of the "hot."

This is similar to McLuhan's classification of media as "hot" or "cool" on the basis of the level of interactive participation required by the audience to fill gaps in the narrative being presented. A "hot" medium requires little interactivity, a "cool" medium requires much.

 

[tonyb]

And then there's "hot" meaning "angry," as in, "he's getting hot under the collar."

And a "hot head" is one quick to anger.

 

[tonyb]

And, similarly, "hot" sometimes means "aroused" or "arousable," as in, "he's got the hots for her."

It might also mean "eager" or "enthusiast," as in "the kids were hot to load up the car and head out on vacation."

 

[BlueTrain]

Never a common expression but the host of an old radio show around here that featured "old time" music, so-called roots music and stuff like that referred to it as "obsolete music."

 

[Bruce Wayne]

We've already chewed over at length the various meanings of "cool."

So how about "hot"?

In the phrase "hotter'n a three-dollar pistol," "hot" means "stolen." (I've considered that it might be a reference to a cheap handgun getting hot to the touch after firing off a few rounds, but that seems doubtful. But I'm hardly a firearms expert, so take that into consideration.)

In "hotter'n a three-dollar hooker," it means something else entirely.

Is that three dollar pistol a Saturday night special?

 

[tonyb]

Is that three dollar pistol a Saturday night special?

Yup, although it's been awhile since I've heard that phrase.