Terms Which Have Disappeared

[KILO NOVEMBER]

"Nice" also carries the meaning of narrow or slight to the point of being inconsequential, as in "a nice distinction", but you rarely even read it nowadays, much less hear it.

 

[skydog757]

I remember the term "getting herself gussied up" which I took to mean getting dressed/made up to go out for some occasion. I'm not sure that it was gender specific to women/girls but that's the only manner that I ever heard it used.

 

[tonyb]

I remember the term "getting herself gussied up" which I took to mean getting dressed/made up to go out for some occasion. I'm not sure that it was gender specific to women/girls but that's the only manner that I ever heard it used.

I use that phrase on occasion, usually in a playful way. And yes, almost exclusively in reference to women.

The rough equivalent (quite rough, really) for men is "puttin' on the dog." I suspect that most people can deduce its meaning from context, but I hear it maybe a tenth as often as I hear "gussied up."

 

[Stearmen]

Sunday go to meeting cloths.

 

[Trenchfriend]

"Tea dance".

 

[Apple Blossom]

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but my grandpa George (who was a bit of a character) used to say someone was a 'cracker jack' at something if they were a natural at it or were good at it.

 

[GHT]

A "spiff," as used as a noun, is an old slang term referring to an under-the-table commission paid to a salesman in a store to push a particular line of merchandise. It probably also is the root of the British "spiv," a shady dealer in black-market goods who was traditionally dressed in a "spiffy" manner.

Spiff as a noun is a new one on me although it's often uesd as spiffing in Brit-speak, similar meaning. Did you know that spiv were so called because of cockney? Not all cockney is rhyming slang, spiv is simply the reverse of VIP's.

 

[BlueTrain]

I didn't know that "Tea Dance" was out of use. I've even been to a few, back in my younger days. Mind you, they were nothing like they might have been in the 1930s.

When people put on their "Sunday go to meeting clothes," afterwards come home and have dinner, they might later go for a "Sunday drive."

 

[BlueTrain]

"Cracker jack is an expression that came from advertising, that is, it was from the name of a commercial product. The word "crack" is also used as an adjective as in crack shot or a crack regiment but I don't know if there is a connection. Probably not.

There are other words that derive from advertised products, presumably both good and bad (that is, poor quality). I haven't heard anyone say "doozy" for a while (from Duesenberg) or "runs like a Singer." There are others.

 

[GHT]

I didn't know that "Tea Dance" was out of use. I've even been to a few, back in my younger days. Mind you, they were nothing like they might have been in the 1930s.

When people put on their "Sunday go to meeting clothes," afterwards come home and have dinner, they might later go for a "Sunday drive."

Tea dances are still very popular in the UK. They are afternoon dance meetings, hence the name. Tea in this case means the afternoon light meal. Hot beverages are served along with finger sandwiches, cakes, biscuits and all sorts of calorie laden fondants.
There are two ladies who call themselves The Shallack Sisters, who play dance music on original 78's. If you find yourself in London and you have an afternoon to spare, get yourself along to The Rivoli Ballroom, don't forget to dress up. Is that one lump of sugar, or two, in your tea?

 

[BlueTrain]

I used to do Scottish Country Dancing, a social dance form that really isn't a folk dance. It was possible to go to three different groups in the area where I live. I haven't been for years. For weekly meetings, photograph records were used for music and only rarely was there live music. But they usually managed to find a group for the two or three more important dances during the year. The best group was Stan Hamilton and his little band that came down from Ontario. There was another band from up there but I've forgotten the name. And finally someone around here formed a little group, very much like Stan Hamilton in that it was formed around a piano. Not many around here play an accordion and those that do are usually more German music oriented. Anyway, they used to have tea dances now and then.

There also used to a German-style beer garden in Maryland between Washington and Baltimore that had live music and dancing but they've been closed for a few years now. Irish bars sometimes have live music but apparently never dancing.

 

[BobHufford]

bail·i·wick
[ˈbāləˌwik]
NOUN
one's bailiwick (noun) · one's bailiwicks (plural noun)

1. (one's bailiwick)
   one's sphere of operations or particular area of interest:
   "you never give the presentations—that's my bailiwick"

 

[BobHufford]

Sunday go to meeting cloths.

I said this just today ... but I'm an old soul.

 

[Zombie_61]

bail·i·wick
[ˈbāləˌwik]
NOUN
one's bailiwick (noun) · one's bailiwicks (plural noun)

1. (one's bailiwick)
   one's sphere of operations or particular area of interest:
   "you never give the presentations—that's my bailiwick"

These days I think "bailiwick" has been all but replaced by "wheelhouse" when used in the same context. "We'll have Jim give that presentation because that's right in his wheelhouse."

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

There also used to a German-style beer garden in Maryland between Washington and Baltimore that had live music and dancing but they've been closed for a few years now. Irish bars sometimes have live music but apparently never dancing.

Blob's Park. A girlfriend once took me there in my single days, back in the 1970's.

 

[BlueTrain]

That's the place. That's also when I was going. I'll bet you visited Matt Kane's, too.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

That's the place. That's also when I was going. I'll bet you visited Matt Kane's, too.

Uh, guilty, Your Honor.

 

[skydog757]

"A fat lot of good that does me now."

 

[Apple Blossom]

"A fat lot of good that does me now."

Now that you've gone and mentioned it, I'll probably start using that one. I'm trying to incorporate some of these things, subtly, into my vocabulary.

 

[BlueTrain]

One of my interests, not quite a hobby, is old adolescent adventure books, like the Hardy Boys. They're easily the best known but there were dozens of others. One that I read through the other day used the term "airbus" in referring to an airplane. Airbus Corporation is one of our larger clients and I was surprised to see the term in use that far back (1933). But I do know that "bus" is, or was, sometimes used to refer to an older, larger car, not that I've heard it used recently. There was also the use of "flivver" once or twice, and "Chevy" was also used in the same sentence in a flippant way.

The book itself was interesting in some of the details. There was a page and a half description of a flying maneuver as well as mention of several places in New England, some actual, some fictional. There was also a rant from one of the characters towards a rich man in the book who was "one of those who caused this depression." All the main characters in those books were usually pretty well-off for the depression and had fathers who were lawyers, famous detectives and so on.