Terms Which Have Disappeared

[BlueTrain]

Now that's an expression I used to hear a lot when I was little: "out of state drivers." The implication was that they couldn't handle the crooked narrow roads in West Virginia. I have my doubts.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We had a lot of phrases like that -- outastatahs, summah complaints, from-aways, transplants. The specific phrase used to describe a specific person depended entirely on their attitude.

"Summah Complaint" was the worst, and it isn't exactly a cute, quaint humorous phrase. It was derived from a 19th Century euphemism for dysentery, and the implication was that the person so called was so full of something that they were bubbling over with it.

 

[BlueTrain]

There is another expression that I heard was used (never heard anyone use it myself) in the area where my wife's parents moved to after they retired. It was basically a farming and fishing area that became a popular retirement location. The term was "come heres," referring to the retired people who had moved there. It changed the character of the area considerably over the years.

 

[tonyb]

...

I have mixed thoughts about cell phones--or more correctly, smart phones--in cars. I see a fair number of accidents in my commute, nearly all minor. But I'm certain that none are caused by cell phone use. As far as the distraction in having a conversation on a cell phone while you're driving, it's no different than a conversation with a passenger, maybe even less so. Actually holding the phone might be a distraction, though. But the ones staring at their little screen when the traffic is stopped are often still staring at it when it starts moving again. No, I believe all those accidents I see are because of aggressive driving, mainly tailgating, and nearly always in the left-hand lane of a "dual carriageway" parkway. I live in an area with a lot of Type A personalities and everyone is in a hurry. Commuting is a competitive activity, sometimes adjudicated. Obeying the speed limit is not tolerated, but that goes along with the general moral decline these days when anyone obeying the law is considered to be a fool. The funny thing is that now everyone drives in the left-hand lane and only uses the right-hand lane for passing.

This is a place for casual conversation, for exchanging observations on matters of little real consequence. So wotthehell.

Still, I gotta ask: Do you really believe what I quoted you saying? Research -- you know, science, not anecdotes -- would differ with almost all of it.

 

[KayEn78]

I've seen rotary dial phones and have one from the '60s (non-working) displayed in my living room, but have never used one. Having only used push-button phones and now cell phones--I just thought "dialing a number" was pressing (or for an iPhone "tapping") the numbers to make your call. It made sense to me--but it even makes more sense when you hear the dialing of rotary dial telephone on OTR shows or old movies.

As for "hanging up the phone"--to me, it just meant you'd put the receiver back in its cradle. For a cell phone, to me anyway, "hanging up the phone" just means to tap the "end call" button. After an irate call, one can tap the "End Call" button with more force than usual. It'll do the same thing--end the call.

 

[BobHufford]

When I worked in Branson in the late 1970s the term for the tourists was "Mullets" (this was prior to the hair style). I have no idea why..

 

[DocCasualty]

We had a lot of phrases like that -- outastatahs, summah complaints, from-aways, transplants. The specific phrase used to describe a specific person depended entirely on their attitude.

"Summah Complaint" was the worst, and it isn't exactly a cute, quaint humorous phrase. It was derived from a 19th Century euphemism for dysentery, and the implication was that the person so called was so full of something that they were bubbling over with it.

The last one sounds like a classic New England slam. Are all of those monikers really dead now?

Here the most common one for the tourists is "fudgie" and it's still alive and well. Fudge shops have a long history in the tourist traps in Northern MI, so . . .

 

[HudsonHawk]

We had a lot of phrases like that -- outastatahs, summah complaints, from-aways, transplants. The specific phrase used to describe a specific person depended entirely on their attitude.

"Summah Complaint" was the worst, and it isn't exactly a cute, quaint humorous phrase. It was derived from a 19th Century euphemism for dysentery, and the implication was that the person so called was so full of something that they were bubbling over with it.

When I lived in North Carolina, people used to refer to "half backs". Apparently, those are "Yankees who went down to Florida, and only made it halfway back".

 

[Zombie_61]

...But when was the last time you saw a typewriter?...

December, 2005. IBM Selectric II.

That isn't the one I used in the photo, but I wish I could have figured out a way to sneak the one I did use out of the office before the facility closed. That thing was a real workhorse!

 

[Trenchfriend]

When I worked in Branson in the late 1970s the term for the tourists was "Mullets" (this was prior to the hair style). I have no idea why..

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=mullets&FORM=HDRSC2

No further questions...

VOKUHILA...
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=andre+agassi+vokuhila&FORM=HDRSC2

http://www.dict.cc/?s=mullet


"Asi-palm"...

 

[BobHufford]

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=mullets&FORM=HDRSC2

Some of the tourists had blue hair (old ladies), but there was no one sporting a "Mullet" hair style at the time. It may have been related to the fish as this is a tourist town on a lake.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Some of the tourists had blue hair (old ladies), but there was no one sporting a "Mullet" hair style at the time. It may have been related to the fish as this is a tourist town on a lake.

Aaaah, got you!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mullet_(fish)

 

[LizzieMaine]

The last one sounds like a classic New England slam. Are all of those monikers really dead now?

Here the most common one for the tourists is "fudgie" and it's still alive and well. Fudge shops have a long history in the tourist traps in Northern MI, so . . .

We still mutter them under our breath, but uttering them aloud, in these days of gentrification, can be dangerous to one's employment.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Originally, the typing class in school was "typewriting." Manual typewriters, too. But when was the last time you saw a typewriter?

Five minutes ago, when I stumbled into the metal typing stand upon which my faithful Royal Model 10 reposes. My eyes are at their weakest when I've just gotten up, so I didn't see it at first. But post-impact, I could see it only too well.

I still use it whenever I need to write a letter that will travel by conventional mail. I don't have a functioning computer printer, and refuse to spend money on one, thus tying myself into the ink/toner cartridge racket. The typewriter is a less costly, more practical alternative.

As far as using a typewriter on a daily basis goes, I used a 1950s-era Royal thruout my radio career, right up to the end in 1997. I then gave it to my then two-year-old niece, who proceeded to destroy it within a week.

 

[MisterCairo]

Some of the tourists had blue hair (old ladies), but there was no one sporting a "Mullet" hair style at the time. It may have been related to the fish as this is a tourist town on a lake.

Theatre season in Stratford, Ontario brings out the Michigan blue hairs...

 

[MisterCairo]

imilar to this would be the use of "roll up" and/or "roll down" in reference to car windows.

We still say that, and have not had cranked windows in twenty years...

 

[ChiTownScion]

As far as using a typewriter on a daily basis goes, I used a 1950s-era Royal thruout my radio career, right up to the end in 1997. I then gave it to my then two-year-old niece, who proceeded to destroy it within a week.

You gave it to a two year old. What did you expect would happen?


I was always chided by my wife about my inability to read little kids before I was a parent. Summer cookout at our house, and my little 4 year old nephew was constantly slamming the back storm door as he was going in & out. I sarcastically asked, "Gee, ___. Why don't you slam it even HARDER??" And of course, he hauled off and slammed it full force. Granted, he never was the brightest kid in the world (but a very sweet one)... but I got a spousal dress down about how little kids can't grasp hyperbole and sarcasm.

 

[Fading Fast]

...I don't have a functioning computer printer, and refuse to spend money on one, thus tying myself into the ink/toner cartridge racket. ...

There is possibly no bigger "small" scam perpetrated on us than the ink/toner racket - it makes my blood boil / just reading your post raised my blood pressure.

That said, I still need and use a printer, but treat it like I used to treat long distance phone calls - only when absolutely positively necessary and then try to keep it as limited as possible.

 

[BlueTrain]

I imagine the gasoline & oil racket bothers you even more. And as far as believing what I wrote (Mr. tonyb), of course I believe it. And since I wrote it, it must be true. My comments are based entirely on a scientific data gathering system called "observation." My notes and comments are necessarily based on relatively limited samples taken five days a week over the last eighteen years. So it was not an exhaustive study, although it was exhausting. No doubt if you did the same thing, your results would be different.

Please note however that I distinguish between cell phones, including smart phones used as a phone, and the use of a smart phone for whatever other purposes they may be good for. I may not have made that clear in my published paper (post 4679). But it is clear (from observation) that driver behavior is decidedly different, if not necessarily up to the standards you were taught in driver's ed. in high school.

But as you say, this is of little importance in the real world. Accidents only happen to other people, after all.

 

[tonyb]

Wanna buy a bridge?