Terms Which Have Disappeared

[ChiTownScion]

Well, they are, aren't they? But hooker is not a euphemism. It's a nickname. Well, maybe it is a sort of euphemism. "Camp follower" was an old term for the same thing, I think.

Use of the term actually predates the Late Unpleasantness (1861-1865) and Maj. Gen. "Fightin' Joe," but my favorite Civil War term for those ladies is "soiled doves."

 

[BlueTrain]

There are a surprising number of words and expressions that have been in use longer than we would guess. "People of color," for example, was in use by 1800. It's still an odd expression, just the same.

 

[Upgrade]

"Cupid's diseases."

In the '70s there was a sports radio show in Boston run by a couple of gravelly old-time newspaper reporters called "Clif and Claf." They were popularly known to their listeners as "Syph and Clap"

It was a gentler time.

I've wondered whether Car Talk was inspired by them with Click and Clack.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It was. Clif and Claf were inescapable to anyone listening to Boston radio in the seventies and eighties -- two embittered old Irishmen who seemed to encapsulate everything caustic, hostile, and reactionary about New England. They and their callers -- "Butchie from the Cape!" -- were the internet before the internet was the internet. One of my great regrets was that I never bothered to tape any of their shows, because they would have been a perfect time capsule of that particular time and place.

 

[LizzieMaine]

On the subject of alcoholism, one phrase you don't much hear anymore is "taking the cure." This was in its own way another euphemism for "going to rehab," but it did have a literal meaning -- during the 1910s, 20s, and 30s, there was no shortage of "institutes" offering programs that proposed to "cure" the drinker of his habit. The most famous of these was the Keeley Institute, which ran a nationwide chain of residential clinics claiming to cure alcoholism, drug addiction, and tobacco addiction. The essence of the "Keeley Cure" was what would today be called "aversion therapy" -- the drinker was locked up, and allowed to drink as much as he wanted at first, but as the treatment went on, he also had to take injections of a "secret formula" which caused extremely unpleasant reactions when the drinker imbibed.

The Keeley organization claimed a very high success rate, but critics claimed it was a placebo at best and led to frequent relapses once the patient was released. Buster Keaton, to name one celebrity patient, "took the cure" several times before finally getting control of his drinking. Despite the mixed results, the Keeley Institute advertised widely and heavily in the back pages of newspapers and magazines thruout the Era -- with an engraving of the bilious-looking Dr. Keeley declaring "Drunkenness Is A Disease -- AND I CAN CURE IT!"

 

[HudsonHawk]

My mother says all the time (in fact she said it to me this morning) "I'll let you tend to your rat killin'".

 

[BobHufford]

My wife used the term "hair dab" today to indicate a small amount. That has got to be on its way out...

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Ever meet someone who is as dull as dishwater?

 

[scottyrocks]

I often hear that uttered by Mrs. Slocombe on Are You Being Served? but that show was produced many years ago.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

I was scanning my cable TV listings and saw Mystery Science Theater 3000. Tonight's feature from 1963 is,
"The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies"
I remember as a boy that "crazy mixed up" was an adjectival phrase often used (e.g., "crazy mixed up kids") but I don't recall hearing it in recent years.

Anyone?

 

[Bugguy]

I was looking for a fork this morning and it was right in front of me. I found myself saying "if it had a mouth it would bite me". The waitress didn't get it...

 

[LizzieMaine]

The phrase "straight man," referring to the feeder in a comedy act, seems no longer to be understood in that sense by anyone under fifty.

 

[BlueTrain]

One of the ironies of the TV show Seinfeld, which I rarely watched, was that the only character on the show who was supposed to be a professional comic was the straight man for all his friends.

"Crazy mixed-up kids" probably got that way from using goof balls, a term I heard a lot. Still don't quite get it.

On the subject of "taking the cure," there are, up and down the Allegheny Front, mostly in Virginia and West Virginia, are numerous springs, a few of which are famous resorts, like the Homestead and the Greenbrier. There are such places in Europe, too, mainly in Germany but anywhere there are mineral springs. At one time, fashionable and well-heeled (another old term) ladies and gentlemen would visit these places to take the waters. It seems very dated, yet I believe the practice is still popular, however strange the practice of drinking mineral water might seem. Captain Haddock would not approve.

 

[Fading Fast]

One of the ironies of the TV show Seinfeld, which I rarely watched, was that the only character on the show who was supposed to be a professional comic was the straight man for all his friends.

"Crazy mixed-up kids" probably got that way from using goof balls, a term I heard a lot. Still don't quite get it.

On the subject of "taking the cure," there are, up and down the Allegheny Front, mostly in Virginia and West Virginia, are numerous springs, a few of which are famous resorts, like the Homestead and the Greenbrier. There are such places in Europe, too, mainly in Germany but anywhere there are mineral springs. At one time, fashionable and well-heeled (another old term) ladies and gentlemen would visit these places to take the waters. It seems very dated, yet I believe the practice is still popular, however strange the practice of drinking mineral water might seem. Captain Haddock would not approve.

The last time we were in Saratoga Spring New York - six or seven years ago - there was at least one still-operating mineral "Bath House" where you could "take the cure." It was very neat as it was in its original late '20s building - very institution "health care facility" feeling of its day.

 

[scottyrocks]

I was looking for a fork this morning and it was right in front of me. I found myself saying "if it had a mouth it would bite me". The waitress didn't get it...

I knew that one, from my Dad, as, 'If it had teeth it would've come up and bit you.'

 

[scottyrocks]

The phrase "straight man," referring to the feeder in a comedy act, seems no longer to be understood in that sense by anyone under fifty.

Probably because there aren't a whole lot of comedy duos around these days. With all the avenues for showing oneself off, everyone makes it on their own now.

I still love watching the exchanges between Rowan and Martin on Laugh-In.

 

[LizzieMaine]

You never hear the minced oath "By George!" anymore. I used to wonder what George it was -- George Washington, King George, George Pullman, George "Twinkletoes" Selkirk, George Plimpton, George of the Jungle?

 

[Fading Fast]

As is usually the case, I think of terms for this thread when I'm writing a post in another thread and they pop into my head. This time it was

Ham-fisted or ham-handed - don't hear those much anymore.

 

[scottyrocks]

You never hear the minced oath "By George!" anymore. I used to wonder what George it was -- George Washington, King George, George Pullman, George "Twinkletoes" Selkirk, George Plimpton, George of the Jungle?

Or my brother, George, whom I wish was here.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

I still like to call out "Barkeep, believe I'll have me 'nother". My favorite ones always get a kick out of it.