Terms Which Have Disappeared

[Trenchfriend]

to "chicken out"

Even in the german translation.

 

[Fading Fast]

Two more from the "The Era - Day by Day" thread:

"Knows his/her onions - " experienced in something or you know a lot about a particular subject

"Shellacking - " defeat or beat (someone) decisively

 

[Ticklishchap]

Two more from the "The Era - Day by Day" thread:

"Knows his/her onions - " experienced in something or you know a lot about a particular subject

"Shellacking - " defeat or beat (someone) decisively

Didn’t Barack Obama use the word ‘shellacking’ a few years back, after the mid-term elections?

 

[Fading Fast]

Didn’t Barack Obama use the word ‘shellacking’ a few years back, after the mid-term elections?

I believe you are right. It does pop up now and then, but, at least, I have never heard "know your onions" outside of period books and movies.

 

[Ticklishchap]

This brought to mind a scene from the wickedly funny Austrailan TV series, Rake. In one episode the lead character, Cleaver Greene, is involved in an election for the parliament when the issue of LGBTQ rights arises. After his campaign manager offers advice on how to deal with the issue, Greene, who has had a puzzled look on his face during the advice giving, says, "Those people need to buy a vowel."
This was yet another example of how much American (as in U.S.A.) culture seems to have penetrated Australian consciousness. I remember many American pop-culture references cropping up in this series.

The trouble with these ‘alphabet soup’ terminologies is that they often lump together groups who have little in common and are often at loggerheads (another old fashioned expression!). Also the whole ‘identity’ thing is a bit reductionist and emphasises difference rather than shared humanity.

Re. identity movements, I once read a ‘modern fairy tale’ about a social worker called Goldie Lox: ‘Ah, bears , you must learn to celebrate your cultural heritage’.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I believe you are right. It does pop up now and then, but, at least, I have never heard "know your onions" outside of period books and movies.

 

[ChrisB]

The American English version of this would be, "A few cans short of a six-pack." The number of cans missing can be changed depending upon the severity of the insultee's condition, but it essentially means that person is somehow deficient (i.e., "comes up short").

A few bricks short of a load
Or
A few fries short of a happy meal

 

[Upgrade]

I still use the old rabbit ears to pull in the digital broadcasts through the converter box on the TV.

Still have some dropouts when the cars are passing by. No loud static, though the sound still continues when the picture freezes. Reception is better at night like usual.

I might need to get an active antenna one day.

 

[Trenchfriend]

There's an old forgotten saying or "advise" to young girls, which are dressed too revealing:

"You shouldn't hang the meat in the shop window, if the cow is not for sale."

 

[Trenchfriend]

"Let's play Winnie the Pooh and get my nose stuck in your honey yar."

 

[Fading Fast]

A few from today's "Day by Day" thread:

"Came a cropper"

"Kept company with"

and the word "smote" (from "smite")

 

[Trenchfriend]

I didn't know, that the childish thing is called "Indian Burn".

We call it "stinging nettle", in old Germany.

 

[tonyb]

Didn’t Barack Obama use the word ‘shellacking’ a few years back, after the mid-term elections?

Yes. I use “shellacked” myself, and “walloped,” which means pretty much the same thing.

 

[tonyb]

“Bedstead”

My memory of this term was jogged on account of recently buying an antique brass bed frame — headboard, footboard, side rails, etc. In my circles going back half a century and more, “bedstead” meant the same thing as “bed frame” does now.

To this day I kick myself over all the old iron bedsteads we relegated to the scrapyard when clearing out an old hotel about 40 years ago. Scores of ’em. Hundreds, maybe.

 

[Trenchfriend]

We have no equivalent term in Germany.

"Grandma Mildred socks", LOL?

 

[tonyb]

“What will they think of next!?!”

The phrase is still in circulation, but it’s nowhere near as commonly heard as it was when I was a kid.

People of my grandparents’ age back then, getting on in years as they were, were still quite vital, and still mostly forward-looking. And they were taken with newfangled contraptions. They had seen iceboxes give way to refrigerators and, many of them, outhouses to indoor plumbing. It’s really no wonder, then, that they would be enchanted by the next new thing.

 

[Turnip]

„Backfisch“ for a female teenager up to 21yo.

Normally means an underweight, young cod to be baked/fried in a whole.

 

[skydog757]

Katie bar the door!

 

[Upgrade]

A variant is still used in the Fruit Roll Up commercials, “Who knows what fruit roll ups will we roll out next?”

 

[Trenchfriend]

„Backfisch“ for a female teenager up to 21yo.

Normally means an underweight, young cod to be baked/fried in a whole.

Steiler Zahn! Dishy bird!