They Say Em' From the Golden Era - Slang & Memorable Phrases

[Fletch]

Look what the cat dragged in

i often exclaim, without any great irony, "Hot dog," "Oh brother," and "Holy Ned!" (Old Ned was the proprietor of that region not likely to freeze over, which reminds me of another expression.)

I've been known to refer to autoMObiles and loudSPEAKers now and then.

A party is a do, a big dinner a feed (also meaning an accelerator pedal). To indulge in alcohol is to tie one on or bend an elbow, sometimes till one is pie-eyed or half in the bag.

My summer suits aren't white, they're ice cream suits. I sometimes see a picture, rather than a movie. If it (or anything) is really good, it's aces, or all wool and a yard wide.

All kinds of colorful metaphors - knocked @ss over applecart, since (or till) who laid the rails, done to a fare-thee-well, doesn't have the brains god gave dirt.

So long - see ya in the funny papers.

 

[scotrace]

We'll merge this thread soon into this one soon.

 

[Zemke Fan]

Ummm...

My father always called a car's *glove compartment* the *monkey box* the origins of which continue to elude me...

 

[klind65]

I just remembered another one from some picture I saw long ago:

" It makes me want to spit cotton!"

Doesn't call up the best of images, but I like it! Surely does get the point across!

 

[Elaina]

I use all kinds of slang and old terms for things. Record player covers my MP3, stereo, radio on my dad's satellite...anything that plays music. A refrigerator is an ice box, and always has been and always will be. Things are the bee's knees, I'm a city slicker, things are smooth, I've dated creeps and greasers, we ate a sinker after school, I'm on the level, and how. (I could probably think of more if I wanted to, these are phrases/slang I've used this afternoon). I don't think of it so much as charm, it's things I've said/had used on me all my life.

My granddad still tells me I need to get some feminine cheaters, tho, instead of the Buddy Holly's I wear. And when I feel bad and light headed, I've got a touch of the vapors.

Although, I never affected it AFTER wearing vintage, I always said these things.

 

[SayCici]

This may have been posted before, but it could help with the 40s slang section:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21233184@N02/3793000138/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21233184@N02/3793000356/

 

[ThesFlishThngs]

I prefer 'automobile' to car. Like 'the bee's knees'. My husband sometimes calls me 'sister', and we both sometimes end a remark with 'see?'. Of course, with him being Welsh, he has a habit of taking that one further, with 'mun, but'. Which is something only a Taff would do.

 

[Viola]

Don't remember if I've tipped my hat to expressions like 'from the git-go' or describing things as 'about yea high' already in one of the older incarnations of this thread but I'm pretty sure I haven't yet given their due to exasperated ones like 'you should be so quick into my grave' which is indispensible for driving, and 'it shouldn't happen to a dog.'

 

[ShoreRoadLady]

For the past year or so, most (if not all - I honestly can't remember!) of my fiction reading has consisted of books written prior to 1970. I'm sure I use a bunch of peculiar phrases that I haven't even picked up on yet, because they're "normal" to me. "Automobile" is one that just slips out. I also use "don't have kittens" (don't overreact) on occasion. There are others, but the fact that certain phrases just aren't used nowadays doesn't occur to me until I open my mouth and realize, "Wait, nobody is going to know what I'm talking about." (Doubly so, since I'm often reading British vintage literature, and I lack a British accent to lend the appropriate colour.)

 

[Carlisle Blues]

Vintage Words and Phrases

I have been reading fervently regarding the 1920’s lately and I was surprised to see that many words used today are from that era.

For example:

Cat's Meow - Something splendid or stylish;

Darb - An excellent person or thing

Drugstore Cowboy - A young man that hangs out at drugstores or any other place that suits his loafing and usually wears elaborate clothing during the roaring 20's

Take someone for a ride - Cheat or deliberately mislead someone, [Colloquial; c. 1920];Murder someone, [Slang; 1920]

While these are only a few, I have used these phrases in my every lexicon.

Do you have words and phrases that set era one era apart from another or perhaps that you use today or recognize their meaning?

 

[Shangas]

There are dozens of phrases from the 20s and 30s that people still use today. The meanings may have changed a bit in some cases...

'Bimbo' used to mean somoene big and tough. These days it means something rather different. Same for 'Gay'. I had a friend who always referred to a radio as the 'wireless', and he's younger than I am (I'm 22).

I use a fair few of these old phraess and words in everyday speech...once I remember a few, I'll pop them up here (tired at the moment, can't think straight).

 

[scotrace]

Another merge of yet another thread on Golden Era slang terms. :eusa_doh:

 

[Shangas]

One of the old 'vintage phrases' I use regularly is 'book'. As in to 'make book'. Not sure how many people know what that means, but it's basically to be really sure and certain of something. You only print (make) a book when everything is sure, certain and correct, so saying you'll make book on something means you're absolutely certain and sure of yourself.

 

[Stearmen]

20s

My grandmother who was born in the 19th century, and was young in the Golden Era used to say, "piddle-farting around". I see that it is in the urban dictionary, so it must have made a come back! If you wait long enough, every thing is new again!

 

[Widebrim]

My mother gave me, "It was like the wreck of the Hesperus," based on the poem by Longellow. My father inspired me with, "Nuts!" as well as with, "By way of Pittsburgh," the origin of which I have no idea. :eusa_doh:

 

[Miss Crisplock]

This phrase from the golden era just popped in my head:

"Who pissed on your Post-Toasties?"


Used to be common cereal of old people when I was a kid.

Do they still make Post-Toasties?

 

[Silver Dollar]

My grandmother who was born in the 19th century, and was young in the Golden Era used to say, "piddle-farting around". I see that it is in the urban dictionary, so it must have made a come back! If you wait long enough, every thing is new again!

That phrase is still in use today. I originally heard it as fiddle farting around.lol

Some of the phrases that are still stuck in my vocabulary: If I repeat any, sorry I just couldn't read all the replies.

To get iced- the current term is to get whacked.
That's jake with me-- it's o.k. with me.
Getting in dutch- getting into trouble
Sleeping with the fishes-- self explanatory.
An old brown shoe-- refers to an old school soldier keen on strict discipline
to get pinched-getting arrested
To filch something--to steal something

 

[Bustercat]

My grandma-in-law had a great one the other night:

"I was out of there so fast, you'd think I was a wheel."

Love it!

 

[Atomic Age]

This phrase from the golden era just popped in my head:

"Who pissed on your Post-Toasties?"


Used to be common cereal of old people when I was a kid.

Do they still make Post-Toasties?

Post Toasties are kind of like Kellogg's Corn Flakes, but of course made by Post. They stopped making them in 2006, but reintroduced them in 2010.

http://www.postcereals.com/cereals/post_toasties/

Doug

 

[Wire9Vintage]

Slightly off topic, but... modern Post Toasties are NOT "real" Post Toasties. They're actually what used to be Grape Nuts Os. Not flakes at all. Why would they do that? Just weird...