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We walk the walk but do we talk the talk?

dhermann1

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,154
Location
Da Bronx, NY, USA
Daisy Buchanan sent me message in which she said that something "stinks rotten", which is a phrase my mother used, but I seldom if ever have heard since. I don't think she thought of it as an old term, but I really think it is. Downright quaint.
My theory of "dude" being used by the younger generation is this: The term was somewhat in vogue in the 60's but not like now. But in the 80's, when Ninja Turtles were all the rage, they used the term incessantly. The Disney Radio channel started using pseudo 60's hip talk in the 80's also. The result is that a whole generation thinks they use phrases that are "street smart", but they were actually spoon fed them by the mass media.
 

Dr Doran

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,854
Location
Los Angeles
Great thread, Mamajama (and all the rest of youse). I sadly confess to still using "dude" even after three effortful regimes over the years of attempting to remove it from my vocabulary. I MUST TRY HARDER. In the delightful film "Man of the Century" the protagonist uses many 20s terms, much to the confusion and chagrin of the modern New York world in which (unbeknownst to himself) he lives. I use "swell" a lot, but I have no idea if it bears the correct provenience.
The expression "you, sir, are a maniac" is wonderful and I shall adopt it.
 

Decobelle

One of the Regulars
Messages
234
Location
USA
I have not actually used the word "dude" except in the context of a discussion on western wear. Nor do I use the term "party" as a verb.

I never felt comfortable talking like other kids my age; I still recall in 4th grade, in a rare act of trying to assimilate (lasted about 1 second) I blurted out "that's awesome!" - and felt like a complete idiot. :eek: "That's just swell" is more my style, along with "Golly," Don't rush me, big boy" "that's a three column splash" (for a big news story), and "take a powder, buster" (this last handy when riding public transportation to work. It confuses them).

When Applewood Press began publishing reprints of the 1930s Nancy Drew books there was a lot of ink about their "rich language" and quaint expressions - "roadster," "ice-box," "chums," "shady characters." I read those books in the 70s and never questioned the language - it seemed perfectly usual to me.
 

Adelaidey

One of the Regulars
Messages
211
Location
Chicago, IL
Completely forgot that I, too, use the term "ice box".... its just so normal to me that it slipped my mind as being vintage slang....

And I too, am now adopting "You, sir, are a maniac!".... along with "Take a powder, buster.".... Love it! lol
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,755
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
Decobelle said:
When Applewood Press began publishing reprints of the 1930s Nancy Drew books there was a lot of ink about their "rich language" and quaint expressions - "roadster," "ice-box," "chums," "shady characters." I read those books in the 70s and never questioned the language - it seemed perfectly usual to me.

Ah! Nancy Drew (and her unacknowledged cousins, the Dana Girls) cast a mighty influence on me as well. I once asked my mother if I could dye my hair "titian," and she looked at me like I'd grown a second head.
 

patrick1987

One of the Regulars
Messages
295
Location
Rochester
Reminds me of Steed calling Emma's hair color "titian" which is why I use that term to describe BegintheBeguine's hair color. With the same result from listeners as from LizzieMaine's mother..
 

dhermann1

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,154
Location
Da Bronx, NY, USA
Ice box

When I was a kid, in 1955, there were still ice boxes in Chautauqua, and an ICE HOUSE. The ice man had a truck (a generation earlier it would have bee a horse drawn wagon) and brought big blocks of ice around, which people stuck in the bottom section of their oak ice boxes. Now I don't believe the ice blocks still came from cutting pieces out of the lake in the winter, as they did in the 19th century, but maybe they did. Anyway I was in the ice house once. I was with camp counselor who had left a watermelon in there. We sat and gobbled down frozen watermelon in the ice house. Sadly, the roof of the ice house caved in from the snow the next winter.
 

panamag8or

Practically Family
Messages
859
Location
Florida
dhermann1 said:
Daisy Buchanan sent me message in which she said that something "stinks rotten", which is a phrase my mother used, but I seldom if ever have heard since. I don't think she thought of it as an old term, but I really think it is. Downright quaint.
My theory of "dude" being used by the younger generation is this: The term was somewhat in vogue in the 60's but not like now. But in the 80's, when Ninja Turtles were all the rage, they used the term incessantly. The Disney Radio channel started using pseudo 60's hip talk in the 80's also. The result is that a whole generation thinks they use phrases that are "street smart", but they were actually spoon fed them by the mass media.

I am a child of the 80's, and I admit, I say "dude" all the time.:eek: I like to blame it on Jeff Spicoli, seeing as how I never watched the ninja turtles.
 

Dan G

One of the Regulars
Messages
287
Location
Pensacola, FL
panamag8or said:
I am a child of the 80's, and I admit, I say "dude" all the time.:eek: I like to blame it on Jeff Spicoli, seeing as how I never watched the ninja turtles.

Guilty as charged:eek: ... Jeff was too big an influence on me as well.... "well what's he gonna do? **** or kill us?!"
 

Private Eye

New in Town
Messages
26
Location
Los Angeles, circa 1940
Brilliant!

Feng_Li said:
Upon nearly being killed whilst merging onto the interstate, I apparently shouted "You, sir, are a maniac!" to the immense amusement of my passenger. :rolleyes:


HA HA! That's rich!

I know I blurt out a lot of "anachronistic expletives" myself. They're pretty unconscious.
 

Rafter

Suspended
Messages
436
Location
CT
panamag8or said:
I am a child of the 80's, and I admit, I say "dude" all the time.:eek: I like to blame it on Jeff Spicoli, seeing as how I never watched the ninja turtles.
"Fast Times At Ridgemount High",
I love it when Spicoli orders pizza and his teacher says,

"Am I hallicunating? What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm just learnin' about Cuba, havin some food."

Hahah.
Awesome film dude!!
 

dhermann1

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,154
Location
Da Bronx, NY, USA
Dude coming from Fast Times at Ridgemont High may be correct. I always seem to change the channel whenever that comes on. Not my generation, I guess.
Speaking of "Well I'll be dipped . . . etc." there's also the phrase "He doesn't know s**t from Shinola". Who remembers Shinola!?
(For you younger folks, it's an old shoe polish brand.)
 

RedHotRidinHood

Practically Family
Messages
786
Location
Phoenix
This is a great thread! And I am glad to know what exactly Shinola was...I always wondered.
LizzieMaine-I LOVE the Dana Girls too!

My grandmother always said "davenport" instead of couch, so I tend to also. I say "coverlet" instead of bedspread, and I call some of my girlfriends "doll". I, too, have a good friend named Sam Hill, and he is currently teaching me how to speak jive, being as how he is black and I am not. He and my beau, who is also black, laugh and laugh at me when I try, poor little white girl from Oregon that I am. But I persevere!

I hate "dude". My soon to be 11 year old stepdaughter calls adults that, including me, but I am working on nipping that one in the bud. I make it very clear that it is NOT appropriate. My son, who is 7, says sir and ma'am if I prompt him. I think manners class should be required in schools!!

I must incorporate the "maniac" line into my life. That says everything you want to say without using one bad word! lol
 

Feraud

Bartender
Messages
17,190
Location
Hardlucksville, NY
Rafter said:
"Fast Times At Ridgemount High",
I love it when Spicoli orders pizza and his teacher says,

"Am I hallicunating? What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm just learnin' about Cuba, havin some food."

Hahah.
Awesome film dude!!
lol I just laughed out loud reading this one!
Fast times is a great movie.
 

dhermann1

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,154
Location
Da Bronx, NY, USA
RedHotRidinHood said:
This is a great thread! And I am glad to know what exactly Shinola was...I always wondered.
LizzieMaine-I LOVE the Dana Girls too!

My grandmother always said "davenport" instead of couch, so I tend to also. I say "coverlet" instead of bedspread, and I call some of my girlfriends "doll". I, too, have a good friend named Sam Hill, and he is currently teaching me how to speak jive, being as how he is black and I am not. He and my beau, who is also black, laugh and laugh at me when I try, poor little white girl from Oregon that I am. But I persevere!

I hate "dude". My soon to be 11 year old stepdaughter calls adults that, including me, but I am working on nipping that one in the bud. I make it very clear that it is NOT appropriate. My son, who is 7, says sir and ma'am if I prompt him. I think manners class should be required in schools!!

I must incorporate the "maniac" line into my life. That says everything you want to say without using one bad word! lol

They're called Davenports because there used to be a company in Davenport, Iowa that made sofas.

My mother, ever the archaic word user, once made an old friend crack up when she said counterpain, instead of bedspread.
 

Decobelle

One of the Regulars
Messages
234
Location
USA
Rafter said:
"Fast Times At Ridgemount High",

Oh, now I know who you all mean. I didn't see the movie but there was a fellow - or rather, I suppose, a "dude" - at my high school in the 80s who dressed like that character all the time (he may be roaming the halls yet, for all I know). Ironically, though it was me, model student and vintage girl, who became a legend for ordering a pizza on campus!

LizzieMaine and Adelaidey, I wish we had known each other when we were 10! We could have swapped books and solved mysteries together.
 

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