Remember These Words and Sayings??
Oct 12, 2015 13:07:11 #
I got this from a friend and wanted to pass it on to my UHH friends old enough to remember. Don't know the original source.
"A not so elderly (65) lady said something to her son about driving a Jalopy and he looked at her quizzically and asked what the heck is a Jalopy? OMG (new phrase!) he never heard of the word jalopy!!
So they went to the computer and pulled up a picture from the movie "The Grapes of Wrath." Now that was a Jalopy!
About a month ago, I illuminated some old expressions that have become obsolete because of the inexorable march of technology. These phrases included "Don't touch that dial," "Carbon copy," "You sound like a broken record" and "Hung out to dry." A bevy of readers have asked me to shine light on more faded words and expressions, and I am happy to oblige:
Back in the olden days we had a lot of moxie. We'd put on our best bib and tucker and straighten up and fly right. Hubba-hubba! We'd cut a rug in some juke joint and then go necking and petting and smooching and spooning and billing and cooing and pitching woo in hot rods and jalopies in some passion pit or lovers lane.
Heavens to Betsy! Gee whillikers! Jumping Jehoshaphat! Holy moley! We were in like Flynn and living the life of Riley, and even a regular guy couldn't accuse us of being a knucklehead, a nincompoop or a pill. Not for all the tea in China!
Back in the olden days, life used to be swell, but when's the last time anything was swell? Swell has gone the way of beehives, pageboys and the D.A.; of spats, knickers, fedoras, poodle skirts, saddle shoes and pedal pushers. Oh, my aching back. Kilroy was here, but he isn't anymore.
Like Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle and Kurt Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim, we have become unstuck in time. We wake up from what surely has been just a short nap, and before we can say, I'll be a monkey's uncle! or This is a fine kettle of fish! we discover that the words we grew up with, the words that seemed omnipresent as oxygen, have vanished with scarcely a notice from our tongues and our pens and our keyboards.
Poof, poof, poof go the words of our youth, the words we've left behind. We blink, and they're gone, evanesced from the landscape and wordscape of our perception, like Mickey Mouse wristwatches, hula hoops, skate keys, candy cigarettes, little wax bottles of colored sugar water and an organ grinders monkey.
Where have all those phrases gone? Long time passing. Where have all those phrases gone? Long time ago: Pshaw. The milkman did it. Think about the starving Armenians. Bigger than a bread box. Banned in Boston. The very idea! It's your nickel. Don't forget to pull the chain. Knee high to a grasshopper.
Turn-of-the-century. Iron curtain. Domino theory. Fail safe. Civil defense. Fiddlesticks! You look like the wreck of the Hesperus. Cooties. Going like sixty. I'll see you in the funny papers. Don't take any wooden nickels. Heavens to Murgatroyd! And awa-a-ay we go!
Oh, my stars and garters!
It turns out there are more of these lost words and expressions than Carter had liver pills. This can be disturbing stuff, this winking out of the words of our youth, these words that lodge in our heart's deep core. But just as one never steps into the same river twice, one cannot step into the same language twice. Even as one enters, words are swept downstream into the past, forever making a different river.
We of a certain age have been blessed to live in changeful times. For a child each new word is like a shiny toy, a toy that has no age. We at the other end of the chronological arc have the advantage of remembering there are words that once did not exist and there were words that once strutted their hour upon the earthly stage and now are heard no more, except in our collective memory. It's one of the greatest advantages of aging. We can have archaic and eat it, too.
See ya later, alligator!"
"A not so elderly (65) lady said something to her son about driving a Jalopy and he looked at her quizzically and asked what the heck is a Jalopy? OMG (new phrase!) he never heard of the word jalopy!!
So they went to the computer and pulled up a picture from the movie "The Grapes of Wrath." Now that was a Jalopy!
About a month ago, I illuminated some old expressions that have become obsolete because of the inexorable march of technology. These phrases included "Don't touch that dial," "Carbon copy," "You sound like a broken record" and "Hung out to dry." A bevy of readers have asked me to shine light on more faded words and expressions, and I am happy to oblige:
Back in the olden days we had a lot of moxie. We'd put on our best bib and tucker and straighten up and fly right. Hubba-hubba! We'd cut a rug in some juke joint and then go necking and petting and smooching and spooning and billing and cooing and pitching woo in hot rods and jalopies in some passion pit or lovers lane.
Heavens to Betsy! Gee whillikers! Jumping Jehoshaphat! Holy moley! We were in like Flynn and living the life of Riley, and even a regular guy couldn't accuse us of being a knucklehead, a nincompoop or a pill. Not for all the tea in China!
Back in the olden days, life used to be swell, but when's the last time anything was swell? Swell has gone the way of beehives, pageboys and the D.A.; of spats, knickers, fedoras, poodle skirts, saddle shoes and pedal pushers. Oh, my aching back. Kilroy was here, but he isn't anymore.
Like Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle and Kurt Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim, we have become unstuck in time. We wake up from what surely has been just a short nap, and before we can say, I'll be a monkey's uncle! or This is a fine kettle of fish! we discover that the words we grew up with, the words that seemed omnipresent as oxygen, have vanished with scarcely a notice from our tongues and our pens and our keyboards.
Poof, poof, poof go the words of our youth, the words we've left behind. We blink, and they're gone, evanesced from the landscape and wordscape of our perception, like Mickey Mouse wristwatches, hula hoops, skate keys, candy cigarettes, little wax bottles of colored sugar water and an organ grinders monkey.
Where have all those phrases gone? Long time passing. Where have all those phrases gone? Long time ago: Pshaw. The milkman did it. Think about the starving Armenians. Bigger than a bread box. Banned in Boston. The very idea! It's your nickel. Don't forget to pull the chain. Knee high to a grasshopper.
Turn-of-the-century. Iron curtain. Domino theory. Fail safe. Civil defense. Fiddlesticks! You look like the wreck of the Hesperus. Cooties. Going like sixty. I'll see you in the funny papers. Don't take any wooden nickels. Heavens to Murgatroyd! And awa-a-ay we go!
Oh, my stars and garters!
It turns out there are more of these lost words and expressions than Carter had liver pills. This can be disturbing stuff, this winking out of the words of our youth, these words that lodge in our heart's deep core. But just as one never steps into the same river twice, one cannot step into the same language twice. Even as one enters, words are swept downstream into the past, forever making a different river.
We of a certain age have been blessed to live in changeful times. For a child each new word is like a shiny toy, a toy that has no age. We at the other end of the chronological arc have the advantage of remembering there are words that once did not exist and there were words that once strutted their hour upon the earthly stage and now are heard no more, except in our collective memory. It's one of the greatest advantages of aging. We can have archaic and eat it, too.
See ya later, alligator!"
Oct 12, 2015 13:39:24 #
ted.herman wrote:
I got this from a friend and wanted to pass it on ... (show quote)
And I remember all that. I must be getting old.
Oct 12, 2015 13:55:53 #
Oct 12, 2015 16:12:53 #
Bill MN wrote:
And I remember all that. I must be getting old.
Worse than that, I even wore a fedora! Never got into spats or knickers though.
Oct 12, 2015 17:43:53 #
SmittyOne wrote:
Worse than that, I even wore a fedora! Never got into spats or knickers though.
Yumpin-Yimmeny, nice picture. :)
Oct 12, 2015 17:51:50 #
ebbote wrote:
I remember all of them, I am old, jeepers creepers.
Gee Whiz Wally ... Me too
Oct 12, 2015 17:53:36 #
ebbote wrote:
I remember all of them, I am old, jeepers creepers.
Ya do not! Liar Liar ... Pants on fire!!! (Just Kidding ) LOL :-D
Oct 12, 2015 23:45:24 #
Bill MN wrote:
Yumpin-Yimmeny, nice picture. :)
Thanks Bill. Berlin Germany, Summer of '56, or '57, maybe even '58. I was there in the U.S.A.F., Dec. 1955, Sept. 1959. Loved that city. Wouldn't go back for love nor money now. Have an Ancient Aunt (by marriage) that lives there now, in a rehab home (broken hip), and she says the muslims have totally ruined the place.
Oct 13, 2015 04:22:31 #
Holy cow! I can even remember wanting a car that was shaved and decked with fender skirts and droped in the back. It just had to have twin antennas, mirrors, spotlights, a club plaque and duals with glass packs. Oh yes don't forget the white walls. It was really cool if it had spider webs around the antennas. Don't forget 4 on the floor. By golly, I almost forgot the chrome halves on the headlights and the purple reflectors on the tail lights. I almost forgot the spinner hub caps.
Oct 13, 2015 05:36:57 #
the good ole days when things were "as clear as a button hook in the well water".
Oct 13, 2015 05:44:01 #
machia
Loc: NJ
Back in the olden days ?
But now its a different phrase ; its now become Back in the Day ! lol
And I was born and raised in a Italian section of Newark , Italian myself , Grandfather and Great Uncles all from Foggia Italy , and NEVER heard the word PASTA , it was Macaroni !
Hardwood floors ? No it was a floor !
Thank you so much ? lol ......it was thank you ! Or thank you very much .
Language has changed too .
Hey , maybe macaroni and cheese may become the next victim ?
Pass the pasta and cheese please ! lol
But now its a different phrase ; its now become Back in the Day ! lol
And I was born and raised in a Italian section of Newark , Italian myself , Grandfather and Great Uncles all from Foggia Italy , and NEVER heard the word PASTA , it was Macaroni !
Hardwood floors ? No it was a floor !
Thank you so much ? lol ......it was thank you ! Or thank you very much .
Language has changed too .
Hey , maybe macaroni and cheese may become the next victim ?
Pass the pasta and cheese please ! lol
Oct 13, 2015 07:14:11 #
Oct 13, 2015 07:22:13 #
Oct 13, 2015 07:47:48 #
bookman
Loc: Southeast Michigan
Wrangler wrote:
Holy cow! I can even remember wanting a car that was shaved and decked with fender skirts and droped in the back. It just had to have twin antennas, mirrors, spotlights, a club plaque and duals with glass packs. Oh yes don't forget the white walls. It was really cool if it had spider webs around the antennas. Don't forget 4 on the floor. By golly, I almost forgot the chrome halves on the headlights and the purple reflectors on the tail lights. I almost forgot the spinner hub caps.
Wrangler, you DID forget the curb feelers! Gotta protect those whitewalls. :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
Oct 13, 2015 08:38:24 #
bookman wrote:
Wrangler, you DID forget the curb feelers! Gotta protect those whitewalls. :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
That's right!! I forgot lakes plugs aka lakes pipes.
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