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Lost Words from our childhood:
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Dec 10, 2018 12:10:28   #
charlienow Loc: Hershey, PA
 
since it seems a large number of Hogs are of the greatest generation or maybe a few years younger this might bring back some memories...it did for me
Chuck


Mergatroyd!...

Do you remember that word? Would you believe the email spell checker did not recognize the word Mergatroyd?

Heavens to Mergatroyd!



The other day a not so elderly (I say 75) lady said something to her son about driving a Jalopy and he looked at
her quizzically and said "What the heck is a Jalopy?"



He never heard of the word jalopy!! She knew she was old..... but not that old. Well, I hope you are Hunky Dory after
you read this and chuckle.

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."

Back in the olden days we had a lot of 'moxie.' We'd put on our best 'bib and tucker' to' straighten up and fly right'.

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...AND DON'T FORGET.... Saddle Stitched Pants.

Oh, my aching back! Kilroy was here, but he isn't anymore.

We wake up from what surely has been just a short nap, and before we can say, Well, 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, go the words of our youth, the words we've left behind. We blink, and they're gone.

Where have all those great phrases gone? Let's all go to the beach Saturday"...

Long gone: Pshaw, The milkman did it. Hey! It's your nickel. Don't forget to pull the chain. Knee high to a grasshopper.
Well, Fiddlesticks! Going like sixty. I'll see you in the funny papers. Don't take any wooden nickels. Wake up and smell the roses.

It turns out there are more of these lost words and expressions than Carter has liver pills. This can be disturbing
stuff! ("Carter's Little Liver Pills" are gone too!)

We of a certain age have been blessed to live in changeable 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.

Leaves us to wonder where Superman will find a phone booth...

See ya later, alligator!

Okidoki

WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE FABULOUS 50'S...NO ONE WILL EVER HAVE THAT OPPORTUNITY AGAIN...WE WERE GIVEN ONE OF OUR MOST PRECIOUS GIFTS:

OUR MEMORIES

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Dec 10, 2018 12:20:56   #
DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area
 
From Gershwin's Fascinating Rhythm:
When a mess you're making!
The neighbours want to know
Why I'm always shaking
Just like a flivver.

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Dec 10, 2018 13:40:24   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 

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Dec 10, 2018 15:09:38   #
Beowulf Loc: Aquidneck Island, RI
 
FYI: It is spelled "murgatroyd". "Heavens to Murgatroyd" was a variant of "Heavens to Betsy" popularized by the cartoon character Snagglepuss in the Yogi Bear cartoon series.

Murgatroyd is actually a British surname originating in the 14th century.

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Dec 10, 2018 16:12:33   #
charlienow Loc: Hershey, PA
 
Ahh yes, but your British surname is actually spelled Mergatroyd not Murgatroyd as you spelled it...My murgatroyd is spelled with a "u" as you can see in your own example...

Beowulf wrote:
FYI: It is spelled "murgatroyd". "Heavens to Murgatroyd" was a variant of "Heavens to Betsy" popularized by the cartoon character Snagglepuss in the Yogi Bear cartoon series.

Murgatroyd is actually a British surname originating in the 14th century.

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Dec 10, 2018 16:31:39   #
Beowulf Loc: Aquidneck Island, RI
 
charlienow wrote:
Ahh yes, but your British surname is actually spelled Mergatroyd not Murgatroyd as you spelled it...My murgatroyd is spelled with a "u" as you can see in your own example...


From the BookofNames.com:

Early Origins of the Murgatroyd family


The surname Murgatroyd was first found in West Yorkshire where one of the first records of the name was Johanus de Morgateroyde who was listed as a constable appointed for the district of Warley in 1371. His name literally meant John of Moor Gate Royde. A few years later in 1379 in the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls, John Mergetrode was listed as holding estates in that shire at that time. [2]
" Yorkshire has long been the home of the Murgatroyds. In the 17th century the family owned for a time the Riddlesden estate in Bingley parish; the name is still in Bingley town. James Murgaitroit was a Yorkshire gentleman who subscribed £25 for the defence of his country at the time of the expected Spanish invasion in 1588." [4]

The expression "Heavens to Murgatroyd!" is an expression made famous by Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Snagglepuss and was inspired on the aforementioned Gilbert and Sullivan's "Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse," a Victorian comic opera that includes no fewer than seven "Murgatroyd" ghosts, all Baronets to the protagonist (and living) Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd who is disguised as Robin Oakapple, a young farmer. The name has also been lent to other fictional works by Virginia Woolf, Nancy Mitford, Agatha Christie, Clifford B. Hicks and Ann Turner.

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Dec 11, 2018 07:41:55   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
I remember those words well. And I recently bought two fedoras.

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Dec 11, 2018 07:51:57   #
Just Shoot Me Loc: Ithaca, NY
 
Unfortunately I remember all of them!
And the last time something was "swell" was two days ago, it was my knee joint.

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Dec 11, 2018 08:55:09   #
Dbl00buk Loc: Orlando
 
I can still hear my father, although dead 14 years...

"Make it snappy."
"ah, c'mon...do things right."

And then there was my older brother...

"Cut it out, ya' little creep!"

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Dec 11, 2018 09:06:37   #
fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH
 
I remember pretty much all of them; we baby boomers probably picked them up from our parents. Languages evolve which is why Webster's adds new words and definitions each year and each generation adds their own. How about our contributions like "groovy," "right on," "far out" and "heavy?" Most sound pretty silly a few decades after they went out of style and some linger from generation to generation. The other day, my daughter said she's send me a text and that she'd "cc Mom." Not sure if she knew what cc actually stood for but she new it meant my wife would receive the same message.

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Dec 11, 2018 09:46:01   #
LestheK
 
See you later alligator.

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Dec 11, 2018 11:04:16   #
EdJ0307 Loc: out west someplace
 
DWU2 wrote:
From Gershwin's Fascinating Rhythm:
When a mess you're making!
The neighbours want to know
Why I'm always shaking
Just like a flivver.

You can replace "flivver" with "Harley Davidson motorcycle". They shake a lot. There's a reason why the motorcycle gathering each year in Reno (mostly Harleys) is called "Street Vibrations".

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Dec 11, 2018 12:43:42   #
Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC
 
Remember all well, what about catiwhumpus (spelling ?)

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Dec 11, 2018 13:23:43   #
one shot Loc: Pisgah Forest NC
 
I think if I hear "I mean" one more time I'll flip out.

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Dec 11, 2018 13:37:55   #
Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC
 
one shot wrote:
I think if I hear "I mean" one more time I'll flip out.


Is it worse than "like"?

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