Reuss Griffiths Loc: Ravenna, Ohio

First I want to confess that I brazenly plagiarized this from an article on the internet but couldn't help myself.

Mergatroid? Do you remember that word. Would you believe the spell-checker did not recognize the word. Mergatroid? Heavens to Mergatroid!

The other day a not so elderly (I say 75) lady said something to her son about driving a Jalopy? He had 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 use 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. 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 ominpresent, 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? 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. Leaves us to wonder where Superman will find a phone booth. See ya later, alligator! Okidoki. You'll notice they left out "Monkey Business!!!

WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE FABULOUS 40'S, 50'S, AND 6O'S...NO ONE WILL EVER HAVE THAT OPPORTUNITY AGAIN... WE WERE GIVEN ONE OF OUR MOST PRECIOUS GIFTS: LIVING IN A PEACEFUL AND UPWARDLY MOBILE TIMES.

pwrxprt Loc: Beaumont, California

Heck, I remember every one of those sayings. Does that make me old? Although I've seen this in the past, it still put a smile on my face. Thanks for sharing.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

It's not knowing all those words but being old enough to have used them in daily speech

Warhorse Loc: SE Michigan

Thanks for posting this!

edmixon Loc: Orange County CA

Great job!!! Thank you!!!
You bet your boots!!
😊😊

tramsey Loc: Texas

Brings back good memories but I'm glad they are in the past

David Martin Loc: Cary, NC

Not gone completely.
Carter's Little Pills are still available on Amazon.
Although supposedly effective at treating a number of ailments, the pills are just a laxative.
In the 1950s the FDA required removal of "Liver" from the product's name, because the pills did not have the alleged effect on stimulating bile flow from the liver as its mechanism of action.

NMGal Loc: NE NM

I believe I used every one of those at one time or another.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I always spelled it 'Murgatroyd'.

The problem is when we age, memories disappear antisymetrically. We lose short term memory and retain (maybe even enhance) long term memory.

A High School friend died recently and I went through my Photopile to find some photos of him for the memorial (Lightroom to the rescue). In the search process I came across a photo of my fourth grade class (probably around 1949). There were 25 people in the photo and I could fairly easily come up with 17 names. OTOH, I have trouble remembering a name of someone I get introduced to for 5 minutes. And the visual memory is not bad, but connecting the face to the name next week just doesn't happen. I can remember that I met the person, but that's as far as it goes.

So of course I'm familiar with all those phrases, but then I'm over a mere 75.

But I firmly believe that our children will repeat this post 75 years from now with an entirely new list of words and phrases.

Reuss Griffiths Loc: Ravenna, Ohio

By the way, I changed Megatroyd to Mergatroid because that's the way I remembered it. It was spelled Mergatroyd in the article I plagiarized, not Murgatroyd. But if you want Murgatroyd, you should have plagiarized the article. LOL

And what about S&H green stamps?

pwrxprt Loc: Beaumont, California

The S&H green stamps went away with Blue Chip stamps

David Martin Loc: Cary, NC

Don't forget Raleigh coupons. One per pack and 4 extra per carton. Folks would joke that they were saving them to purchase an iron lung.

And sales tax stamps, at least in Ohio.

Xanadu Loc: Clay County FL

Remember britches?
Your too big for your britches.

RiJoRi Loc: Sandy Ridge, NC

According to an article I found, "heavens to murgatroyd" has probably been replaced by its synonym, "OMG". A LOT easier to spell, LOL. But YMMV. 🤪

And so, I shall exit, stage right!

--Rich

Stephan G

Their thesaurus will contain so many contracted words, i.e., "Ur" for "You are". The new "blue books".

PS., "Ur" was founded c. 3800 BC. "Where is it today?" asked. Why did someone move it? And it was named after a great and powerful deity of the day. And, no, I am not that old. But I did meet a gentleman born over 4000 years ago, some 60 years ago.