Posted on 01/08/2019 3:57:41 AM PST by sodpoodle
Words gone as fast as the buggy whip! Sad really! The other day a not so elderly (65) lady said something to her son about driving a Jalopy and he looked at her quizzically and said what the heck is a Jalopy? OMG (new phrase!) 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.
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 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. Heavens to Murgatroyd! It turns out there are more of these lost words and expressions than Carter has liver pills.
This can be disturbing stuff ! 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.
See ya later, alligator, after a while crocodile!
Those phrases are so much more civilized than using “-ass” for an intensifier in common speech, or the absolutely revolting, “(adjective) AF.”
Put a nickel in and let the buffalo push.
Jukebox.
The bee’s knees..
People don’t care much about society nowadays.
Agree.
Many words and phrases we used are replaced today by vulgarity that could land one in jail 50 years ago if used in public.
Shotgun wedding!
I've never heard that, but when any of my children offers unsolicited commentary, I might say, "Who put a nickel in you?"
“words that once did not exist”
I’m thinking every word did not exist at some point; shazam!
I remember them......and many more as related from my ‘aging’ relatives at the time.
It was simply in the lexicon.
It’s true: look at them wandering around in public in pajamas and tattered rags, as if they just evacuated a burning dormitory at 2:00 a.m.
I know I sound like a cranky old bat, but come on, people! Fight back against entropy!
On the other hand, “in like Flynn” is said to be a reference to the robust fornication practices of the movie star. However, the phrase must quickly have lost its dirty connotation and become simply slangy.
I remember “gay” when it had no perverse meaning
Go fly a kite
I recently learned of a substitution: "Go step on a Lego!"
Hubba hubba!
Flapdoodle.
Quick, Henry, the Flit!
Rumble seat.
Half-moon [hubcaps].
Shacking up.
Similar to the Real McCoy, a reference to bootleg liquor smuggling.
Right!
There does needs to be a different word for ‘Pedometer’.
It’s all Tom Foolery
Sadly gone is “it’s a free country.”
Far out!
What a groovy article.
It was like uptight, all right, outtasite and in the groove.
So keep on truckin’ and hang in there, babe. (the latter might still work — like a coupon code ya know?)
I guess I aced this post!
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