Posted on 02/01/2019 9:26:57 PM PST by vannrox
Lost Words from our childhood:
Mergatroyd!…
Do you remember that word? Would you believe the 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.
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?
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! Oki-doki
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: LIVING IN THE PEACEFUL AND COMFORTABLE TIMES, CREATED FOR US BY THE “GREATEST GENERATION!”
“He’s got more (blank) than you can shake a stick at!” :)
Tell that to the Marines.
I believe you. We once called ourselves 'colored', as well, but the term is long out of favor.
...why do young blacks refer to each as the "N" word, but it's almost thought to be criminal, shoukd anyone else utter that word
It's kind of a case of 'when life hands you lemons...'. Blacks turned the term around to make fun of each other, but it still stung when whites used it.
For the record, most blacks seldom, if ever, use the word.
Egads and Gadzooks!
My Mom still says, “Well, doesn’t that just rot your socks!” (make you mad). Also, “My stars and garters!” when she was surprised.
Never discriminate against race.
But always discrimnate against Democrats.
“Cute, but NO 75 year old would know what a jalopy was, nor use that term today, unless she watched old movies from the 1930s!”
I’m a decade younger than that and grew up hearing jalopy used regularly. I still use it.
Heck, my spell check even recognized it!
I saw “Kilroy was here” on many of the old WW2 movies that were made in the 50’s and 60’s. I never knew about the hands and nose drawing until I read about it long after I reached adulthood.
Catty-corner is one I miss.
“We aren’t allowed to say colored people, but people of color is acceptable.”
Redd Foxx used to do a bit that was pretty funny.
“For over a hundred years we were naggers. Then people started calling us colored. Then it changed to black. Now people want to call us African Americans. People need to slow down. I’m just getting used to being colored”.
That post is ‘the bee’s knees’
I can contribute- Hunkydory and Hoosegow
Dude, 75 is old to anyone not 80.
Hahaha.... I use catty corner. Y husband is from Minnesota. They say kitty corner!
Spinnng a car around the snow ( back in the days of rear wheel drive) was called ‘doing doughnuts’
He calls I sing cookies. :)
Auto spell really messed me up there. In Minnesota my husband called spinning a car around in the snow ‘doing cookies’
I like that. It's what they already do to me.
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