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Post by Andrea Doria on Jan 27, 2023 13:30:15 GMT
LOL He was a cool cat! When he was young he played drums in a big band in Charleston, West Virginia -- they called themselves, "The Californians." My dad said, "None of us had been west of the Kanawha river."
Speaking of bad girls, sooo many terms for them; street walker, bar fly, easy, gun moll, tramp, "been around" and worse.
In "Remember the Night," Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck have car trouble, at night, while driving through Ohio, so they sleep in the car. The next day the farmer who finds them and the local law, treat her like she must be one of those types, so Barbara starts a fire in the court house.
Later, Fred tells her that was a bit much, "You know that's arson?" Barbara says (sarcastic) "No! I thought that was when you bit someone!" Then she mutters, "They thought I was a sister."
A sister? That's the only time I ever heard sister used that way.
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Post by Lucky Dan on Jan 27, 2023 13:36:19 GMT
A sister? That's the only time I ever heard sister used that way. |
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Post by Fading Fast on Jan 27, 2023 16:25:06 GMT
"Scram" for "go" or "get out of here" was quite common in the '30s and '40s.
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Post by sepiatone on Jan 27, 2023 16:59:43 GMT
Great idea for a thread and that is a neat example to start with.
I also notice you like to sprinkle heck and darn into some of your posts, which recalls the same era, when hell and damn were impolite. Nothing wrong with it. I like using antique slang myself when I'm with people who get it.
Keen is one you hear from the 50s. I didn't know how to use it properly until I heard Pete Townshend talking about some concept for a train-traveling rock and roll show where he said Rod Stewart was invited but "he was unkeen on the idea somehow," meaning not focused or not interested in it.You have to admit. "Cool" still sounds better(and makes more sense) than the more recent "phat". (see how great a "rolleyes) emoticon would be here?). Which is supposed to mean the same as "cool", and also can be used for an expression of approval. But you can't see how it's spelled when you hear it. I used to joke about how it can get someone in trouble. For instance... Picture the young man sitting in his girlfriend's living room while she eagerly models the new clothes she just bought. By the third outfit she finally asks him, "How do I look in this outfit darling?" And truly dazzled he says, "Oh, Baby.....You sure look phat!" Now, since you can't see how it's spelled when you hear it, all that girl heard was he thought she looks FAT in her new clothes. And any young man who says he thinks his girlfriend looks fat in her clothes is going to get it. Or.....worse, he won't  And just recently, I had a cashier, when I handed her exact change, say "SWELL." I immediately got a thought about Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent saying "swell" in the first SUPERMAN film(the '70's franchise) and the ribbing Lois Lane gave him.  Sepiatone |
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Post by yanceycravat on Jan 27, 2023 17:14:21 GMT
When I was a kid my father was fond of saying, "A real butter and egg man", if I was a little free with spending my money on other people.
History
The term “Butter and Egg Man” originally referred to merchants who dealt with eggs and/or butter. In 1925, a play titled “The Butter and Egg Man” by George S. Kaufman debuted. It was about a rich man who came to New York with plans to liberally and exuberantly spend his money on wine, women, and song.[5] This play was a big hit and contributed to the popularization of the term. “Butter and Egg Man” came to mean a rich man who freely and ostentatiously spent his money on women. In the following year, Armstrong’s hit jazz song “Big Butter and Egg Man” further popularized the usage of the term. The lyrics to the song describe a woman who wanted a butter and egg man to treat her well and let her play so she doesn’t need to work all day.[6] After the popularization of the term, some merchants who sold eggs and butter were upset because it painted them in a negative light. One such merchant, from Minneapolis, even sued the theater and its star for vilifying the hardworking merchants, claiming that when the star sang about them, she did so with “certain tones and gestures to convey that all dealers in butter and egg were men of immoral and licentious character”.[7]
There are other noted reasons for the popularization of the phrase. Texas Guinan, a New York night club hostess, is also attributed to the popularization of the term in a derogatory fashion because of her usage when targeting one of her customers.[4] Walter Winchell has also stated that the original butter and egg man was “Uncle Sam” Balcom, and the first person to use it in a derogatory manner was Harry Richman.
And what about "screw"?
Screw – leave, as in “Screw outta here!”. Modernly it either means to have sex, or as in the phrase “screw it!”, it means “forget about it.
— “You lousy bastard, don’t you ever set foot in this room again. You sure got nerve…. Screw—get out of my sight.” [1932, “Hookers”, by Ray Bourbon]
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Post by sepiatone on Jan 27, 2023 18:18:30 GMT
And remember.....
All those old prison movies where the guards were called "screws".
Sepiatone
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Post by Andrea Doria on Jan 27, 2023 20:42:18 GMT
I thought of the prison guards, too. Those jailbirds were probably inside because, "somebody dropped a dime on them."
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Post by yanceycravat on Jan 28, 2023 4:23:15 GMT
I thought of the prison guards, too. Those jailbirds were probably inside because, "somebody dropped a dime on them." |
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Jan 28, 2023 6:19:49 GMT
My father said, "Good Night Nurse!" too, as well as "cooking with gas."
He was a walking dictionary of '40s slang, this is a man who still wore his fedora to work into the '70s. That made me laugh! There were only two prerequisites for buying a new used car in our family: It had to be Chrysler and there had to be enough headroom to accommodate my Dad's hats - not quite fedora, a little more tweedy. Not sure what they're called. The car I loved the most was the same station wagon in The Out-of-Towners (1970). It had no shocks. What a sweet ride. Don't take any wooden nickels!And then you find out there really WERE wooden nickels. Blew my little mind. I had to rush out to buy one at a coin shop. I still have it kicking around somewhere. Can't have that kind of fun with bitcoins and Apple Pay my friends. |
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Post by Lucky Dan on Jan 28, 2023 6:52:50 GMT
I thought of the prison guards, too. Those jailbirds were probably inside because, "somebody dropped a dime on them."
About eight or 10 years ago I tuned in to a Decades TV binge episode of The Mod Squad where Peggy Lipton's character infiltrated a group of thieves. Her cover was blown somehow in the middle of a heist and the leader, played by all American boy-next-door looking Murray MacLeod grabbed Peggy, put a gun to her head and sneered, "Youuuu fffink." It was the biggest laugh of my weekend. |
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Post by Fading Fast on Jan 28, 2023 14:25:42 GMT
"Apple-pie order" for neat, tidy or perfectly arranged. It only comes up occasionally, but you will notice it, now and then, in old movies once you are familiar with it.
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Post by sepiatone on Jan 28, 2023 17:19:46 GMT
They didn't drop a dime those lousy "canaries" "sang"! Or maybe it was them "stoolies"(pigeons) or "cheese eaters"(rats). And they caught them with the "rod" on them and nabbed them before they could "ditch" the "gat". They were too busy looking over the "frail" with the sturdy "gams". Sepiatone |
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Post by sagebrush on Jan 28, 2023 23:15:54 GMT
Don't take any wooden nickels!And then you find out there really WERE wooden nickels. Blew my little mind. I had to rush out to buy one at a coin shop. I still have it kicking around somewhere. Can't have that kind of fun with bitcoins and Apple Pay my friends. I didn't know wooden nickels were real either, until now! |
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Post by dianedebuda on Jan 29, 2023 0:05:40 GMT
Getting worried. Most of these idioms are still in my active vocabulary. 🤷♀😆
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Post by Andrea Doria on Jan 29, 2023 0:51:53 GMT
Me, too, Diane. Just the other day, I got laughed at for saying, "Let's get a pizza pie." Smart alecks. |
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