The Ford Barn - View Single Post

Pete · 11-20-2015, 03:24 PM

We need to keep this alive.
Model A's are mentioned.

GEE WHILLIKERS !

WORDS AND PHRASES REMIND US OF THE WAY WE WERE.

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." A bevy of readers have asked me to shine
light on more faded words and expressions, and I am happy to oblige:

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

Hubba-hubba!

We'd cut a rug in some juke joint and then go necking and petting and
smooching and spooning and billing and cooing and pitching woo in hot rods
and model A's in some passion pit or lovers' lane.

Heavens to Betsy! Gee whillikers! Jumpin' 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 dayz, 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.

Like Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle and Kurt

Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim, we have become unstuck in time.

We wake up from what surely has been just a short nap,
and before we can say, "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.

Where have all those phrases gone?

*
Bigger than a bread

box. Banned in Boston. The very idea! It's your nickel.

Don't forget to pull the chain. Knee high to a grasshopper.
Turn-of-the-century. Iron curtain. Domino theory. Fail safe. Civil defense.
Fiddlesticks! You look like the wreck of the Hesperus. Cooties. Going like
sixty. I'll see you in the
funny papers. Don't take any wooden nickels. Heavens
to Murgatroyd! And awa-a-ay we go!

Oh, my stars and garters! It turns out there are more of
these lost words and expressions than Carter had liver pills.*

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* words that once did not exist
and 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. We can have archaic and eat it
too .

See 'ya later, alligator!

11-20-2015, 03:24 PM	#1
Pete Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Wa. Posts: 5,409	Nostalgia We need to keep this alive. Model A's are mentioned. GEE WHILLIKERS ! WORDS AND PHRASES REMIND US OF THE WAY WE WERE. 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." A bevy of readers have asked me to shine light on more faded words and expressions, and I am happy to oblige: Back in the olden dayz we had a lot of moxie. We'd put on our best bib and tucker and straighten up and fly right. Hubba-hubba! We'd cut a rug in some juke joint and then go necking and petting and smooching and spooning and billing and cooing and pitching woo in hot rods and model A's in some passion pit or lovers' lane. Heavens to Betsy! Gee whillikers! Jumpin' 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 dayz, 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. Like Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle and Kurt Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim, we have become unstuck in time. We wake up from what surely has been just a short nap, and before we can say, "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. Where have all those phrases gone? * Bigger than a bread box. Banned in Boston. The very idea! It's your nickel. Don't forget to pull the chain. Knee high to a grasshopper. Turn-of-the-century. Iron curtain. Domino theory. Fail safe. Civil defense. Fiddlesticks! You look like the wreck of the Hesperus. Cooties. Going like sixty. I'll see you in the funny papers. Don't take any wooden nickels. Heavens to Murgatroyd! And awa-a-ay we go! Oh, my stars and garters! It turns out there are more of these lost words and expressions than Carter had liver pills.* 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* words that once did not exist and 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. We can have archaic and eat it too . See 'ya later, alligator!