Apr 25, 2020
There are a lot of phrases that we don’t hear all that often anymore according to dustyoldthing.com. But, when we do hear them: boy howdy do they bring back memories. Every generation has their own slang phrases, a few of which happen to remain popular long after the words themselves are obsolete. Still, every year new slang words appear, replacing old ones toot-sweet. Have a look at some of the slang words and phrases we hardly ever hear anymore these days!
Best bib and tucker (noun): Sunday best, a bib being the lace front of a man’s shirt and a tucker being the lace a woman tucked into her dress or jacket bodice around the collar line- both worn from the 17th century onward
Carbon copy (adjective): an exact copy, from the old days when a carbon sheet at the back of log books and receipt books recorded the dealings of the day by leaving a trace of carbon where ever one had pressed with a pencil or a where a typewriter key had struck
Dipsy doodle (phrase): a deception or manipulation, can also be used to call out a duck in football or a curve ball in baseball
Don’t touch that dial (directive): don’t change the TV channel or radio station – back when such devices had dials that had to be adjusted to get a signal
Don’t forget to pull the chain (directive): from the days when toilets had pull chains, it basically means “never forget to flush”
Don’t take any wooden nickels (phrase): don’t let yourself be fooled
Fiddlesticks (exclamation): that’s absurd
Fine kettle of fish (adjective): a messy or awkward situation
Gee willikers (exclamation): a polite corruption of “oh, Jesus!”
Heavens to Betsy (exclamation): an expression of shock, a polite corruption of “oh, heavens!”
Holy Moley (exclamation): a corruption of “holy Moses” which was a phrase popularized by Captain Marvel
In fine fettle (phrase): to be in a state of good condition
In a pickle (phrase): to be in sticky situation, the line is taken from from Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest
It’s your nickel (phrase): another way of saying “whatever floats your boat” and this was back when nickels could actually buy you something
Jumping Jehoshaphat (exclamation): an expression of surprise
Knee high to a grasshopper (phrase): short or small, often used to describe young children
Knucklehead (noun): an idiot, someone who is acting like a fool
Living the life of Riley (phrase): to be having an easy go of it, comes from an early Vaudeville song and the slang was popularized among servicemen during WWI and WWII
Moxie (adjective): the characteristic of courage or nerve
Neapolitan Knockwurst (noun): an Italian hot dog, usually served with potatoes, peppers, and onions on a bun
Pedal pushers (noun): short pants worn by women and girls in the 1950s and 1960s that enabled activities – like riding a bike – with ease
Pshaw (exclamation): horsefeathers would be a good substitute for this phrase, which basically says to someone that you really don’t believe them at all
See you in the funny papers (phrase): farewell, see you around
Shellacking (verb): to beat someone at a sport or game, to wipe the floor with one’s opponent is to give them a shellacking
Straighten up and fly right (phrase): the famous song by Nat King Cole popularized the saying, which is taken from an old Southern story about a buzzard who offers free rides to various animals, only to jolt them and feast on their splattered remains; the phrase is uttered by a monkey, who because of his prehensile tail, cannot be thrown from the buzzard’s back
The milkman did it (joke): there are many variations on this old joke, all of which center around the milkman having access to a plethora of unsupervised housewives while their husbands were away at work
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