Old-timey Slang of the Day

macaroni: sawdust

Old-timey Slang of the Day

meat-fit: a full meal

Old-timey Slang of the Day

chickie: basically, the same as "cheese it!" as in, "Chickie, it's the cops!"

Old-timey Slang of the Day

rind: audacity, nerve


The rind of hope?

Old-timey Slang of the Day

rest powder: snuff

Old-timey Slang of the Day

In light of the recent change in the weather around these parts . . .

June around: to have spring fever

Old-timey Slang of the Day

pink chord: "An irritating mistake in reading or improvising music."

Old-timey Slang of the Day

wreath: cabbage

The more I look into these old slang words, the more I notice how much fun people used to have with their food.

Old-timey Slang of the Day

spinach: a beard!

Old-timey Slang of the Day

may: again, from Wentworth & Flexner: "Mayonnaise. Some c1930 lunch-counter use. Obs. Replaced by 'mayo.'"

Hmm...

Old-timey Slang of the Day

grunt-and-groaner: a wrestler

Old-timey Slang of the Day

violets: cabbage

Whuh? It's cause they kinda smell when you cook 'em. It's ironic.

Old-timey Slang of the Day

Speaking of . . .
make like an alligator: to be sad or melancholy; to leave in a hurry (from my Dictionary of American Slang: "= drag ass. Because an alligator's tail drags on the ground. Some teenage use since c1955."

Old-timey Slang of the Day

some pumpkins: "1. An important person or thing; an admirable person or thing. 1913: 'He is some pumpkins.' F.K. Sochrist. Used only as a pred. nominative. Since c1850, has been extremely pop. Though still in use by older people, young adults prefer stronger terms. 2. Audacious; mischievous; clever. Often used with affectionate connotation, esp. by older people when talking of children. Archaic and dial."

— Wentworth and Flexner, eds. Dictionary of American Slang. Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1960.

Old-timey Slang of the Day

Ooh, ooh, here's a really good one. Dictionary definition required.

groan box: "An accordion. Though this term may have had some use among musicians c1930, it is considered very synthetic among present-day musicians. Mainly used by gossip columnists and teen-agers, who mistakenly consider it to be a hip expression."


I love the idea of a world where any discussion of accordions could be performed by "hip" people.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I love accordions.

"Lets Play Two"

I'm a baseball fan and a Cubs fan, and I knew about the statue going up at Wrigley, but I hadn't heard about this wacky controversy until today. I'm glad they fixed it, though. Misplaced apostrophes drive me nuts! I'm looking at you, CNN news crawl.

Language Log gets into it.

Deadspin makes light of it.

Chicago Sun Times explains how long it took to chisel in the apostrophe.

Old-timey Slang of the Day

pinchers: shoes

Old-timey Slang of the Day

guess-stick: a slide rule

Old-timey Slang of the Day

This one's really good. Apparently it wasn't a commonly used word, but it's a lot better than some of the more popular slang terms for this particular job.

nutpick: a psychiatrist

Old-timey Slang of the Day

honey barge: a garbage scow