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Terms Which Have Disappeared

ChiTownScion

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,241
Location
The Great Pacific Northwest
When my dad was an active duty firefighter in Chicago, each rank and file fireman was occasionally called upon- on a rotating basis- to drive the chief around to the various firehouses in his battalion and elsewhere. This duty was known as "driving the buggy," and obviously was a throwback to the days of the horse and buggy. No idea whether the term is still employed: Dad retired in 1980.
 

wallypop

New in Town
Messages
44
Has anyone ever heard the term"talk like a fish?" (My Dad's favorite for people saying stupid things!)
 
Messages
10,624
Location
My mother's basement
"Redhead-syndrome".

Learned the term first in the last days. :D

The phrase "treated like a redheaded stepchild," which I use myself occasionally, means to be regarded as a not entirely welcome presence -- to be tolerated more than embraced. It doesn't require a great imagination to figure out its origins.

I happen to know a literal redheaded stepchild. I count her as a friend.
 

2jakes

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,680
Location
Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
I've always loved this phrase, dunno why.

IMG_7827.JPG
 

Benzadmiral

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,815
Location
The Swamp
The talk about red light cameras brings to mind the image of a motorcycle policeman hiding behind a billboard or bushes, ready to leap out and run down the speeders and scofflaws. Or in other words, a speed trap.
Rex Stout once had his character, private eye Archie Goodwin, describe a motorcycle cop as a "bicycle Cossack."
 

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