Terms Which Have Disappeared

[HudsonHawk]

What the heck is "high cotton"? I've never heard that one!

Being in "high cotton" means one is being successful or prosperous.

 

[Fading Fast]

In the US, a person involved in taking illegal bets is called a "bookie" or "book maker", because he notes the wagers his customers place in his notebook. So, placing a bet is "making book". Another way of saying the same thing is "you can bet on it" with the unstated assumption is that the wager is sure to pay off.

You are spot on. My Dad was a bookmaker before I was born (and probably quietly afterwards as well - a lot of interesting phone calls and visits from 'friends" clustered around sports events when I grew up) and "make book on it" was a regular expression in my house. It means exactly what you said, which is you are so sure of the results that it is safe to take bets from others betting against your predicted outcome.

As my Dad died over two decades ago, I no longer live in the state I grew up in and the world of bookies, etc. is not my world, I wonder how much of that gritty, arch, visceral and human world still exists. I'm sure its out there - heck, the government is the world's largest bookie as it runs one of the more rigged of all games (and enforces its monopoly positions): the lottery.

That brings up another term - prior to government lotteries, local bookies ran "numbers games" which were local lotteries where people bet on a number which was usually the last three numbers of the attendance at a local race track (as the number was normally in the tens of thousands, the last three digits were random, unknowable in advance and transparent). "Running a numbers game," "the numbers," etc. were regular expressions that pop up occasional in old movies (usually, for obvious reasons, noir films).

 

[Shangas]

In some old radio shows, I heard them referred to as "numbers rackets".

 

[dh66]

Being in "high cotton" means one is being successful or prosperous.

As the grandson (read - cheap labor) of a cotton farmer I was never really a fan of the "high cotton", although when I got big enough to help pick the watermelons I sure missed it.

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[HudsonHawk]

As the grandson (read - cheap labor) of a cotton farmer I was never really a fan of the "high cotton", although when I got big enough to help pick the watermelons I sure missed it.

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Picking watermelons sucks almost as bad as picking strawberries. My grandmother used to make me do the latter. Apparently it built character.

 

[Fading Fast]

In some old radio shows, I heard them referred to as "numbers rackets".

You're right - I forgot that version 'till you said it. Just like the lottery it was a part of everyday life and, like the lottery, it was the lower economic groups that play the most. When I see all the happy slappy lottery signs and advertisements today, I always think to myself that if the government didn't profit from it, the government would be railing against it as it hurts so many people struggling financially.

 

[HudsonHawk]

That brings up another term - prior to government lotteries, local bookies ran "numbers games" which were local lotteries where people bet on a number which was usually the last three numbers of the attendance at a local race track (as the number was normally in the tens of thousands, the last three digits were random, unknowable in advance and transparent). "Running a numbers game," "the numbers," etc. were regular expressions that pop up occasional in old movies (usually, for obvious reasons, noir films).

Where I grew up in Tampa, the local numbers game was "bolita". It was essentially a "random" drawing of one numbered ball from a sack of 100. I say "random", as there are, of course, many ways to cheat.

 

[dh66]

Picking watermelons sucks almost as bad as picking strawberries. My grandmother used to make me do the latter. Apparently it built character.

Character ............yeeaahhh....that's it............character

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[HudsonHawk]

You're right - I forgot that version 'till you said it. Just like the lottery it was a part of everyday life and, like the lottery, it was the lower economic groups that play the most. When I see all the happy slappy lottery signs and advertisements today, I always think to myself that if the government didn't profit from it, the government would be railing against it as it hurts so many people struggling financially.

Lottery: A tax on people who are really bad at math.

 

[LizzieMaine]

In the Northeast the "numbers racket" was called "Policy," and it was usually based on the final digits of the parimutual payouts of three selected races at a given racetrack, information which could easily be found and verified in the Racing Final edition of any big-city newspaper. There were various ways of "combinating" these three numbers along with just playing them straight, so that a penny or two wagered could bring a reasonable return.

There was also a thriving business in the sale of various gimmicks that gave aid in choosing a number to play. One syndicated cartoon panel, "Figurin' Sam," which appeared in the back pages of various Hearst tabloids, existed *only* to provide "hints" to policy players -- random three-digit numbers were placed in the background art, or even within the speech balloons of the characters, who otherwise spoke in irrelevant gags taken from minstrel-show jokebooks.

 

[vitanola]

Another lost term is the word "Mountebank", which was, I believe last used as a perjorative on November 12, 1999.
Since then the term appears to have been replaced in some circles by the term "Job Creator".

 

[LizzieMaine]

Another lost term is the word "Mountebank", which was, I believe last used as a perjorative on November 12, 1999.
Since then the term appears to have been replaced in some circles by the term "Job Creator".

"Charlatan" is another old favorite we really should be hearing more often. And then there's the trusted associate of the charlatan and the mountebank, the lickspittle.

 

[scrawlysteve]

All three of these words are in common usage in the UK--but then we have the Unholy Trinity of Cameron, Osborne and Gove.....

 

[Fading Fast]

I remember the expression "as good as a certified check" growing up to mean as good as "money in the bank" (another one you don't hear often anymore). As the younger generation banks virtually, my guess is most of them wouldn't even know what a certified check is.

 

[DesertDan]

Character ............yeeaahhh....that's it............character

My granddad used to make us chop cotton (hoe weeds from between the rows) as punishment.

 

[DesertDan]

"Talk turkey" or "Palaver" = verbally negotiate business/barter

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Talk turkey" or "Palaver" = verbally negotiate business/barter

Along those same lines, the phrase "cold turkey" used to mean something much different from what it does now. In the Era you talked to someone "cold turkey" by telling them unpleasant truths with no attempt at cushioning the blow. The more recent use relating to sudden withdrawal from addictive drugs derived from that original meaning, and with the rise of the drug culture, it entirely superseded the original usage.

 

[CinIN]

Sofa, couch, davenport, how about divan? According to the dictionary a divan has no back or arms but in our house it meant the same as sofa.

Also

"...Where did you get that hat, where did you get that tile? Isn't it a nobby one and just the proper style! I should like to have one just the same as that. Whereever I go they'd shout "hello, where did you get that hat?..."

Is this a song? I reminds me of a advertising jingle from the 1950's for a local haberdasher.

"Where did you get that hat?
Oh, you lucky fellow.
Levinsons, Levinsons, Levinsons, Levinsons,
Yes Sir!"

Haberdasher. Now that's another word you don't anymore either.

 

[DesertDan]

My grandmother always referred to her couch as "The Davenport" of course at one time it really was a Davenport.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Sofa, couch, davenport, how about divan? According to the dictionary a divan has no back or arms but in our house it meant the same as sofa.

Also

"...Where did you get that hat, where did you get that tile? Isn't it a nobby one and just the proper style! I should like to have one just the same as that. Whereever I go they'd shout "hello, where did you get that hat?..."

Is this a song? I reminds me of a advertising jingle from the 1950's for a local haberdasher.

"Where did you get that hat?
Oh, you lucky fellow.
Levinsons, Levinsons, Levinsons, Levinsons,
Yes Sir!"

Haberdasher. Now that's another word you don't anymore either.

"Where did you get that hat?" from a comic song popular in English music halls 100 years ago.

Stanley Holloway elucidates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SseqNp7n5FU