Terms Which Have Disappeared

[dh66]

"Smart alek/ck/c", I haven't heard used in years. These days, I think it's replaced by "Smartass".

I hear that a lot. Usually tell'em it's better than being a *******.

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[Stanley Doble]

Another thing you don't hear anymore is rich men named for some raw material, as "he's a big oil man from Oklahoma" or a big white pine man from Michigan or a big steel man from Pittsburg.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

"... big steel man from Pittsburg."

When my ancestors first came to the US, they settled in western Pennsylvania. I was the first to leave the area.

The city was named after a fort situated at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. Once the British/Americans took the fort from the French (who called it "Fort Duquesne"), they renamed it after the British Prime Minister William Pitt, a Scot. It then became Fort Pitt. When a city grew up around it, they gave it a Scottish name "Pittsburgh", as in "Edinburgh", note the final "h".

One of the junior commanders in this expedition was called George Washington, an obscure Virginian, later better known for other military and political undertakings.

 

[dh66]

Another thing you don't hear anymore is rich men named for some raw material, as "he's a big oil man from Oklahoma" or a big white pine man from Michigan or a big steel man from Pittsburg.

"He's a big ****r of other peoples purses" just doesn't have the same ring to it these days.

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[HudsonHawk]

Another thing you don't hear anymore is rich men named for some raw material, as "he's a big oil man from Oklahoma" or a big white pine man from Michigan or a big steel man from Pittsburg.

If you don't hear "big oil man", you're hanging out in the wrong places. It's pretty much a standard description here in the oil patch.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Somehow "that big lifestyle social-media man from Palo Alto" doesn't quite have the same resonance.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Somehow "that big lifestyle social-media man from Palo Alto" doesn't quite have the same resonance.

Oil Man

Timber Man

Steel Man

Railroad Man

Social Media Man....eh...

 

[cchgn]

Oil Man

Timber Man

Steel Man

Railroad Man

Social Media Man....eh...

G man

Gumshoe

Screw( prison guard)

Juice( bribe money)

Dandy

Square

 

[Shangas]

I haven't heard anyone use 'dandy' in years. If ever. 'Dapper' is still used fairly regularly, though.

 

[cw3pa]

You can pick up a few watching old Bogey movies.

Shamus

T man

Peeler

 

[Stanley Doble]

Rumpus Room.

Does anyone remember those early days of suburbia and station wagons when it was the fashion to remodel your basement with knotty pine paneling into a recreation room or rumpus room?

 

[HudsonHawk]

Rumpus Room.

Does anyone remember those early days of suburbia and station wagons when it was the fashion to remodel your basement with knotty pine paneling into a recreation room or rumpus room?

I've never seen a basement. But I understand what you mean.

 

[Stearmen]

Rumpus Room.

Does anyone remember those early days of suburbia and station wagons when it was the fashion to remodel your basement with knotty pine paneling into a recreation room or rumpus room?

Unfortunately, yes! uke:

 

[Stearmen]

Something we said a lot when I was a kid, but would probably be misconstrued today was, I could lick him any day of the week!

 

[dh66]

Something we said a lot when I was a kid, but would probably be misconstrued today was, I could lick him any day of the week!

I just about spit coffee everywhere when I read that!
You're so right, though.

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[Zombie_61]

Wednesday afternoon I stopped by the local Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf while I was out running errands. I was wearing my Tawny Fawn Fed IV, and the very young lady in line behind me told me she really liked my hat, and that she thought it looked "spiffy". I think that was the first time I've heard anyone use the word "spiffy" in real life (i.e., not in a movie or a television show).

 

[LizzieMaine]

Right along those same lines, nobody but me ever seems to use the word "snappy," as in "accomplished in a brisk, quick manner." Snappy service, snappy dialogue, snappy personality. Probably the last mainstream use of the term modern people would recognize was when Mr. Rogers reminded his viewers that he'd be back tomorrow, and sang "'Til then, I hope your day is snappy."

 

[KayEn78]

I listen to a lot of Old Time Radio and I hear words I've never heard before, such as. "I'm taking a constitutional." (going for a walk) or instead of saying "high school yearbook" some said, "high school annual" (this was mostly in the '50s and before). Although on an episode of Father Knows Best from 1959, they did say "yearbook". You never hear or seldom hear someone refer to a couch or sofa as the "davenport." I'm not sure if these were just "radio show" terms or actual ones that people used back then.

-Kristi

 

[KayEn78]

Another classification that was used during WWII was 3-A, which meant you could opt out of military service due to being the "breadwinner" or sole provider of the family. For instance, Jack Webb (Dragnet fame) was classified 3-A due to him taking care of his mother and grandmother. He did go into the Air Corps., but later on got to use the 3-A option. There's more to it than that, but that's another one you don't hear too often. I've heard 4F and 1-A. Yep, we all know what FUBAR and SNAFU meant. Awhile back, while reading about a book about The Vietnam War I learned what an FNG was.

-Kristi

 

[scottyrocks]

A lot of people don't know what SCUBA means, developed and popularized by Jacques Cousteau.