Heavens to Murgatroyd!
The other day a not so elderly (I say 75) lady said something to her son about driving a Jalopy; and he looked at her and said, "What the heck is a Jalopy?"
He had never heard of the word jalopy! She knew she was old ...But not that old.
Well, I hope you are Hunky Dory when you read this and chuckle.
About a month ago, I illuminated some old expressions that have become obsolete because of the inexorable march of technology.
These phrases included: Don't touch that dial; Carbon copy; You sound like a broken record; and Hung out to dry.
Back in the olden days, we had a lot of moxie.
We'd put on our best bib and tucker.
Straighten up and fly right.
Heavens to Betsy!
Gee whillikers!
Jumping Jehoshaphat!
Holy Moley!
We were in like Flynn and living the life of Riley; and even a regular guy couldn't accuse us of being a knucklehead, a nincompoop, or a pill. Not for all the tea in China!
Back in the olden days, life used to be swell, but when was the last time anything was swell? Swell has gone the way of beehives, pageboys, and the D.A.; of spats, knickers, fedoras, poodle skirts, saddle shoes, and pedal pushers.
Oh, my aching back! Kilroy was here, but he isn't anymore.
We wake up from what surely has been just a short nap, and before we can say, "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle!" Or, "This is a fine kettle of fish!"
We discover that the words we grew up with, the words that seemed omnipresent, as oxygen, have vanished with scarcely a notice from our tongues and our pens and our keyboards.
Poof, go the words of our youth. Where have all those great phrases gone?
Long gone: Pshaw, The milkman did it. Hey! It's your nickel. Don't forget to pull the chain. Knee high to a grasshopper.
Well, Fiddlesticks! Going like sixty. I'll see you in the funny papers. Don't take any wooden nickels. Wake up and smell the roses.
It turns out there are more of these lost words and expressions than Carter has liver pills.
This can be disturbing stuff! (Carter's Little Liver Pills are gone too!)
Leaves us to wonder where Superman will find a phone booth.
See ya later, alligator! After a while crocodile. Oki-Doki artichokey!
(I used Holy Moly just the other day!)
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15 comments:
I am a dinosaur obviously but I still use some of these phrases. And have never used some of them too.
I remember Kilroy! Gee Whillikers wasn't used out here, nor Jumping Jehoshaphat. I do remember many of the others though apart from the clothing items. Poodle skirts for instance.
Then remember that several of these words and phrases were invented by Shakespeare (may not apply in USA).
Sue - I do too.
River - Look up Poodle skirts. Then go buy one.
Stu - There were a few I didn't recognize.
What a revoltin' development THIS is!
Ha! Good ones. See you later alligator. After a while crocodile. As you wish, jellyfish.
All my slang is old-timey slang now, alas.
At least swearwords are still in...
Bill - They missed that!
Shaw - Jellyfish? Another new one to me.
Deb - Probably most of us if not all.
John - I don't think they will ever go out of style.
I use a fair number of these regularly. It helps confuse the young folks :)
Jenny - Keep up the good work!
Great minds must think alike, because I posted about Alligators and Crocodiles today too!
I use many of those phrases often leading to the realization that I am truly an old fart.
Lady - Most of us in the old fart club.
And since I can't find an email for you, if you have Nextdoor, here is a dancing skeleton. https://nextdoor.com/p/bz-FLmNRMFzy
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