[stylist] A fun article on how language has changed in our lifetimes

Sun Jul 19 20:43:44 UTC 2015

Absolutely loved it. All of these are familiar and until reding your list,
it did not occur to me that they were not familiar to all.  Sad to see them
go. If I had a wooden nickle every time someone said that, well, I couldn't
bank on it, could I ?
:) Eve

 President, National Federation of the Blind Northern Arizona
President, National Federation of the Blind Writers' Division
Committee Chair, Arizona Association of Guide Dog Users
Affiliate Member, National Federation of the Blind Legislative Committee
Affiliate Member, National Federation of the Blind Membership Committee
Member, Slate & Style Editing Team

"You do not need to have vision to see the stars."

On Sun, Jul 19, 2015 at 1:21 PM, Barbara HAMMEL via stylist <
stylist at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> That was cute!
> LOL! Another fun one is to tell a cashier they keep the two cents they owe
> you. Then tell them you just gave them your two cents. The guy at Walgreens
> yesterday was totally baffled when I told him that times were hard these
> days so he could just have my one cent worth. And I baffled him even more
> when I told him my advice was to not take any wooden nickels.
> Barbara
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Jul 19, 2015, at 11:59, Applebutter Hill via stylist <
> stylist at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >
> > Just found this an thought some would enjoy.
> >
> > Donna
> >
> >
> >
> > WORDS   AND PHRASES REMIND Us OF THE WAY   WE WORD.
> > by Richard Lederer
> >
> >
> http://verbivore.com/wordpress/old-words-and-phrases-remind-us-of-the-way-we
> > -word/
> >
> >
> >
> > 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." A bevy of readers have asked me to shine
> > light on more faded words and expressions, and I am happy to oblige:
> >
> >
> >
> > Back in the olden days we had a lot of moxie. We'd put on our best bib
> and
> > tucker and straighten up and fly right. Hubba-hubba! We'd cut a rug in
> some
> > juke joint and then go necking and petting and smooching and spooning and
> > billing and cooing and pitching woo in hot rods and jalopies in some
> passion
> > pit or lovers' lane. Heavens to Betsy! Gee whillikers! Jumpin'
> 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's 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.
> >
> >
> >
> > Like Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle and Kurt Vonnegut's Billy
> Pilgrim,
> > we have become unstuck in time. We wake up from what surely has been
> just a
> > short nap, and before we can say, "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, poof, poof go the words of our youth, the words we've left behind.
> We
> > blink, and they're gone, evanesced from the landscape and wordscape of
> our
> > perception, like Mickey Mouse wristwatches, hula hoops, skate keys, candy
> > cigarettes, little wax bottles of colored sugar water and an organ
> grinder's
> > monkey.
> >
> >
> >
> > Where have all those phrases gone? Long time passing. Where have all
> those
> > phrases gone? Long time ago: Pshaw. The milkman did it. Think about the
> > starving Armenians. Bigger than a bread box. Banned in Boston . The very
> > idea! It's your nickel. Don't forget to pull the chain. Knee high to a
> > grasshopper. Turn-of-the-century. Iron curtain. Domino theory. Fail safe.
> > Civil defense. Fiddlesticks! You look like the wreck of the Hesperus.
> > Cooties. Going like sixty. I'll see you in the funny papers. Don't take
> any
> > wooden nickels. Heavens to Murgatroyd! And awa-a-ay we go!
> >
> >
> >
> > Oh, my stars and garters! It turns out there are more of these lost words
> > and expressions than Carter had liver pills.  This can be disturbing
> stuff,
> > this winking out of the words of our youth, these words that lodge in our
> > heart's deep core. But just as one never steps into the same river twice,
> > one cannot step into the same language twice. Even as one enters, words
> are
> > swept downstream into the past, forever making a different river.
> >
> >
> >
> > We of a certain age have been blessed to live in changeful times. For a
> > child each new word is like a shiny toy, a toy that has no age. We at the
> > other end of the chronological arc have the advantage of remembering
> there
> > are words that once did not exist and there were words that once strutted
> > their hour upon the earthly stage and now are heard no more, except in
> our
> > collective memory. It's one of the greatest advantages of aging. We can
> have
> > archaic and eat it, too.
> >
> >
> >
> > See 'ya later, alligator!
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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> >
> >
> >
> > -- The Heart of Applebutter Hill - a novel on a mission:
> >
> > http://DonnaWHill.com <http://donnawhill.com/>
> >
> >
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