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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsHow we spoke in the good old days when everything really was hunky dory...
( forwarded to me from an (even older) friend lol )
Lost Words from our childhood:
Would you believe the spell-checker did not recognize the word Murgatroyd?
Heavens to Murgatroyd!
The other day a not so elderly (I'd say 75) lady said something to her son about driving a Jalopy; and he looked at her quizzically and said, "What the heck is a Jalopy?" He never heard of the word jalopy!! What??
Well, I hope you are Hunky Dory after 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, to straighten up and fly right. "Heavens to Betsy!" "Gee Wilikers!" "Jumpin' Jahovafat!" "Holy moley!"
We were in like Flynn and living the life of Riley; 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.
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, the words we've left behind. We blink, and they're gone. 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 coffee."
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!)
We of a certain age have been blessed to live in changeable 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.
Leaves us to wonder where Superman will find a phone booth... See ya later, alligator! Oki-doki.
WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE FABULOUS 50'S. NO ONE WILL EVER HAVE THAT OPPORTUNITY AGAIN. WE WERE GIVEN ONE OF OUR MOST PRECIOUS GIFTS: LIVING IN THE PEACEFUL AND COMFORTABLE TIMES, CREATED FOR US BY THE GREATEST GENERATION!
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How we spoke in the good old days when everything really was hunky dory... (Original Post)
Pluvious
Jul 2020
OP
I believe the word "jalopy" is derived from the town of Jalapa, Mexico ...
eppur_se_muova
Jul 2020
#4
One of my favorites! And another phrase lost on these young whippersnappers! nt
eppur_se_muova
Jul 2020
#8
pandr32
(11,611 posts)1. Thanks for this
I enjoyed it.
Pluvious
(4,315 posts)6. Glad to share...
It's funny how "cc" persisted into the age of email (carbon copy) LOL.
sl8
(13,880 posts)2. "... there are two words which you must never use"
Harker
(14,034 posts)5. Hans Conried...
Hadn't thought of him in a while.
Archae
(46,345 posts)3. Good song along this line...
eppur_se_muova
(36,289 posts)4. I believe the word "jalopy" is derived from the town of Jalapa, Mexico ...
and as I saw the term used, referred to a stripped-down "hot rod", possibly even originally something like a dune buggy. Maybe they were invented in or near Jalapa ?
Someone or something (masculine) form Jalapa is termed a jalapeño -- just like wieners are from Wien (Vienna), tangierines are from Tangiers, and frankfurters from ... well, you guess.
There is also an obscure herbal drug, known as jalap, which was first known from the area.
Officially, the town's name is now spelled Xalapa.
yonder
(9,674 posts)7. In my best Johnny Carson voice I'll say:
"I did not know that".
eppur_se_muova
(36,289 posts)8. One of my favorites! And another phrase lost on these young whippersnappers! nt