Older generations, and the terms they use

[Alpo]

Guy lived across the street from me when I was a kid, and he told me one time that he had an M1 carbine. He had taken three 15 round magazines and welded them together and made them into a 50 round magazine. And he had converted the gun to full auto. And he had chrome plated it.

 

I don't know about the magazine or the M2 conversion, but I believe the plating, because he had a chrome plated Winchester 30-30 and a Stevens 311 that he had cut down to 18 inches.

 

He told me he could not show me that gun because a friend of his had borrowed it to go hunting. Even at that tender age I wondered about going hunting with a 50 round machine gun that was shiny chrome plated. He said that his friend had shot a cat down at the Tallyho Drive-In, and the police took the gun.

 

I thought that was a little harsh for shooting a feral feline in a restaurant parking lot.

 

Maybe 6 or 8 years later, for some reason I was thinking of this, and I decided that was not the kind of cat he meant. I would have said he shot a dude in the parking lot.

 

Hmmm.

[punxsutawneypete]

9 hours ago, Alpo said:

He told me he could not show me that gun because a friend of his had borrowed it to go hunting. Even at that tender age I wondered about going hunting with a 50 round machine gun that was shiny chrome plated. He said that his friend had shot a cat down at the Tallyho Drive-In, and the police took the gun.

 

I thought that was a little harsh for shooting a feral feline in a restaurant parking lot.

 

Maybe 6 or 8 years later, for some reason I was thinking of this, and I decided that was not the kind of cat he meant. I would have said he shot a dude in the parking lot.

 

Hmmm.

 

I heard that usage a lot when I was growing up back in the 50s and 60s.

[largo casey #19191]

Maybe because it was full auto.

                                                                 Largo

[watab kid]

yup , we heard a lot of unfamiliar terms back then that are probably not interpreted the same today - those of us of the age can tell you round the campfire but social murres today would prevent us typing them for fear of censorship , even tho none of what i might type would really be offensive , i just choose not to these days , in my head they are still OK as they were common use back then , but today it seems with rewriting  the rules are the norm ........not worth fighting over here , i like it here , sad whats happening to our language these days tho , 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Y’all know what a flivver was?

[Smuteye John SASS#24774]

2 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Y’all know what a flivver was?

Yep!

[bgavin]

Yep.
I have a photo of what was left of two of them, after Dad and the future Senator from Idaho played chicken... and neither did.

[Eyesa Horg]

I always liked "stop crying before I give you something to cry about"

[Mud Marine,SASS#54686 Life]

My maternal grandfather's favourite saying: "You are as useless as a Stoughton bottle." 

Years later, I found that was the artificial flower vase in an electric car..

It might make sense again in the 2020s.

 

 

 

 

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

6 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Y’all know what a flivver was?

 

 

 ........ er, .............. no .......... 

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

6 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Y’all know what a flivver was?

 

A ratrod waiting to happen.

[Subdeacon Joe]

Other terms and phrases:

 

E ticket ride

Widdershins

Gobsmacked (although that has been making a comeback recently)

Sockdollager

Humdinger

Peachy

Keen, or keeno

[Alpo]

25 minutes ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said:

 

 

 ........ er, .............. no .......... 

 

A flivver is a Model T Ford.

 

For a long time, in my youth, I thought it was any old old old car. But I'm pretty sure that it actually only applies to a T Model.

[Subdeacon Joe]

1 hour ago, Alpo said:

A flivver is a Model T Ford.

 

For a long time, in my youth, I thought it was any old old old car. But I'm pretty sure that it actually only applies to a T Model.

 

Any cheap car or airplane, especially if in poor condition.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

1 hour ago, Alpo said:

A flivver is a Model T Ford.

 

For a long time, in my youth, I thought it was any old old old car. But I'm pretty sure that it actually only applies to a T Model.

Many years ago I read some Hardy Boys novels from the 19-teens. I was left with the impression that flivver was not brand specific.

[Wyatt Earp SASS#1628L]

4 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

Other terms and phrases:

 

E ticket ride

Widdershins

Gobsmacked (although that has been making a comeback recently)

Sockdollager

Humdinger

Peachy

Keen, or keeno

You could also take Peachy and add Keen, so it was Peachy Keen

With Keeno you could add Jet, so it was Keeno Jet

 

Cats and Chicks. Boys and girls, usually referring to teenagers and above

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

Twenty-Three Skidoo

It's the Bee's Knees

Vamoose

Scram

Calaboose

Jug

Hoosegow

High-mucky-muck

Cackleberries

Squeeze

Chief squeeze (if you're a rake and a scoundrel, or if the squeezes haven't met!)

 

[Alpo]

I've never heard of a chief squeeze. Main squeeze, yes, but not Chief squeeze.

 

Most probably the same thing though.

[Sedalia Dave]

On 12/22/2022 at 11:59 AM, Mud Marine,SASS#54686 Life said:

My maternal grandfather's favourite saying: "You are as useless as a Stoughton bottle." 

Years later, I found that was the artificial flower vase in an electric car..

It might make sense again in the 2020s.

 

This is how it was explained to me.

 

In 1712 Stoughton Bitters was the second medicine to receive letters of patent in England. It was quite popular and a mainstay of the medical profession of the time. By the 1800s there were hundreds of knockoff copies that were very poorly made. This led to the phrase "Useless as a Stoughton Bottle" as there was no guarantee that a bottle of Stoughton's elixir contained the original recipe or stump water.

 

 

[Mud Marine,SASS#54686 Life]

There are several versions and they are all correct. The electric automobile one is unique to America.

My paternal grandmother's first car was given to her by her father. He got out and took a streetcar.

 She had to learn to drive from.the South side of Chicago home. It was 

 quite an adventure.

 

 

 

 

[Mud Marine,SASS#54686 Life]

Her car was a Brush electric. It had no steering wheel just a tiller.

[Mud Marine,SASS#54686 Life]

More antique trivia:

My Great grandfather was an attorney so he lived in Chicago. To get to the ranch, he rode is private car on the UP to his own station on the West Yellowstone line.

We all did that except for winter when service was suspended. That line is now a prairie patch.

Sic transit Gloria

:-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bgavin]

I remember a Two Hitter when I was a young lad, at the dinner table.
Dad was not pleased with me, and said, "Son.. you're a pig.. do you know what a  pig is?"
I immediately (and naively) replied, "Yes sir, a pig is a hog's little boy."
It was a two-hitter.. the second came when I hit the ground...