I am always browsing through old newspapers, books, and pictures to look for a good story; and I constantly get a real kick out of running across that great, sometimes crazy language lingo, habits, and possessions that we treasured so much when we were having fun growing up! It is not at all surprising that much of this delightful dialogue is not with us any more, so just for fun this week, I thought I would pass on a few for all of you to ponder, enjoy, pass on to others, and maybe even ask the senior set for clarification if you wish.
Take for instance ‘fender skirts’, which were flashy metal strips that covered half of your rear whitewall tires; ‘curb feelers’, which were metal rods that extended from behind your rear tires and when they scraped against the curb we knew we were to close; or the infamous ‘steering knob’, which we sassily clutched with one hand to steer, while the other was around our gal-pal. Then there were those ‘dash lights’, fluffy seat covers, pom-poms, and whatever else you could dress your jalopy up with to impress the ‘in crowd’.
Still on the subject of cars, my mind naturally wandered in that direction first. Any kids will probably have to find some elderly person over 50 or so to explain some of these terms. Remember ‘Continental kits’? They were rear bumper extenders and spare tire covers that were supposed to make just about any vehicle as cool as a Lincoln Continental. When did we quit calling them ‘emergency brakes?’ At some point ‘parking brake’ likely became the proper term for this pull out lever, but I kind of miss the hint of drama that went with the original name. I’m sad, too, that almost all the old folks are gone or not driving any more who would call the accelerator the ‘foot feed’! Didn’t you ever wait at the street corner for your daddy to come home so that you could hitch a ride on the ‘running board’ up to the house?
On to some other lost language, a phrase that many of us heard in our youth but not much anymore was ‘store bought’. Of course, just about everything is store bought these days, but once upon a time it was great bragging material to show off a store bought ‘sack dress’, a bag of ‘Sassafras’ candy or some ‘gummy bears’ “Coast to coast’ is a phrase that once held all sorts of excitement and now means almost nothing as far as travel and distance is concerned. It now floors me that we take the term ‘world wide’ for granted. On a much smaller scale ‘wall-to-wall’ was once a magical term in our homes. In the 1950s, everyone covered his or her hardwood floor with, wow, wall-to-wall carpeting, but today, go figure, they replace all their wall-to-wall shag with hardwood floors.
Can you tell me when the last time you heard the quaint phrase, ‘in the family way?’ It’s really hard to imagine that the word ‘pregnant’ was once considered just a little to graphic, a little to clinical for use in polite company; so consequently we had all that gentle talk about the stork visits, ‘being in the family way’, or just simply ‘expecting.’ Apparently ‘brassiere’ is a word no longer in usage? I said it the other day and my daughter cracked up. I guess it’s just ‘bra’ now, and ‘unmentionables’ probably now wouldn’t be understood at all?
As kids we always loved going to the ‘picture show, but I considered ‘movie’ an affectation. Most of these words go back to the ‘50s, but here’s a pure 1960’s word that I came across the other day: ‘rat fink’ ooooh, what a nasty put down that is. Here’s a word I really miss: ‘percolator.’ which was eventually replaced by the ‘coffee maker.’ How dull, and Mr. Coffee, I blame you for this! I also miss those made-up marketing words that were meant to sound so modern and now sound so retro. These included zippy titles like ‘DynaFlow’ and ‘Electrolux, as well as a spectacular advertising campaign to introduce the 1963 Admiral television, now with ‘Spectra Vision.’
Here’s some food for thought: Was there a telethon that wiped out lumbago, because nobody complains about it anymore? Maybe that’s what the dreaded dose of castor oil cured, because I never hear mothers threatening our kids with it anymore. Thank goodness that some words aren’t gone, but many are definitely on the endangered list. The one that grieves me most is ‘supper.’ Now everybody says ‘dinner’, but we can all help save a great word by inviting someone over for supper to discuss ‘fender skirts’, as long as we all remember to ‘hang in there’, and ‘stay cool’.
I know for sure that most of us weren’t always understood when we were kids, and certainly now as parents and grandparents in this modern age we are not really sure on many occasions what they just said or where they are really coming from? Whatever the case we must always try to: Live simply, love generously, care deeply, and speak kindly while trying to understand the language and the reason for what we have just seen. We all must encourage everyone to live like there is no tomorrow, then pause to see just how fast it catches up to us.