Last week's column dealt with the internet, that is one of those terms that wasn't around when I was in school. This week's column mentions many phrases and terms that were also once commonplace but now you hear them very seldom if at all. Although many of these terms are outdated you may still learn something by reading this column; even if you don't learn anything, it might bring back some good memories.
Air mail stamps - years ago if you wanted to mail a letter to someone several states away you would purchase an air mail stamp to get it there a little quicker, nowadays all long distance mail goes by air.
At the drop of a hat - means immediately, similar to on the spur of the moment.
Automats - those were similar to cafeterias except the food was behind individual doors similar to vending machines, if you were to eat a complete meal you had to get one item out of each door. Over sixty years ago there were almost 40 automats in New York City, now there are none.
Bite the bullet - if you have to do something that you might not want to really do it is said that you will just have to bite the bullet and get it done.
Blackballed - generally means you were booted out of an organization.
Boob tube - an early word for television.
Bumfuzzle - to totally confuse someone.
Carbon copy - On a regular typewriter, long before computers, if you wanted two copies you had to insert a piece of carbon paper between the original and the second sheet. Carbon paper is very seldom used anymore.
Clicker - another name for a television remote.
Dial tone - on standard home telephones there is a dial tone, when you hear that tone you then make your call. There is no dial tone on today's cellphones.
Discombobulate - another term meaning to totally confuse someone.
Dressed to the nines - this meant you were dressed very formally.
Dungarees- an old term for jeans.
Gibberish - nonsense words that sound like English but have little meaning, some people might say you're just talking monkey talk which has about the same meaning.
Hang up that phone - regular phones used to be in two pieces consisting of the base and the handset, you had to put the handset back on the base to end your call.
Icebox - an early word for refrigerator.
I'll be there with bells on - means you will be looking forward to going.
In the nick of time - many times if you were working on a project which needed to be finished at a certain time and you finished just before that time you were told you finished just in the nick of time.
Knuckle sandwich - when kids were about to fight sometimes one of them would say he was about to give the other guy a knuckle sandwich.
Lollygag - doing nothing, just wasting time.
Mobile phone - now most people just call them cellphones or smartphones.
Nifty - a seldom used word for great.
Percolator - an early term for coffee maker.
Pay phones & phone booths - before cellphones phones in phone booths were pretty much commonplace on many street corners, now they're almost non existent.
Peepers - glasses In the 50s there was a comedy television show named Mr. Peepers which starred Wally Cox. Part of the reason Mr. Peepers was chosen for the title was because of the glasses that Wally Cox wore.
Picture shows - movies.
Pocketbook - an old fashioned term for billfold or wallet.
Pulling out all the stops - to do everything that needs to be done, a similar way of saying the same thing is to go all out.
Put your best foot forward - that simply means to be on your best behavior.
Roll up that window - in the 1950s power windows were pretty new on cars but they're standard on many cars now, years ago we had to roll up that window.
S&H Green Stamps - there were many types of trading stamps years ago, S&H Green Stamps may have been the most famous one. When you would make purchase in grocery stores, service stations or many other kinds of stores you would usually get one stamp for each ten cents in purchase. These stamps would go into books and when you got a book filled you could make purchases with the filled books.
Shades - sunglasses.
Shenanigan - to pull a prank, someone might ask just what kind of shenanigans are you pulling?
Shiner - another name for black eye.
Stay tuned, don't touch that dial - years ago all radios and televisions had dials to change the stations, today many radios still have dials but nearly all televisions are controlled by a remote.
Stewardess - now flight attendant is the updated term.
Stories - that was what soap operas used to be called in the early days of radio and television, now they're usually just called programs or shows.
Time to face the music - if you have done something wrong and were found out you were about to learn what your punishment might be.
Tivo - before that recording television shows was done on a VCR, now recording is done on a DVR or a Tivo.
You sound like a broken record - years ago music was on round discs that were known as 33s, 45s, or 78s. A needle was used to pick up the sound from the record, when the needle would get stuck the music would repeat and repeat and repeat, etc.
Left out of last week's column on computers which is another term you never heard years ago: You have to not only be careful using your computer at home but be doubly careful if you're using a computer in a public location. More than once I've signed in to use a computer in a public library and found the previous user never had properly signed out. One I remember was a guy that left all his credit card information there where anybody could see it, a dishonest person could've caused that person a lot of trouble by making charges using the credit card information that was left. Be careful to sign out properly but be doubly careful if you're using a computer with public access.
If you have any comments or questions my e-mail address is deh63shs@yahoo.com.
