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Do you remember that word? Would you believe the
email spell checker did not recognize the word
Mergatroyd? Heavens to Mergatroyd!
The other day a not so elderly (65) (I 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?"
OMG (new phrase)! He never heard of the word
jalopy!! She knew she was old..... but not that
old. 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 whillikers! Jumping
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...AND
DON'T FORGET.... Saddle Stitched Pants.
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? ( My
Favorite)" Let's all go to the beach
Saturday"...
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 roses.
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!
Okidoki
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:
.............OUR MEMORIES........ |
