Save a great word. Invite someone
to supper. Discuss fender skirts.I
came across this phrase yesterday "fender skirts"
A term I haven't heard in a long time and
thinking about "fender skirts" started me thinking about other words
that quietly disappear from our language with hardly a notice like "curb
feelers" and "steering knobs." (AKA) suicide knob
Since I'd been thinking of cars, my mind
naturally went that direction first. Any kids will probably have to find
some elderly person over 50 to explain some of these terms to you.
Remember "Continental kits?" They were rear
bumper extenders and spare tire covers that were supposed to make any
car as cool as a Lincoln Continental.
When did we quit calling them "emergency
brakes?" At some point "parking brake" became the proper term. But I
miss the hint of drama that went with "emergency brake."
I'm sad, too, that almost all the old folks are
gone who would call the accelerator the "foot feed."
Didn't you ever wait at the street for your
daddy to come home, so you could ride the "running board" up to the
house?
Here's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth
but never anymore - "store-bought." Of course, just about everything is
store-bought these days.
But once it was bragging material to have a
store-bought dress or a store-bought bag of candy.
"Coast to coast" is a phrase that once held all
sorts of excitement and now means almost nothing. Now we take the term
"world wide" for granted This floors me.
On a smaller scale, "wall-to-wall" was once a
magical term in our homes. In the '50s, everyone covered his or her
hardwood floors with, wow, wall-to-wall carpeting! Today, everyone
replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors. Go figure.
When's the last time you heard the quaint phrase
"in a family way?" It's hard to imagine that the word "pregnant" was
once considered a little too graphic, a little too clinical for use in
polite company So we had all that talk about stork visits and "being in
a family way" or 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 "Unmentionables" probably wouldn't be understood at all.
I 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-'60s word I came across the other day - "rat fink." Ooh,
what a nasty put-down!
Here's a word I miss - "percolator." That was
just a fun word to say. And what was it replaced with? "Coffee maker."
How dull. Mr. Coffee, I blame you for this. ?
I miss those made-up marketing words that were
meant to sound so modern and now sound so retro. Words like "DynaFlow"
and "Electrolux." Introducing the 1963 Admiral TV, now with "SpectraVision!"
Food for thought - Was there a telethon that
wiped out lumbago? Nobody complains of that anymore. Maybe that's what
castor oil cured, because I never hear mothers threatening kids with
castor oil anymore.
Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on
the endangered list. The one that grieves me most "supper." Now
everybody says "dinner."
