General Question

JimTurner's avatar

What are some expressions you don’t hear anymore?

Asked by JimTurner (1380points) December 6th, 2013

At times I reminisce about my grandmother and grandfather who both grew up in the country before they settled in the city. They had a way of saying things that at first didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me but after spending time with them I grew to understand what they were saying.

One phrase they used a lot when they were excited was “Great Day In the Morning!” I haven’t heard this used in many years.

Do you know any other terminologies of days gone by or perhaps new ones that have sprung up over the years?

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246 Answers

kritiper's avatar

Here is one you don’t HEAR anymore: “Land ‘o Goshen!”
Here is another: I call the glove compartment in my car a jockey box.

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

Come boss. How we used to call the cows to the barn. How many know that one?

kritiper's avatar

I know that cows are sometimes called “bossie” and are called in using that term. “Here, bossie!”

zenvelo's avatar

This thread is a lot of baloney.

kritiper's avatar

Dictionary says “bossy ” is correct spelling. Sorry!

JimTurner's avatar

@kritiper It never fails when we go after someone for making an honest mistake. We tend to make one ourselves.

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

I’m guessing the cows don’t care how it’s spelled. As long as they get fed and milked when they get there.

JimTurner's avatar

@Adirondackwannabe “You better bet it”

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

Dagnabbit, I didn’t see that coming.

JimTurner's avatar

@Adirondackwannabe It a phrase that a lot of my friends use to say which translates more into you are right.

I hope I haven’t come across being rude it was not my intention.

Tropical_Willie's avatar

Gosh of golly wow !

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

@JimTurner Interesting. It was one I’ve never heard of and no, no rudeness was perceived.

YARNLADY's avatar

Rarely heard “Heaven’s to Betsy”
Never heard “That’s really the Bees Knees”

Seek's avatar

^ Now I haven’t heard that in a month o’ Sundays.

KNOWITALL's avatar

Since I’m an old hilllbilly we still use a lot of them- lol
Colder than a well-diggers ass rightchere.

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

There’s also “colder than a witches tit” in these here parts.

ucme's avatar

Eeh, why arl gan to the foot of our stairs!

JimTurner's avatar

“Last time I saw you, you was knee high to a grasshopper”

KNOWITALL's avatar

@Adirondackwannabe I never understood why a witch would have a cold boob? Maybe you can explain that one. Well-diggers are below ground so that’s perfectly reasonable.

keobooks's avatar

Fine as a frog’s hair/

KNOWITALL's avatar

Cute as a bug’s ear!

JimTurner's avatar

Cute as a button.

KNOWITALL's avatar

Fine as muscadine wine (a fruit.)

JimTurner's avatar

“Don’t get above your raisin’”

ucme's avatar

Dash it all, somebody stop that rapscallion, the blighter just engaged in fisticuffs with one’s grandpapa, frightful scoundrel should be flogged to within an inch of his life…hoorah!

gailcalled's avatar

“Hear’s mud in your eye.”

serenityNOW's avatar

Oh suck a lemon.

gailcalled's avatar

“So’s your old man.”

thorninmud's avatar

Bipartisan agreement.

flutherother's avatar

As black as the Earl of Hell’s waistcoat.

JimTurner's avatar

Thanks everyone.

A new one that is used by young kids today is “Word” This means that you are telling the truth or they totally agree with you. You can be talking to them and out of the blue they will chime in “Word” or they may say “Word Up” It took me awhile to get use to this one.

Have a great weekend.

janbb's avatar

Your Mom wears combat boots.

And – Jumping Jehosephat!

Judi's avatar

crimeny

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

Solid. Dad. Daddy-o. Right on! Twenty-three Skidoo. The cat’s pajama’s. Power to the People. Smash the State. Maggie’s Drawers. Head (hippy), Heavy (deep, radical). As sultry as a summer rain and sweet as molasses (Tennessee Williams).

KNOWITALL's avatar

Back open, cool.

Go off like a frog in shock

Sweating like a virgin at a prison rodeo

Nervous as a porcupine in a Balloon Factory

So broke you can’t pay attention

Shaking like a skinny dog passing a peach

Butter my butt and call me a biscuit

Useless as tits on a boar hog

Confused as a blind dog in a meat factory

JimTurner's avatar

“Ain’t got a pot to piss in”

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

A hand fulla wanna and a mouth fulla gimme.

Lorna's avatar

@ucme Oh my god, haven’t heard the foot of my stairs in years. My Grandad used to say it.

ucme's avatar

@Lorna Aye, mine too, also “it’s raining stair rods out there.”

JimTurner's avatar

“Raining cats and dogs”

flutherother's avatar

Stone the crows.

ucme's avatar

^^That would be murder…a murder of crows hahahahahahaha…yeah, i’ll get my coat.

Skaggfacemutt's avatar

Referring to before you were conceived, “back then, you were just a twinkle in your dad’s eye.”

ucme's avatar

I’m fair nithered to the bone, cold enough out there to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

Believe you me.

anniereborn's avatar

“Now we’re cooking with gas” (my grandpa used to say that)
“You’re full of beans”

ucme's avatar

Least said soonest mended.

zenvelo's avatar

Right on! That’s groovy! You’re in the in-crowd.

dxs's avatar

“The proof is in the pudding.”
One of my high school teachers used to say that and we would always be like “WTF does that mean?...now I want pudding…”

Skaggfacemutt's avatar

@zenvelo You forgot “far out”, and “psychedelic.”

DWW25921's avatar

Say, that’s swell!

dxs's avatar

Here’s a collection of some from the Music Man:
“He’s just a bang beat, bell ringing, big haul, great go, neck or nothing, rip roarin, every time a bull’s eye salesman.”
Any expression from about the 50s or so I find hilarious.

Pachy's avatar

Two immediately come to mind: Hubba-hubba and “You have to be at the office early for a staff meeting.”

ucme's avatar

Up the wooden hill to bedfordshire, meaning to go upstairs to bed.
Put the wood in the hole, meaning to close a door.

Kardamom's avatar

Fiddlesticks!

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

Let’s skedaddle outta here!
An incorrigible reprobate.

LostInParadise's avatar

With good reason, nobody any longer says.“Get your cotton pckin’ hands off of that.”

What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

Blondesjon's avatar

Oh my stars and garters.

“Last call!”

fightfightfight's avatar

When somebody says “I haven’t seen you in a minute.” I used to hear that all the time, but not now. Besides, I’ve always hated that expression. It’s stupid and I don’t think it makes any sense. And, it’s just lame.

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

19th Century Sailor Speak:
Catheads: Women’s breasts.
Cold Coffee: Bad Luck.
Kitchen Love: Kissing up to the cook.
Fart Catcher: A landlubber servant.
Hogmagundy: Fucking
Monkey with a Long Tail: A mortgage.
Out of Print: Dead.
Rib: Wife

janbb's avatar

I like “Hogmagundy” as a term.

Juels's avatar

You’re giving me conniptions.

Blondesjon's avatar

@janbb . . . it’s not bad as an act either . . .

talljasperman's avatar

Please and thank you.

Juels's avatar

Upsy daisy

Skaggfacemutt's avatar

@Judi I always heard that one as “criminently.”

stanleybmanly's avatar

What’s your sign? dog my cats

KNOWITALL's avatar

You’ve got more freckles than Carter has liver pills. (I heard that a LOT growing up)

stanleybmanly's avatar

This steak’s tougher than Chinese trigonometry

flutherother's avatar

It’s a sair fecht.

stanleybmanly's avatar

whistling past the graveyard

1TubeGuru's avatar

If i don’t see you here i will see you hear.

Skaggfacemutt's avatar

I only heard this one in Utah; “you’re a fart smeller – I mean a smart feller.”

stanleybmanly's avatar

she’s older than dirt.

1TubeGuru's avatar

That will put a bee in her bonnet.

stanleybmanly's avatar

Tarnation! What the Sam Hill?

stanleybmanly's avatar

When pigs fly

talljasperman's avatar

I’m as worried at a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

Juels's avatar

I’m gonna smack you around like a red-headed step-child.

Seek's avatar

You’re the raddest dude… PSYCHE!

Juels's avatar

Close the door. You’re letting all the bought air out. Were you born in a barn?

ccrow's avatar

Well, isn’t this peachy… this thread is the cat’s pajamas.

Strauss's avatar

Incorrigible punster—do not incorrige!

Ain’t that the bee’s knees!

ccrow's avatar

@Espiritus_Corvus apparently these guys thought Hogmagundy was a great name for a band.

ucme's avatar

“Go quick, we’ll head em off at the pass!”
I hate that cliche…

Blondesjon's avatar

Harder than a wedding dick.

anniereborn's avatar

Off like a prom dress
Drunker than a hoot owl
Three sheets to the wind
Don’t count your chickens before they hatch
Don’t borrow trouble
I’ve hit pay dirt (what???)
Don’t you sass me

janbb's avatar

Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about. (Thank God, I don’t hear that any more!)

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

Okey Dokey!
Gutter Snipe.
Street Urchin.
Kitchen Wench.

Stop that noise back there, or I’ll turn this car around RIGHT NOW!
Aww, Jeemineez!

janbb's avatar

(I have a friend who says “Just peachy” and things like “Ready to hit the road?” which I find very endearing.

livelaughlove21's avatar

@Skaggfacemutt My dad says that all the time.

I still hear a lot of these, actually.

Some I haven’t heard in awhile: homie, home slice, that’s dope (or whack), “as if!”

gailcalled's avatar

“Diagram that sentence. Explain the subjunctive. All plural nouns end simply with “s” and do not need an apostrophe.”

gondwanalon's avatar

BITCHEN
Far out
Can you dig it
Out of sight
Jive hive
Get hep
Groovy

emjay's avatar

“Tall Cotton!”
(My dad used to say that, lol)

Kardamom's avatar

He/she is a stone fox.

Want to go to Licorice Pizza and look at records?

Want to go to the beach/pool and lay out?

You kids go and play outside and don’t come back until supper time.

At the tone the time will be 4: 21 p.m. and 30 seconds…beeeeeeeeep.

Fill ‘er up Sir/Madam?

synapse's avatar

My mom uses “my stars above” in place of “oh my goodness.”

2davidc8's avatar

He (or she) had a cow!

ibstubro's avatar

Now, maybe I don’t have all my shit in one sock, but if I’m in for a penny, In in for a pound, cause even a blind sow finds an acorn ever now and then.

One up @Adirondackwannabe “Colder’n a witches tit in bronze!”

ibstubro's avatar

Shit fire and save matches! (I never understood that one. But it’s peachy keen!)

ibstubro's avatar

@emjay I’m fairly new to “Tall cotton” (within the last several years) but I love it. There’s no explanation needed.

LostInParadise's avatar

“how” as a supposed universal Native American greeting
mind over matter
colder than a witch’s tit
even Steven
playing the dozens
five finger discount

ibstubro's avatar

OH! @KNOWITALL might know this one, which is the same as BFE, bum flock Egypt and ‘in the sticks’.

“Where the hoot owls flock the pigeons.”

FYI ALL my examples and many of the others are phrases that I use regularly. Like @KNOWITALL, I’m rural Missouri and the terms that are not in common usage I use because I like words, history and making people thinklaugh.

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

@ibstubro Yup, in bronze would be colder.
@KNOWITALL Well she’s a female, so obviously she has no heart or soul, so she would be cold. (Runs for cover)

filmfann's avatar

That is so tight! I can dig it!

Blondesjon's avatar

Sheesh. I didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition . . .

ibstubro's avatar

@Adirondackwannabe I was late to the expression, but it’s more descriptive.

stanleybmanly's avatar

My grandma would take me to the track where she would bet on the “hayburners”

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

@ibstubro There’s also “Colder than a monkey’s brass balls.” or various derivatives thereof.

ibstubro's avatar

Crap. @Blondesjon stopped me cold with inquisition.

How could HE come up with This?

Kardamom's avatar

Here’s one that used to make me cringe whenever my Grandfather’s wife would say it, regarding the Brazil nuts in the mixed nut container. She called them bleep toes. Yes, she actually blurted out the N-word when it came to these nuts. I had never heard that phrase before until Gramps married her. I thought I would die of mortification when she said it, not once, but multiple times, in our home. I had never heard that term before I met her, and hope to never hear it again : (

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

@Kardamom My great grandmother called them nigger toes. I don’t think she meant it badly, but it drove me insane.

Kardamom's avatar

Yes, I wanted to evaporate every time I heard this woman utter that phrase. That was not a term that was ever used in our home. I think I specifically told my Mom that we should never again put out mixed nuts as an appetizer if she was coming over for the holidays, and we didn’t. And this was right here, in liberal Southern California, not the conservative deep South, so it was even more shocking and humiliating.

anniereborn's avatar

Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle

Judi's avatar

@Kardamom , that’s what my dad called them too.

zenzen's avatar

Feelin’ groovy.

anniereborn's avatar

I’m gonna give him “what for”

Smitha's avatar

Cross your heart and hope to die.
Bless your heart.
“Number, please?”
FTW(For The Win) now people know this to mean F***
Now all we know are those texting things like WTF, LOL, ROFL, LMAO, and BTW.

Tropical_Willie's avatar

Wicked cool !

But I think that is because I’m so far south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Judi's avatar

Gnarley.

LostInParadise's avatar

phony as a three dollar bill
waiting on pins and needles
Geronimo!
till the cows come home
in three shakes of a lamb’s tail
not seen hide nor hair of him
has bats in the belfry
Indian giver
not worth a plugged nickel

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

“This is the Operator. What is the number, please?”
“Operator, this is Edgewood 2477. I would like the New York City Exchange, please. ”

(Clickclickclick, whirrrrr, pop, cracklecracklecrackle, shhhhhhhhhhh, pop, shhhh…)

“This is New York. What number are you calling, sir?”
“New York Operator, this is Sacramento, ED-2477. I would like to put in a call to Manhattan. The number is Gramercy 5–8843.”
“Will that be person-to-person, sir?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Thank you, sir. I will call you at Sacramento Exchange, ED-2477 when your call goes through.”
“Thank you, Operator. I’ll be by the phone.”
“Thank you, sir. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”

ibstubro's avatar

You weren’t Southern enough, @Kardamom. We had nigger toes in the mixed nuts and bridge mix, nigger tits were the milk chocolate coated ‘mysterious white stuff’ drops only given by the old ladies at church for Christmas, and we “Eeenie meenied” a nigger by the toe. Hell, I’m 52 years old and I was taught in Sunday school that when Cain killed Able, God turned him black as punishment. Thus women invented sin and blacks invented murder.

I couldn’t make this crap up if I tried. Thank goodness I have a Christian attitude.

:-)

ibstubro's avatar

(My personal revelation on race came when I heard my dear sweet great grandmother exclaim one day, “Oh, I love the Doris Day Show, but I just couldn’t stand seeing her hug that big black buck nigger!”. She having been born in 1888 to wealthy, bitter former southern slave holders.)

Seek's avatar

Huh.

I was taught that Noah’s son Ham was turned black as a punishment for looking at his drunk, naked father.

Which always sounded like a harsh punishment, but what do you expect from the guy who retracted immortality over an apple?

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

Hell No! We Won’t Go!
Four Dead in Ohio!
Burn, Baby Burn! (Cities, draft cards, whatever… )

We won’t serve your food in an ashtray, if you don’t put your cigarettes out in our plates.

ibstubro's avatar

Crap. I knew I was missing one! Geodes were nigger heads!

dxs's avatar

@Tropical_Willie Definitely not defunct in Mass haha. I get called out for saying it in here in Florida.

snowberry's avatar

@Seek_Kolinahr I grew up in Mormon country. I’m not sure if they still teach it, but when I was a child, they taught that the mark that God placed on Cain was dark skin, and that’s why people with dark skin weren’t allowed in the priesthood. I was always amazed when I’d see the odd Afro-American going to a Mormon ward. Later after threats of a lawsuit, God gave them a revelation that it was OK, and they could join, so now more of them are Mormon, but with that history, I still don’t get why.

filmfann's avatar

@snowberry Because saying dark skin was the mark of Cain was horseshit. I am glad they backed off that pronouncement, but they need to stipulate that it was never true.

snowberry's avatar

@flimfann But they got the word first from God, so it’s all good. LOL Seriously, I agree, but go tell them that.

YARNLADY's avatar

You Big Galoot

ibstubro's avatar

“The ducks ate the mud!”

For some odd reason my mother was fond of saying that when the ground froze and the mud disappeared.

Seek's avatar

Don’t piss in my ear and tell me it’s raining.

filmfann's avatar

That’s all right, old sport!

snowberry's avatar

This is a typical conversation at our house (we joke around a lot):

Ol’ man, git yersef back inside! Yer still wearin’ Pyjammers!

Ol’ lady, if you don’t leave me alone, I’ll throw your walker downstairs!

Strauss's avatar

Far out! Right on! Outta sight!
Farm out! Right arm! Outta state!

zenzen's avatar

Be bop a loo la she’s my baby…

ccrow's avatar

In high dudgeon

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

Whippersnapper
Reprobate
Hobo
Spindle Stiff
A fit of apoplexy
Death by consumption
The ague
Dropsy
Dipsomania

ibstubro's avatar

“That’s the bees knees!

I said that in conversation today, and please myself and others.

I was “Wound for sound!” today at my auction house. A small group gathered and I played the crowd for all it was worth. ;-) It scares me that I’ve started writing the word “Fluther” on small scraps of paper and handing them out.

LostInParadise's avatar

I came upon this Web site It is pretty good, though I have some small disagreements. I think some of the terms are still current and some are from after the 60’s. There are also a few I never heard of but, as the writer says, they may have been localisms.

ibstubro's avatar

^^ I only got as far as:

Ape – Used with “Go”, “Gone” or “Went”. To explode or go completely irate. Example: “When my parents saw my report card, they went ape.

Sanitized? Parents went ape shit. Fur shur, man. Like real.

zenzen's avatar

Furshizzle. Came, didn’t conquer, left.

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

Sarsparilla
Succotash
Sufferin’ succotash

KNOWITALL's avatar

@ccrow Southern saying you reminded me of…‘living in high cotton’

Strauss's avatar

@Espiritus_Corvus You’re makin’ me hungry. Chicken fried steak, with smashed taters & cream gravy, with a side of succotash, all washed down by a cold sarsaparilla!

@KNOWITALL “Jus’ cuz your livin’ in high cotton, don’t mean ya got ta be all uppity about it!”

KNOWITALL's avatar

@Yetanotheruser Another new purse, girl you livin in high cotton now, I mean (head shaking) uh uh uh…lol

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

The young mechanic from the blacksmith shop sat behind the wheel.

“This here is the ignition key. Turn this doohickey to the left. That puts her on battery – see where it says BATT? OK, now we ree-tard the spark, cuz if you don’t ree-tard the spark,she’ll probably kick your arm off. So, this lever here on the left of the steering column is the spark. Push her way up. Here that buzz sound? And this lever here on the right is the gas. Push her way down.”

He hopped out of the driver’s seat and walked to the front of the car. “Now, this here’s the crank. And this here stickin’ out of the grill just under the right headlamp is the choke. Now watch carefully. You grab hold of the crank like this and push in – she catches. Now—this part is important – You see how my thumb is turned down, out of the way? That’s cuz if you grab the crank with your thumb wrapped around her, why, she’d probably tear your thumb clear off. Got it? Next, you pull out this choke and turn her around to suck gas in. Then you give the crank a hard spin like this – And she caught! – FIRST TIME! (Tikka-tikka-tikka-tikka…)

He ran around and sat in the driver’s seat, again then reached down onto the steering column. “Increase the spark and ree-tard the gas. Reach over real quick and switch over to MAG – that’s magneto. And there you are, simple as pie!”

~How to start a brand spanking new, state of the art 1917 Ford Model T.

KNOWITALL's avatar

@Espiritus_Corvus Which is why they wanted chauffeurs…lol, what a pain! That was fun though!

Strauss's avatar

That’s when Henry Ford offered Americans automobiles in any color, as long as it’s black, and any model, as long as it’s “t”.

Blondesjon's avatar

Merry Christmas.

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

The vapors.
The fainting couch.
Smelling salts.
A most delicate flower of Southern womanhood.

Strauss's avatar

Yuletide Carols

snowberry's avatar

He/she’s got a “condition”.

ibstubro's avatar

It’s likelu rhumatiz, The Vapors, or consumption, @snowberry. Grab a bleeder or some leaches and we’ll see if we can get them in a better humor.

Skaggfacemutt's avatar

@LostInParadise I still say all of those things! No wonder my kids always laugh at me.

JimTurner's avatar

“Don’t have a conniption fit”

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

Sweet Jeezuz on a bycicle!

Blondesjon's avatar

Fuck me gently with a chainsaw.

ibstubro's avatar

“I’m not wearing a hair shirt you know?”

@KNOWITALL

LostInParadise's avatar

Sock it to me!
Anybody else here remember Laugh-in?

gailcalled's avatar

You bet your sweet bippy some of us do.

dxs's avatar

People don’t really bet their bottom dollars nowadays, either.

snowberry's avatar

@dxs That’s ‘cuz they’re not worth enough to bet on anymore!

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

Spring, Spring,
Spring has sprung.
Flowers are ready fer pluckin’,
And high school girls are ready fer
College.

~Henry Gibson, Laugh In

I thought that was hilarious when I was 13.

Judi's avatar

Thrift is a virtue. (Now a days consumption seems to be the virtue.)

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

The Missus.
The little woman.
The distaff side.
The fair sex.
The weaker sex.

flutherother's avatar

Do you have a penny for the phone?

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

^A nickle for the juke box.
A dime for a cup of coffee and another for the newspaper.

ucme's avatar

The bloody pips have gone.

ucme's avatar

Free Nelson Mande…oops, too soon.

JimTurner's avatar

He’s not playing with a full deck”.

ibstubro's avatar

Egads! @flutherother. A PENNY? Here’s a dime, call somebody who cares!

Strauss's avatar

”♪ ♫ ♪Costs a nickel, not a penny more! ♫ ♪ ♫”

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

A Farthing, or a mag
A Ha’penny
A Copper
A Threepennybit, or a Joey
A Groat
A Sixpence, or a Tanner
A Bob
A Florin
A Crown
A Quid
A Sovereign
A Guinea
A Sou
A Louis (d’or)
An Eagle
A Half Eagle
A Silver Certificate
A Gold Certificate
A Greenback
A Fin
A Sawbuck
A Jackson, or a Dub
A Yard
A Stack
A Rock

filmfann's avatar

A buffalo
A plugged nickel.

JimTurner's avatar

Don’t take any wooden nickles.

ibstubro's avatar

@KNOWITALL isn’t really in tall cotton, she’s just livin a little high on the hog!

Skaggfacemutt's avatar

I never heard of the “tall cotton” one. What does it mean? The same as “high on the hog?”

ibstubro's avatar

Yes, @Skaggfacemutt, I believe being in tall cotton is very similar to eating high on the hog.

ibstubro's avatar

Not for the faint of heart, but grab your butt before you open this…you might just laugh it off!

Strauss's avatar

Gold doubloons; Pieces of eight.

YARNLADY's avatar

@Skaggfacemutt The tall cotton is the easiest to pick, and only people with influence are allowed to pick there. The lower cotton means you have to lean over and it’s back breaking work.

Skaggfacemutt's avatar

Oh, I see. I thought maybe it meant that being in tall cotton was llike being in tall corn – not being able to see because the plants block your view. Well, learn something new every day.

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

Hydrophobia (Rabies)
Infantile Paralysis (Poliomyelitis, Polio)
Croup, Choak (Laryngitis, Diphtheria, or Strep Throat.)
Scurvy (Vitamin C deficiency)
Rickets (Vitamin D deficiency)
Cholera
Cholera Morbus (Appendicitis)
Pox, French Pox, Spanish Disease (Syphilis)
Ship Fever, Hospital Fever, Jail Fever (Typhus)
Brain Fever (Meningitis, Typhus)
Screws (Rheumatism)
Bilious Fever (Typhus, Malaria, or Hepatitis)
Chilblain (Malaria)
Small Pox
Aptha (Thrush)
Consumption, Marasmus, Phthisis (Tuberculosis)
Black Water Fever (severe Malaria, high fever with hematuria)
Melancholia (Depression)
Bloody Flux (Diphtheria)
Yellow Jacket, Bronze John (Yellow Fever)
Fainting Fits, Falling Sickness (Epilepsy)
Breakbone Fever (Dengue Fever)
Catarrh (Cold with sever productive cough)
Scarlet Fever
Grippe (Influenza)
Miasma (Poisonous vapors thought to infect the air and cause disease.)
Horrors (Delirium Tremens)

Lying in
Peurperal Exhaustion (Death due to child birth)
Child Bed Fever (Common staph infection, often fatal to the mother post childbirth until regular hand washing was introduced in the maternity wards.)

Scrivener’s Palsey (Writer’s Cramp)

gailcalled's avatar

^^ The pip
The megrims
The cafard
(Did you mention “the vapors” somewhere already?)
Scrofula

LostInParadise's avatar

neat freak
hubba hubba
uptight
toast – meaning ruined
set of wheels
cruisin for a bruisin
losersville
phat

janbb's avatar

Word

Apoplexy

JimTurner's avatar

I ain’t just whistling Dixie.

ibstubro's avatar

I had ‘the vapors’ @gailcalled

JimTurner's avatar

“We aint in Kansas anymore”

zenzen's avatar

Fuck you and anyone that looks like you.

LostInParadise's avatar

and the horse you rode in on.

A phrase that reminds me of my first car: Four on the floor

gailcalled's avatar

^^ “Fuck you and the horse you rode in on” is still alive and kicking, not yet a dead horse and at the tip of my tongue often.

ibstubro's avatar

I don’t know if I said or thought Horsefeathers! in the past week. Thought I think. ;-)

ucme's avatar

“Fuck you & the horse you rode in on.” Weak, lame & very predictable, massively inaccurate too, assumes the transgressor owns a horse…silly buggers.

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

Ladies’ Unmentionables:
Underlinen
Undershorts
Drawers
Bloomers
Knickerbockers, knickers
Pantalette, pantalet
Pantaloon
Turkish trowsers, ladies’ trousers
Breeches
Chemise
Chemisette
Corset
Corset cover
Camisole
Petticoat
Horsehair petticoat
Crinoline (horsehair)
Cage crinoline
Crinoline petticoat
Hoop
Whalebone hoop
Steel hoop
Bodice
Under bodice
Petticoat bodice
Cuirasse bodice
Tournure
Pannier
Crinolette
Bustle
Bustle pad
Jupon
Bust gusset
Brassiere
Flounce
Frou-frou
Frill
Chiffon
Busk
Spoon busk
Ladies’ suspenders
Undersleeve
Silk stockings
Garter
Garter belt
Leglet
Jensen’s catamenial bandage (1858)
Lady’s Nightdress
Night cap

JimTurner's avatar

“It’s a bit nippy outside”

ibstubro's avatar

To the MOON!
DY-NO-MITE!
Whatchu talkin bout?
Jane, you ignorant bitch!

Fun TV, passed.

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

Chiffereau
Chiffonier
Watercloset

Jackanape(s)

Gee
Haw
Knacker(s)

JimTurner's avatar

“Knock on Wood”

keobooks's avatar

I say knock on wood all the time. My grandmother drilled that superstition into me.

JimTurner's avatar

@keobooks A friend of mine said it yesterday.

LostInParadise's avatar

Before you can say Jack Robinson
Fine kettle of fish
Gets my goat
Gores my ox
Two birds of a feather
Like two peas in a pod
Horse of a different color

JimTurner's avatar

“Hit two birds with one stone”

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

Pissant
Peckerwood

Tropical_Willie's avatar

“Film at 11” on the 6 o’clock news.

ibstubro's avatar

Here’s one I just heard yesterday. One of our group of 5 disappeared for a while at the auction house. Eventually he reappeared, and his grandson said, “What’a ya been doin? We thought maybe you fell in and the hogs ate you.”

flutherother's avatar

The horizontal hold has gone again.

Judi's avatar

Please and thank-you are becoming rarer and rarer.

LostInParadise's avatar

buy a pig in a poke
let the cat out of the bag

Oddly enough, these phrases are related

There are some other phrases involving cats at the end of the article. I never heard of the first two,and I did not realize that the phrase “more then one way of killing a cat” came from a longer version.

ibstubro's avatar

I’ve always heard it as “more than one way to skin a dead cat.”

Ans speaking of dead cats, there’s barely enough room to swing a dead one around here!

JimTurner's avatar

“What in tarnation are you doing?”

“Keeping up with the Jones’s”

“If Tommy jumped out of the window would you”?

Seek's avatar

^ Those Joneses are a bunch of lemmings.

JimTurner's avatar

“She thinks she’s the cat’s meow”

“Cats got your tongue?’

“He thinks he is all that and a bag of chips”

“Man she’s a fox”

“What a Foxy Lady”

Kardamom's avatar

@JimTurner The saying these days would be, “If Tyler/Jaden/Dillon/Landen jumped out of the window would you?”

JimTurner's avatar

@Kardamom HA!! and the kids would probably say yes I would.

Kardamom's avatar

@JimTurner They might not intentionally jump out the window, but they might accidentally fall out the window, because they’re so busy looking down at their devices, that they wouldn’t even realize what was happening until it was too late.

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

Harlot
Jezebel
Painted Lady
Lady of the night
Working Girl
Bawd
Bawdy Girl
Bawdy House
Cat House
Brothel
Bordello
House of ill repute
Kept Woman
Kept Man
Gigolo
Pied-a-terre
Paramour
Remittance Man
Rentboy
Nancy-boy

LostInParadise's avatar

Holy Moly
Jeepers creepers
Avast
Egads
Good grief
Shiver me timbers
landlubber

JimTurner's avatar

Just heard this one today.

“Wrong as two left shoes”

ibstubro's avatar

Here’s one I just read in a book that I’d never heard before:

I’d rather eat a caterpillar off of a hot sidewalk!.

LostInParadise's avatar

Here are a few that may still be used, but which I have not heard for a while.

Quick as a wink
Sharp as a tack
Thin as a rail
Couldn’t hit the side of a barn
Living high on the hog
For the birds

The term Bellevue used to be used in the New York City area in roughly the same way as funny farm or loony bin, named for a hospital known for its psychiatric ward.

Bellevue was also used in a variation of the “shave and a haircut” refrain:
Shave and a haircut
Shampoo
Hit by an auto
Bellevue

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

Thongs used to be what we now call flipflops.
G-strings are what we used to call thongs.

janbb's avatar

@Espiritus_Corvus Thongs for the memories.

keobooks's avatar

in cahoots

canoodle

janbb's avatar

@keobooks And canoodling sounded like so much fun!

ISmart's avatar

“serious as a heart attack”

ibstubro's avatar

Two shakes of a lamb’s tail.

I amazed myself by saying that yesterday!

JimTurner's avatar

The whole shebang.

If you fall off the mattress I’ll see you in the Spring.

Strauss's avatar

Crystal set (radio)

dxs's avatar

Slacks (the word for pants)
Hey that’s a nice pair o’ slacks ya got there! haha I wonder how someone would respond if I said that to them.

filmfann's avatar

“Why don’t you learn to park like a white man?”

ibstubro's avatar

@filmfann White men don’t Jump, er park.

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

“Free, white, and twenty-one.”

Johnath5's avatar

It looks odd when i want to discuss something with someone and the next person reply me only in “ok”.

ibstubro's avatar

Probably off topic, @Johnath5, but I congratulate you on finding this most excellent thread.

“Like a moth to a flame.”

Who has flames?

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