ASHLAND — There’s no doubt that a part of aging means you might not understand certain words or phrases currently being used by our younger generations unless you listen closely and ask a lot of questions.
Today teens use words such as goat, bail, sick, and salty. But they have different meanings than they did in previous generations.
I recall a time in 1987, I was with a group of women who were out shopping together. My Mom was with us and had grabbed up several items and a friend of mine said to her, “You go girl!”
My Mom turned around and looked at her very seriously and said, “Go where?”
My Mom was totally clueless and we all got a great laugh out of it.
Yes, it baffles us sometimes but these slang words and phrases are not at all new to the English language in the United States. Every century has brought new language trends that became popular and some have come and gone, while others have stuck with us and ended up in the English dictionary.
In the 19th century, these were some of the common words and phrases used by our settlers:
For the love of Pete – this idiom probably came from a time when saying the word Christ was considered blasphemous. So why the name Pete? It is probably reference to the Catholic St. Peter. It was used as a term to express frustration.
Church-Bell – a chatty woman.
Six Ways from Sunday – this saying has evolved over the years but in the 1800’s it resurfaced as a phrase that meant “in every way possible.”
Chuckaboo – a nickname for a close friend.
I’d give my eyeteeth for… – used since the early 1800’s, this meant to offer something of value to get something. The eye teeth which are located directly below the eyes were considered valuable because if a child had them, they had the wisdom of an adult.
Gigglemug – The face of someone who always had a smile.
Balderdash and flummery – nonsense and more nonsense.
Skilamalink – Secret, doubtful or shady.
Charley horse – was derived from baseball. In the 1890’s the Chicago White Sox used an old horse named Charley to pull a roller across the infield. His muscles would cramp up while pulling the roller so players and spectators started using this phrase when they got a pain or cramp.
Snollygoster or snollyguster – the first written evidence of this word was in 1846 and it referred to someone who was out for personal gain rather than respectable principles. It didn’t take long before it was commonly used as a derogatory term for a politician.
Bricky – brave or fearless.
Doing the bear – dating that only involves hugging.
By the 20 th century, these words or terms became popular:
On the Lam – Herman K. Lamm was a German bank robber in the early 1900’s and is considered the father of modern bank robbing. Some feel this saying which means “on the run” became popular during the days when gangster activity become common.
Spaz – someone who is awkward and spastic.
Dead ringer – The word ringer was derived from American horse racing. A horse of similar appearance would be substituted in order to defraud a bookie and was called a ringer. The word dead meant exact in this phrase. It was later used to describe an exact duplicate of anything or anyone that looked the same.
Flapper – a fashionable young woman from the 1920’s who liked to socialize and disregard the rules of society for women.
Fuzz – the police.
Made in the shade – in the 1950’s this meant you had everything you needed in life and were lucky.
Wet rag – someone who is no fun.
Y2K – was the acronym for “the year 2000.” It was commonly used in the late 1990’s to refer to a computer programming problem that was expected to create all kinds of havoc once the new millennium began.
Do you dig? – Do you understand?
Hoosegow – Prison.
Five Finger Discount – A polite way of saying something was stolen.
Snipe – A cigarette.
Twenty years into the 21st century has brought us new words or meanings such as selfie, emoji, truthiness, bromance, glamping, huggle, tweet, fake news, catfish and unfriend just to name a few.
My goodness, will my “spell checker” automatically spell all these new words correctly or do I need to “reboot?”
