Friday, March 16, 2018

Words Gone Kaputt















Do you remember Murgatroyd?

Do you remember that word?  Would you believe the email spell checker did not recognize the word Murgatroyd?

Heavens to Mergatroyd! The epression was popularized by the cartoon charater Snagglepuss – a regular on the Yogi Bear Show in the 1960’s.

Lost Words from our childhood:
Words gone as fast as the buggy whip!  Sad really!

Well, I hope you are Hunky Dory after you read this and chuckle.

About a month ago, someone illuminated some old expressions that I have copied here.   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,”
“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’ and Gay mean ‘happy’.

Heavens to Betsy!
Gee Whillikers!
Jumping Jehoshaphat!
Holy Moley!

We were ‘in like Flynt’ 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” they are all gone!

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?

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.  ("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, and so many more that have slipped my memory, too.

WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE FABULOUS 40/50'S.
NO ONE WILL EVER HAVE THAT OPPORTUNITY AGAIN.
GOD GAVE US ONE OF OUR MOST PRECIOUS GIFTS:
............OUR MEMORIES........
Sadly, though, for some of us, that too is beginning to fade!!!  :-(

9 comments:

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Good to see you back. What happened? Did FB kick you off?

LL said...

I know...we old folks have a language of our own, don't we?

Miss Em said...

Oh! For the words and sounds of what made our world go round...the slaming of the screen door...Mom yelling "were you born in a barn" when we left the doors open. Or with anger in her voice..."just wait till your Dad gets home". And of course Dad ask.."why did you do that today?" And you knowing that..."this is going to hurt me more than it's going to hurt him".

Yes, the sights..words and sounds that not only shaped our world but us in the process.
Gone but rarely forgotten as we watch this world slowly slip past us.

Coffeypot said...

WSF - Not this time. I did get kicked off once a few years ago for saying the N word. But it was used in the correct text. Just thought I would give it a try again.

LL - We do, just as the cupcakes do today. Can you imagine 20 years from now one of them posting in what ever medium they have then how they miss the words of today?

Miss Em - or SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP.

Unknown said...

So good to read your words! Now close the lights and don’t forget to shut the door or you’ll catch your death!
Stay well. Stay happy. Keep writing!
AM

Coffeypot said...

AM - It is good to know you are still around the blogging world and more than happy to see you still here on my site.

commoncents said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
MsPsycho said...

Good to see you are still writing. I've also decided to start writing again. I think all the political post on facebook is slowly driving me to other places, or maybe it's the demons that have come out to play once again. Either way, it feels good to be able to clear my mind. :)

Lickety Splitter said...

Not all of those phrases have gone by the wayside. I still hear some of them down this way.