words your grandparents used (quote, cost, similar)

[rodentraiser]

Maybe it's because I read so much, but a lot of the words people have brought up in this thread are words that I feel I've always known and I don't feel like many of them have really fallen out of use. Maus said billfold. I still use that word interchangeably with wallet. In fact, I may use it more than wallet. Women have billfolds, men have wallets. Occasionally I'll hear a word I haven't heard before. One is 'jake'.

Everything is good, everything is groovy, everything is jake. Come to think of it, I haven't heard groovey for a while either. Or beatnik.

[pvande55]

Originally Posted by Tia 914

I've never heard that definition before- could it be because the general idea was unmarried women had to work?

Before the industrial revolution, single women didn't have to do a lot of the work involved in raising children so they had time to spin, necessary to produce fabric.

[DewDropInn]

Originally Posted by Seagrape Grove

It may have come about because if she had no family to take care of as she aged, she just sat at a spinning wheel to spin thread and yarn--which wasn't physicaly demanding work--and then sold her thread and yarn to make a living.

I remember when single women were called that. I had an aunt who was labeled a spinster at age 26. (Early 1950's. Carrying that label drove her into a bad marriage but that's another story.) I was told it came from the idea a single woman had been spurned by men.

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by Seagrape Grove

"Go Dutch" - everyone pays their own way. If you had a "Dutch date" each person paid for their own evening's entertainment.

I'm of Dutch descent. Other phrases are:

Dutch praise (criticism, usually blunt and not couched in nice words)

Dutch nightingale (a frog)

Dutch uncle (a person who gives out a lot of Dutch praise)

[KathrynAragon]

"Larapin'" as in "Wow, those chicken and dumplins were LARAPIN!"
Urban Dictionary: Larapin

"Come over here and give me a yankee dime." (A kiss)

After a hard day of working in the yard: "My meat hurts." (My muscles hurt.)

"You're a real rapscallion!" (rascal) - interchangeable with "Rastus" as in "You're a bona fide Rastus!"

"She's my sugar lump dumplin'."

"You're cuter 'n' a bug's ear."

"She's my little punkin' head girl."

"He was drunker than Cooter Brown."

[Tia 914]

Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801

I'm of Dutch descent. Other phrases are:

Dutch praise (criticism, usually blunt and not couched in nice words)

Dutch nightingale (a frog)

Dutch uncle (a person who gives out a lot of Dutch praise)

And don't forget Double-Dutch-- a type of jumping rope game.

[Tia 914]

Oh, I have another one- I've never heard anyone say it IRL, but it's always popping up on old t.v. shows: people who use the word phone as a verb.
Example: instead of saying "I'm going to call my friend," it's "I'm going to phone my friend."

[Kobber]

Originally Posted by Tia 914

Oh, I have another one- I've never heard anyone say it IRL, but it's always popping up on old t.v. shows: people who use the word phone as a verb.
Example: instead of saying "I'm going to call my friend," it's "I'm going to phone my friend."

Here in Australia we still use the word phone as a verb:
"I'll phone you tomorrow"
"Phone me when you get your test results"
"The boss wants you to phone him as soon as you return to the office"

Some people here use the word ring instead:
"I'll ring you tomorrow"
Etc.

Disclaimer: Not sure what terms younger Australians use... probably neither, as they only ever seem to text each other!

[banjomike]

Mustaches- plural, not singular. Like sideburns.

[Seagrape Grove]

"Phone booth" - rarely, if ever, seen today. Many younger people won't even know what a "phone booth" was. Even a "public telephone" would be hard to find today unless you are in an airport.