words your grandparents used (quote)

[Cunucu Beach]

"installment plan" - now we use credit cards

"charge account" - not totally obsolete but not common anymore as most merchants take credit cards today

"talkies" - movies with audio

"piles" - hemorrhoids

"pyromaniac" - an arsonist who sets fires to structures for the pleasure of watching them burn

"lumberjack" - a logger

"scullery" - a small room adjoining a kitchen, in which dishwashing and other kitchen chores are done

"speakeasy" - a bar that sold alcohol during the years of Prohibition

"flea bag" - a dirty, sleazy hotel that rented their rooms very cheaply, often by the hour

"flop house" - a flea bag hotel

"fox trot" - a dance step--two steps one direction, one step the other direction

[Cunucu Beach]

"poppycock" - another of my grandmother's favorites

"woo" - to court a lady

"spooning" - I think this was the equivalent of "necking"

"whoremonger" - a womanizer

"posy" - a flower or small bouquet

"sashay" - prance around

"prissy" - usually applied to someone sashaying around

"finger curls" - long curls all around one's head; young girls often had their hair in these curls

"take a powder" - leave

[skippercollector]

Regarding "two bits":
In the 1800s, there were dollar coins, although I don't know if they were gold or silver. People actually cut the dollars like a pie into eight pieces. So each "bit" was worth 12 1/2 cents. In other words, "two bits" came to 25 cents.

[Cunucu Beach]

Originally Posted by skippercollector

Regarding "two bits":
In the 1800s, there were dollar coins, although I don't know if they were gold or silver. People actually cut the dollars like a pie into eight pieces. So each "bit" was worth 12 1/2 cents. In other words, "two bits" came to 25 cents.

Interesting "bit" of trivia.

[imcurious]

Fascinating. Thank you so much!

[Tantalust]

Originally Posted by hey teach

My grandfather used the word "ought" for zero. When he would help me with my arithemetic he would use "ought" and I thought it was so funny. How much I would love to hear him use that word again.

Yeah, that's kinda neat.

Although ought is still used today describing wire gauging size.

ex: 000 (3/0), usually called "three ought", a very heavy gauge wire, commonly found in electrical services.

[Tantalust]

Originally Posted by skippercollector

Regarding "two bits":
In the 1800s, there were dollar coins, although I don't know if they were gold or silver. People actually cut the dollars like a pie into eight pieces. So each "bit" was worth 12 1/2 cents. In other words, "two bits" came to 25 cents.

A very old joke I once heard told :

-------------------------------------

Joe shows up at work with a huge bruise on the side of his head.

Coworker: "Joe, what happened to you?"

"Oh, I had a fight with my wife. I called her a two-bit floozy, then she hit me."

"What in the world did she hit you with?!"

Spoiler

"A sack of quarters".

[in_newengland]

Watch out or I'll TAN YOUR HIDE!

[Cunucu Beach]

Here's a word we are all familiar with, thanks to movies, television and fiction, but which we rarely hear or use conversationally anymore.......(except maybe when referring to certain motorcycle gangs)......

"outlaw"

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by Cunucu Beach

Here's a word we are all familiar with, thanks to movies, television and fiction, but which we rarely hear or use conversationally anymore.......(except maybe when referring to certain motorcycle gangs)......

"outlaw"

My wife calls my family out-laws, as opposed to in-laws.