Lost Words

 

LOST WORDS FROM OUR CHILDHOOD

Yep, remember them all...........💗

Some of you may be too young .........

Mergatroyd!...

Do you remember that word? Would you believe the spell-checker did

not recognize the word Mergatroyd? Heavens to Mergatroyd!

The other day a not so elderly (I say 75) lady said something to

her son about driving a Jalopy; and he looked at her quizzically

and said "What the heck is a Jalopy?" He never heard of the word

jalopy!! She knew she was old.... But not that old.

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

About a month ago, I illuminated some old 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, and 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.

Heavens to Betsy! Gee whillikers! Jumping Jehoshaphat! Holy moley!

We were in like Flynn 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.

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!” 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. This can be disturbing stuff!

(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! Oki-doki

WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE FABULOUS 50'S..NO ONE WILL EVER HAVE

THAT OPPORTUNITY AGAIN...WE WERE GIVEN ONE OF OUR MOST PRECIOUS GIFTS:

LIVING IN THE PEACEFUL AND COMFORTABLE TIMES, CREATED FOR US BY

THE “GREATEST GENERATION!”