(Someone sent this to me the other day.)
What the heck is a 'fender skirt'? I came across the phrase in a book
yesterday, a term I haven't heard in a long time. Thinking about 'fender
skirts' started me thinking about other words that quietly disappear from
our vocabulary with hardly a notice.
Like 'curb feelers', and 'steering knobs'. Since I'd been thinking of cars,
my mind naturally went that direction first. Kids will probably have to find
some person over fifty to explain some of these terms.
Remember 'Continental Kits'? Those rear bumper extensions and spare tire
covers intended to make a car as cool as a Lincoln Continental? Some said
those looked 'real tough'.
And when did we quit calling them 'emergency brakes'? At some point,
'parking brake' became the proper term. I miss the drama that went with
'emergency brake'.
I'm saddened too that most of the folks are gone who called an accelerator
the 'foot feed'.
Did you ever wait at the street for you dad to come home so you could ride
the 'running board' right up to the house?
And here's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth but never hear anymore.
'Store bought'. Just about everything is 'store bought' today, but once it
was bragging material to something 'store bought' - clothes or even a bag of
candy.
How about 'coast to coast'? That phrase once held all sorts of excitement.
Now it means almost nothing. We even take the term 'wide world' for granted.
When was the last time you heard the phrase 'in a family way'? Hard to
imagine that the word 'pregnant' was once considered a little too graphic,
too clinical for use in polite company. So...we had all that talk about
'stork visits' and 'being in the family way'...or simply 'expecting'.
Apparently 'brassiere' is a word no longer in use. Now it's 'bra'.
'Unmentionables' probably wouldn't be understood at all.
We used to go to 'picture shows'. I considered the word 'movie' an
affectation.
Most of these words go back to the 50s. 'Percolators'. Fun to say.
Replaced with 'coffee maker'. And those made-up marketing words -
'Dynaflow' - 'Electrolux' - 'Spectravision'. Oh yeah. Don't hear them
anymore. Replaced by other meaningless hype.
Is it possible that castor oil cured 'lumbago'? Nobody complains about that
anymore. Never hear about moms giving their kids castor oil.
Some words aren't gone but are on the endangered list. What happened to
'supper'? Now it's 'dinner'. Save a word and invite someone to 'supper' to
discuss 'fender skirts' and 'running boards'.
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