Words you knew as a kid that are no longer in use today....

Bear - police Thats one my father always used

 

A friend and I were discussing this the other day. It's not a word, but a phrase, and it's certainly something that wouldn't be said today, but we used to hear it all the time when growing up in the Fifties. One kid would ask another, "Hey where did you get that?" and the other kid would answer, "Stole it off a dead Jap", or "Stole it off a dead Kraut." I suppose we were exposed to older men who had been through WWII, and there was no such thing as political correctness in those days.

Not intending to be offensive.

 

We used to say "bit-chin" a lot (without the hyphen) for "cool".

Also "Boss!" when something was awesome. Hey, it was Phoenix in the 60's. What do you want?

 

Gnarly!

I think most famous when used by Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.


Of course who can forget: "My dad has an ultimate set of tools. I can fix it."

 

White-Out - liquid paint used to fix typing mistakes.

Encyclopedia - very expensive set of books that tried to be a printed version of all Google searches.

The Clap - the STD everyone was afraid of getting from unprotected sex.

Cowabunga - never knew why people said that.

 

Also, "word!" and "what it is!" were expressions back in the day.

 

Pop. Not the Jedi kind.


I was born in the north. When I moved to Texas, I got made fun of when I said Pop. Now I just call it a coke. I guess it's a Texas thing, after living in Texas for since ~1997 (3rd grade is when I moved to Houston, moved to Austin in 6th grade and finished high school there too.), I picked up some of the Texas lingo. I still haven't really said ya'll though. Just a word I thought was odd.

 

Referring to a telephone as a "horn" or "blower".

Referring to a mobile phone as a "car phone".

Rarely today do I hear the word "tush" when referring to someone's anatomy.

It is today very politically incorrect to refer to someone as "oriental". Asian is now the correct thing to say, although I don't really understand what is offensive with the original but have converted nonetheless.

 

Remember hearing the word Valise to describe a suitcase. Have not heard that one in forty years.

 

remembered from the '50s or '60s:

VD for what are now called STDs.

Ball for having sex.

Pig or pigs in reference to police officers.

Routine use of the N-word by people of all social/economic classes.

Cock to refer to penis had been largely replaced by dick by the time I was old enough to know both of its uses (around 1960)

Poozy then is poozy now.

Gay as happy and carefree was just beginning to change to its current use in the mid '60s.

 

That was a trucker thing after Convoy became popular...

Breaker, breaker good buddy, this is the Rubber Duck. What's your 20, come back?

 

Tube top still in use today - my wife was in the clothing industry, and she's quite fashionable, so I call fail on that one

Some I recall from the 70's / 80's:

Spazz - a nerd or clumsy person
The Man - authority (I actually still use this term for ha-ha's)
Airhead - a ditzy person
Square - a nerd
Honky
Fox - a good looking woman
Smokey - a cop
Bogart - to hog something (although we used to term in a specific context...one I will not mention here )
Bogus - lame (ok - not a noun, but it was too good to pass up)
Hip
Burn out - loser
Cool beans (again, not a noun, but classic)
Funky - something cool (as opposed to the more modern term of "not cool" e.g., you smell "funky")
Gas - awesome! as in "that's the gas!" ... say that now at a gathering, and watch people slowly move away from you as if you passed it...
Heavy - an important thing or point

Probably some others, but you wanted mostly nouns...I gave some adjectives and exclamations, so I call fail on me...

 

'the bomb'.

I guess it's not PC to say.

 

Integrity......

Common sense......

Personal responsibility.......

Initiative......

 

Grody

Swell

My mother-in-law refers to her couch as a divan. I have only heard in person one other man use that word to describe a couch, he is also over 70.

 

+1

 

Please, thank you and you are welcome.

 

I think that one became popular with the teenage mutant ninja turtles. Could be wrong though. That is just what comes to mind.

How sad and how true.

 

That's sad to hear. I guess I have manners.

 

Davenport- sofa or couch. My Grandma used that word.

 

Yes sir and yes ma'am. All the younger crowd seems to say is "yeah" to anything/anyone. And I'm still young and notice it.