Memory of Old Words

I remember... yeah, I lived in a retro hodunk lil town in the north snow. When the world was swooning over the Beatles, we were enamored with Elvis. When the world was wowing over computers and the internet, we were ohhhing over the very thought of microwaved meals. So naturally, I recall words and phrases (still)in common use that were already well passe in the rest of the world.... so here's several of them, and what I thought they ment. .. in no special order.


Flapdoodle - babbling nonsense. She was speaking fluent flapdoodle last evening.

Limelight - put in a spotlight.. on the hotseat, everyone is paying attention to you. "that guy got the short shrift and now he's in the limelight.. he'd better not mess up!

Mudslinging and muckraking - literally what it says is what i know it as. a muckrake is a hard rake made of wood or metal used for mucking out horse/pig/cow stalls. muck being the dirt, stool, hay, dirty mud and whatever else is in the stall. you throw this muck at someone, you -really- don't like them. "Here's mud in yer eye!"

Mud in you're eye! (said in laughter) = a cheer, toasting or praising ..or said/shouted in anger. = (see muckraking)


a buck or to buck - a young daring, brash, or overconfident guy, to object or push away, a male deer, or simply a $1 bill. that guy is just a young buck but he bucked the law, stole a bag of bucks, so they dropped him in the hoosgow.

apothecary - someone who makes and sells herbs, spices and natural medicines. A natural goods store.

asunder - torn apart.

banshee - a screaming ghost foretelling of someone in a family's death.

bedlam - chaos. "it was total bedlam out there."

behoove - It makes sense. to feel obligated. "It behooves me to tell you, as your friend, she's messing around behind you're back."

besmirch - to soil, or dirty up someone's reputation.

betroth - to plan to marry.

bodkin - a small knife, or a leather vest.

breeches/ britches/ or leggings - by the seat of your pants or just pants in general.

brine - well soured or salted water/stock.

bushel - to me, a bushel was a big basket filled with apples or cherries.

caboose - one's backside or the end of a train.

conjure - usually to think up or do something really quick. "as if she conjured it out of thin air."

coxcomb - either an arrogant brash person or the red parts of a rooster's face.

crookback or crookneck - crookback is someone doubled over from a life of hard labor or a mountain pathway that doubles back on itself on a steep grade (aka a switchback), crookneck is someone very disagreeable and argumentative, or someone paying too much attention to neighbors woes.. also known as gawking, craning one's neck, or snooping.

derailed - stopped dead in its tracks, halted, dispersed, scattered, shattered or off on a tangent. "her idle thoughts were completely derailed when she heard the siren."

deserts - this one still mixes me up as i thought it pretty much meant the same thing as the sweets you ate after a meal.. a treat! after all, it was our just deserts! we deserved it! we had it coming to us.. in a good way!

ditty - a quick fun song. like a happy jig.

drab - old, unlovely, faded, being of greys and dull browns, like road dust.

egad! - oh my gosh!, ohno! oh dear! usually said with a bit of exaggerated cheek.

eggpan - a smallish skillet or shallow pan.

eh? or ay? - not really an actual question, more like.. asking if you agree but with no requirement to reply. found at the end of a sentence. "Goodness, the weather is nice, eh?"

eke - (sounds like ekk) as in to eke out a living. to scratch by. to live off the land. getting by.

erstwhile - to be earstwhile.. to be well-to-do, to mean well, on time, attentive. very old word not often used.

figure or reckon - To make a 'best' guess.

fixing - as in fixing to get to it. I intend to do it. a Texas-ism

Flapjack or pancake - interchangeable words. make a batter, pour it onto a skillet, cook until brown, add syrup or jam, and eat. yum!

fro - as in to and fro. (no, not a wonderfully full head of curly hair.), as in to come and go, this way and that.

gay = gleeful, happy, having a great time, joyful. "those at the hootenanny were just having a gay ol time."

hither(or thither) and yon - over here or way over there. here and gone again.

hoosgow - jail or prison.

hootenanny or hoedown - a party with dancing (often with folk or country music), sometimes including picnic lunch or potluck.

housecoat - a bathrobe, or something youd wear only around the house.

houseovercoat - the long coat you would slip on over your housecoat to quickly run to the store in.

hue - as in hue and cry, not as in shade of color. To raise hue and cry is like, yelling for attention.. to raise awareness of something. To make a lot of noise. "With a mighty hue and cry, the crowd ran after the wolf with vengence.

kith - as in kith and kin. meaning family, clan, shirt-tails, cousins, aunts, and uncles... that's about everyone.

lurch - as in leaving someone in a lurch.. not to lurch around like a hunchback. leaving someone in a lurch as like leaving them when they are in the middle of trouble and really could use the help.

nag and dray - a nag was a plodding old horse used to pulling light carts or wagons, raely faster then a slow walk. a dray was the horse or horses (often including the cart) used for heavy labor... pulling heavy things like logs or big supply flats. (a large flat cart or wagon). not a word that was often used.

mullberrying/beating the bush/ or hopscotching - verbally trying to get around having to give a straight or truthful answer. "The guy hopscotched like a total pro around the girl's question of his marrying her."

oft - often. poetry word.

roughshod - to run roughshod over someone, to me, ment the same as beating up or abusing someone... physically or verbally. being too much.. sometimes with no real reason. "don't just run roughshod over the kid when you don't have all the facts."

shrift - was a bit like drawing the short straw with something no-one wanted to do. Being drafted, being harshly critiqued, singled out, or chosen for the worst task possible. being given the 'short shrift' was never a good thing.

sleight - as in sleight of hand. "not slight... even if it meant only by a slight bit."

"snake in the grass" - sly, sneaky, "ol so-n-so", sly old fox.

sooth - and in forsooth or a soothsayer. to speak the, however unbelievable, truth(?).

stalwart - a hero, strong, and good person. unflappable, straight bearing, standing his ground, brave.

"stick in the mud" - stubborn, vexing, stuck in your ways. "he's being an old stick in the mud, forget him."

swain - like a swain. a sailor, servant, or dandy.

thin air - practically nothing.. like a waste of air. "it was all thin air to her."

thwart - stopped, pushed away, or derailed. "The thief was thwarted from carrying out his nefarious plans."

tithe - (sounds like teeth or tie-vth)+ giving money to the church.. a percent of what you have.

to give cheek or being cheeky - to talk back or talk back in a sort of funny way. "pippi is such a cheeky girl."

umbrage - someone talking down to a lesser, being insulting and intentionally crass. "a graduate has just taken umbrage over that freshman student. insulting!" Not a word used often where I come from.. but not unknown.

whence and wherefor - where did you just come from? where are you going and why?

wight - bad undead? beastie of folklore. tall, pale, sharp teeth, dark long sharp claws, impervious to most forms of attack, although not fond of fire. lives in deep caves or mines but able to walk out in the full moon night after or during a rainstorm. always hungry, particularly for children. often leaves bones and other debris outside cave entries. related to the wendigo, barrow wight, and sandwalker.

yepyep - yes. goes with nosiree - no. This was a fairly good give away as to where in the USA i spent my first years. localisms of the mitten state. yoopers or yuppers were those living north of the bridge, and trolls lived to the south of it, in the palm of the mitt.

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+ note to those trying the learn English nuances ... good luck! :D
reference : tithe - (sounds like teeth or tie-vth) The sound th can have 2 ways of pronouncing it. one way is to simply tuck your'e tongue behind your'e teeth and blow air.. resulting in a breathy sounding thh sound. and the other way which makes the th sound harder. as if you were trying to add a z or v's buzzing noise to the th. Tithe can sound either way, like the typical tee'th sound or the harder tie'vth sound.

examples of 'th'
thimble
thatch
thing
thistle

example of 'vth'
them
that
together
this
those