SLANGTIONARY: words and expressions from the past

By Ken Taylor and Barbara Wittenberg Taylor '60

Here is a list of words and expressions seldom heard these days. In the streets of Levittown in the 1950s, however, one was likely to commonly hear these terms. Previous Slangtionary lists were posted in this blog on December 5 and 6.

Ixnay - Pig Latin for nix

Poodle Skirts - Must have woman's skirt for the school dances. Worn in the movie Grease by The Pink Ladies (see photo above)

Curb Feelers - Twisted wire connected to your right front bumper to "feel" for the curb to protect your car

Hollywood Mufflers - a must have sound for your set of wheels, also illegal to install

See you later alligator - Goodbye (from Bill Haley and the Comets)

After awhile crocodile - What your answer is to the above

Sock Hop - Friday night dance at the school gym, no shoes allowed

Riding the clutch - to get more traction from the clutch for more speed

Cheat Sheet - Answers to the school exam that you snuck in to an exam room

Haul Ass - Leave the scene ASAP, usually in a car

Suicide knob - attached to the steering wheel for one-handed turning of the wheel

Suicide seat - also called the "shotgun seat" the right front passenger seat

Holy Mackerel! - Wow, unbelievable!

Set of Wheels - Your car, usually your first set of wheels

F-- you and the horse you rode in on - Basically "Go to Hell"

Cancer Sticks - cigarettes

Bet your bottom dollar - I totally agree with you

Four on the Floor - Manuel shift car with the stick shift on the floor

Garrison Belt - All "Hoods" wore them; a thick black belt

Zippo Lighter - Many people carried one whether they smoked or not. They had to learn how to flick it open with one hand.

Chocolate Egg Cream - The drink of the 1950s

Vanilla Egg Cream - The runner-up in the best drink contest

Strawberry Egg Cream - No such thing

Over the shoulder boulder holder - A bra

SLANGTIONARY PART 2: words and expressions out of the past

Here is part 2 of a list of words and expressions seldom heard these days. In the streets of Levittown in the 1950s, however, one was likely to commonly hear these terms. We have omitted terms of profane, sexual, racial and ethnic natures as those are readily available elsewhere on the Internet.

J
Jailbait - underage girl; sometimes Stacked (see under S)
Johnny-Ride-a-Pony - schoolyard game involving vaulting onto players’ backs
J.D. - juvenile delinquent

L
Large charge - something exciting causes it
Lucky duck - fortunate person

M
Made in the shade - success, successful
Make out, making out - kissing and hugging with all four hands above the waist; vs. Petting (see under P)
Make the scene - be there
Meanwhile, back at the ranch – sarcastic prompt to get speaker back on the subject
Mimeo- a copy made by machine (Mimeograph)
Monkey-in-the-Middle - keepaway street game

N
Natives - A group of mostly harmless guys who hung out at the North Village Green.
No sweat - easy
Noogie - rap on the skull; to hit someone on the top of the head with one knuckle extended

O
Oddball - strange person
Ollie Ollie in come free!- you can come out of your hiding place, you are not “it”
Out-to-lunch - dazed mental state

P
Pad - apartment, home
Pajama party- group sleepover (usually girls and ONLY girls)
Panic, a - something funny
Party pooper - event spoiler
Passion pit - drive-in theater
Pea shooter-small straw-like tube for shooting beans or peas from mouth (bane of moviegoers)
Peel out - burn-rubber departure
Pegged pants - formal trousers especially for Hoods (see under H), Rocks (see under R)
Penguin - teaching nun
Petting - making out (see under M) with hands possibly drifting below the waist
Pididdle - car with one headlight; supposed reason for a kiss from date
Pinkball - Spalding rubber ball; also stickball
Potsie - sidewalk game aka hopscotch
Pusher - drug dealer
Put out - girl willing to Pet (see under P)

R
Rank, Rankout - clever put down, usually as humorous and insulting as possible, as in, “If b.s. was cement, you’d be a 10-lane highway to Alaska”
Rat fink - tattler or total jerk
Raunchy - messy or gross
Red Rover Come Over - field game sans equipment similar to All Across (see under A); good groping opportunities when played co-ed
Ring-a-Levio - form of hide and seek
Rock - Hood
Rubber - condom; often used in sarcasm, as in “What’s that got to do with the price of rubbers?”
Rumble - gang fight
Running Bases - 3-man catch and tag game similar to Monkey-in-the–Middle (see under M) that simulates a player getting caught in a rundown between bases

S
Salugi - keepaway game involving the snatch of something (usually hat or school book) belonging to another and tossing it back and forth with a third person to prevent the owner from getting it back
Scene, the - the place or event
Scream - something very funny
Shotgun! - front seat call, Dibs! (see under D); used when traveling with family; mothers always trumped call
Smarty pants- a know-it-all
Smartass- wiseacre (see under W) know-it-all
Sock hop - informal dance
Spaldeen - Spalding made rubber ball, pinkball (see under P)
Split - to leave
Spud - game of It involving throwing a ball to tag the victim; also putrid-tasting cigarette brand
Stacked - large-breasted, referring to a female
Stickball - broomstick-bat pinkball (see under P) baseball played in street; also 2-man version on schoolyard wall
Stick up - to defend, as in “Why don’t you stick up for me?”
Stoop ball - game played with tennis ball or Spaldeen (see under S) batless baseball variation
Straighten up and fly right - behavioral advice similar to Wise Up! (see under W)
Straight Arrow- well-behaved goody two shoes (see under G)
Submarine races – making out (see under M) near water
Square, a - uncool conformist

T
Tear ass - to go very fast
Think fast! - reflex check
Threads - wardrobe
Three on a match - bad luck to third person (dates to WWI trench warfare; third man often shot by snipers)
Thrown to the wolves - to sacrifice; due to shortage of wolves, today synonymous phrase is “throw under the bus”
Tinkle - ladylike term for urination

U
Up yours! - verbalization of middle finger gesture often accompanied by upfisted crook arm flourish
Upsie daisy - cute saying while helping one to one’s feet after mishap

W
Wasted - drunk
Way out! - innovative
Wazoo - anal canal often used to in quantitative description, as in “I’ve got homework tonight up the wazoo!”
Weed - cigarette
White bucks - laced white suede shoes with red soles
Wild - amazing thing
Wiseacre - smartass (see under S)
Wise guy - smart aleck
Wisenheimer-sarcastic variation of wise guy, wiseacre (see above)
Wise up! - truculent behavior suggestion
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Thank you to Jeff McGann who compiled this list for the Forest Hills Club website. It
has been edited to provide a Levittown flavor.

SLANGTIONARY PART 1: words and expressions from the past

D.A. – hairstyle resembling a duck’s ass

Here is a list of words and expressions seldom heard these days. In the streets of Levittown in the 1950s, however, one was likely to commonly hear these terms. We have omitted terms of profane, sexual, racial and ethnic natures as those are readily available elsewhere on the Internet. Compilers are not representing this as a complete list and additions, corrections, and suggestions are earnestly solicited.

A
Ass kisser - suck-up; results in being a brown noser (see under B)
Ass wagon - cool car

B
Bad news - a trouble person, as in “he’s bad news”
Bag - thing, as in “it ain’t my bag”
Barf - to vomit after over-imbibing alcohol at a bash (see under B)
Bash - great party
Bombed - really drunk
Boss - something cool, good
Bent - to drop dead, as in “get bent!”
Big Shot - an important person
Bit - an act, premise, as in “get the bit” i.e. to understand
Blast - good time
BMOC- big man on campus
Bob, Bobbed - a short hairstyle, as in “she got her hair bobbed at John Christie’s”
Bread - money
Brown noser - habitual ass kisser (see under A)
Bug - to annoy
Bug out - to leave
Burn rubber - to screech off in car

C
Can’t beat it with a stick- something really great
Cat - cool guy
Chariot - car
Cherry - good; also a virgin
Chinos - khaki trousers with a little belt and buckle in the back
Cinch, a – easy
Cheesit, the cops! - Run!
Chucker - basketball player who shoots a lot
Chicken fight - 2 vs. 2 wrestling while riding on partner’s shoulder, often played in water
City, the - Manhattan
Coffin nails – cigarettes
Cool - indefinable great quality, extraordinary
Cool it! - Relax!
Country club - an easy school
Crack up - to laugh heartily, as in “When he said that, it really cracked me up”
Crazy - implies a good thing, as in “That’s crazy, man”
Cream - to ejaculate; also damage
Cruisin’ for a bruisin’ - pushing the limit(s)
Crush - to like someone romantically
Cut out - to leave, as in “I’m cuttin’ out”

D
D.A. – hairstyle resembling a duck’s ass
Daddy-O – casual form of address
Depants - to forcibly remove an individual’s trousers in public
Devil Dogs - devil’s food cake with creamy filling, hot dog bun shaped
Dibs - a claim on something
Dig - to understand
Dip, dipshit - real jerk or fool in presence of parents or clergy, dipstick
Dippy - crazy
Ditch - to suddenly leave or disappear on a friend or group
Dog - ugly or generally poor
Dork - nerd
Drag - depressing, a bore
Drag- a puff on a cigarette
Dunce- a dope
Dutch treat - something for which you split the check, also go Dutch (see under G)

E
Engineer boots - heavy black work boots worn by Rocks (see under R)

F
Fake out - to fool
Falsies - breast size-enhancers often as simple as toilet paper or tissues
Far out - weird, cerebral
Fast - more willing to get into heavy petting (see under P) or more (said of girls, for boys it was a given)
Feel cheap - embarrassed, regretful
Fink - to squeal, tattletale
Flake - unreliable person
Flicks - movies at the Meadowbrook Theater
Flip - to get excited (over)
Forty five- record speed and type of popular music record of the era. Also, the player with thick spindle.
Fracture - to amuse
Frosted – angry
Fruitcake- crazy as in “He’s a fruitcake” or “He’s nuttier than a fruitcake”
Fuzz, the - police

G
Garrison belt - heavily buckled wide leather belt swung in fights by Hoods (see under H), Rocks (see under R)
Gas - Sinatraese for “fun”
Geek - gangly one; sometimes also nerdy and/or dorky
Gee Whiz! - expression of regret or amazement
Get the heave- to be unceremoniously sacked or thrown out
Get on the stick - to become aware, capable
Get with it! - similar to Get on the stick (see under G)
Gig - occupation, performance
Go ape shit - to go crazy
Go Dutch - to split or share expenses
Going steady- serious dating relationship
Golly - similar to Gee Whiz (see under G)
Goof-off - [noun] malingerer
Goody two shoes – uncommonly good person (from 1934 children’s story character)
Goose - [verb] usually involving rear end-grabbing, jabbing, poking
Green, The - places kids hung out, for example the North Village Green

H
Hack around - to loiter and/or fool around aimlessly
Hairy - close call or situation, dangerous
Hangout - loitering place such as the North Village Green
Hard up - in dire need, as in “If she went out with him she must be really hard up”
Hep - being with it, knowing the situation
Hip - someone cool, in-the-know, up to date
Hi-Fi - expensive record player
Hit the road - to depart
Hock - to swipe, steal
Hood - hoodlum often clad in black leather jacket, engineer boots, garrison belt (see under G) with D.A. (see under D)
Hot-to-trot- willingly anxious (usually used in a sexual context)
Hump - loser, as in “What a hump!”

I
I.D. bracelet- usually a male’s chain bracelet with rectangular plaque inscribed with name or initials often worn by girlfriend when ( see under G) Going Steady
Indian giver - one who takes back a gift
Indian rope burn - twisting of wrist skin to cause pain
Indian wrestling – strength contest involving pulling opponent off balance while shaking hands
Island, the - Nassau and Suffolk Counties
Ivy League - dress style incorporating pants with a little belt in the back, white bucks (see under W), V-neck sweater often draped around shoulders
Ivy Leaguer - clean-cut collegiate-looking guy; opposite of Hood (see under H), Rock (see under R)
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Part 2 of Slangtionary will be posted tomorrow.
Thank you to Jeff McGann who compiled this list for the Forest Hills Club website. It
has been edited to provide a Levittown flavor. If you have suggestions for additions, send them to fbarning@cox.net