# "Aw, Nerts!" Antiquated Phrases You've Heard or Used **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 29, 2002, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286 "2002-04-29T14:07:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/1 "2002-04-29T14:07:12Z")
I was walkin’ down the street yesterday and I heard a fellow talking about his car to another fellow: “I don’t care if it breaks down while I’M driving it, but my wife don’t know shit from Shinola!” I gave a little squeak of delight, as I so rarely hear that phrase (though I have had much occasion to use it myself this past month). I sprinkle my conversation with 1920s-era expletives such as “nerts,” “ba-nanner oil” and “ain’t THAT a load o’ clams!” James Lileks recently discussed the phrase “get a horse!” (yelled to people in broken-down cars, c1910), which still pops up from time to time—I yelled it at a friend in the subway, after I’d breezed through the turnstile with my token and he was still re-swiping his Metrocard. How about you—have you heard, or do you use, phrases whose sell-by dates expired ages ago? ---
**Author:** ![Gundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/2 "2002-04-29T15:10:18Z")
I use “shit from Shinola” occasionally. I say “criminy!” a LOT; I call snobs cake-eaters; when stuff is good it’s spiffy, swanky, keen, ritzy, or the bee’s knees, and I express shock with “Well I’ll be!” and “Land sakes!” I don’t think I’m anywhere near your encyclopedia knowledge of antiquated phrases, though. I’ll have to work on it. ---
**Author:** ![Gundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/3 "2002-04-29T15:12:24Z")
I meant encyclopedi **C** , of course. ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/4 "2002-04-29T15:54:13Z")
My favorite phrase is: “And Bob’s your Uncle!” I don’t know if it’s antiquated or just British (same thing actually). ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/5 "2002-04-29T15:54:42Z")
Oh, your “criminy!” reminded me, I do use “Jiminy Crickets!” a lot, too. ---
**Author:** ![Gundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/6 "2002-04-29T16:01:21Z")
I’ll see your Jiminy Cricket and raise you a “yumpin yiminy!” ---
**Author:** ![Lyllyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lyllyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lyllyan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/7 "2002-04-29T16:02:53Z")
My grandmother always use to say “Good Night, Nurse” whatever the hell that’s suppose to mean. Others… “Well, I swan” I think this is just a regionalism and was never in the mainstream vernacular. “Stove Up” as in, “I cleaned out the garage yesterday and now I am all stove up.” “Fall out” as in…“she is in the hospital cause yesterday, when it was so hot, she just fell out.” Bathe - rather than wash off or take a bath, one “bathes”. ---
**Author:** ![Nausicaa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@Nausicaa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nausicaa)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/8 "2002-04-29T16:11:53Z")
My mother taught me “Cheese and Rice” and “'phooey” - and I use both everyday. People seem to love phooey a lot - I get a lot of comments about that one. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/9 "2002-04-29T16:30:23Z")
My wife’s parents lived a substantial distance from their own parents during her birth, childhood, and youth. One of the first homes they rented was an apartment in the house of the widow who was my great-aunt, who served as an “honorary granny” to her for most of her early life. A lot of old rural upstate New York terminology got handed down through the two families – and every so often, fishing for the proper term, we’ll hit on one of it, and end up laughing over it. Some classics: \> “Icebox” (Never mind that it’s a frost-free electric refrigerator and that neither of us have ever seen an actual icebox-style food-cooler outside a museum; that’s what our grandparents called it.) \> “Wheel” (Apparently exclusive to my paternal grandparents and aunt, this was the term for a bicycle.) \> “Sitting room” (Distinguished from a parlor, this was an auxiliary casual room with couch and armchair, usually smaller in size, where people could go when desiring private conversation while the living room was otherwise occupied.) \> “Down home” (Not the southern usage for “folksy”, it merely meant the residence of any grandparent.) \> “Opera glasses” and “binoculars” (two similar but distinct optical instruments) as exact synonyms. There are easily a hundred others, but those come to mind. Also, a verbal faux pas committed by my aunt that became a catch phrase – Referring to the decline in daylight hours and consequently earlier sunsets as fall advanced, she remarked, “It gets late so early these days!” ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/10 "2002-04-29T16:35:53Z")
The midwestern version of “shinola” is “apple butter”, as in “He doesn’t know shit from apple butter”. Apple butter??? I think the upper midwest is the retirement home for antiquated phrases. They’re dozens still in common use up there. I think it’s the Lutherans. Let me think of some more… ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/11 "2002-04-29T16:38:25Z")
Hm. Can I get any points for “Egads”, “Gadzooks”, “Ye cats”, and “Odd’s bodkins”, all of which I say regularly? How about “By Gadfrey”, as in, “Are you threatening me, sir? For if you are, by Gadfrey, I’ll…” ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/12 "2002-04-29T16:44:35Z")
I’m a big time user of “gosh.” As in, “Gosh, I don’t think I can handle much more today.” It’s not a profanity substitute; witness today’s “Gosh, I hate this goddamned town.” There are times when I can hardly start a sentence without it. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/13 "2002-04-29T16:48:07Z")
Some more I remember from college in Wisconsin - “By gosh” Verbal exclamation point, as in “He slipped and fell in the hog trough, by gosh!” “Galoshes” Almost any shoe you wear in bad weather. “Market” Grocery store, but also a catch-all for almost any type of store, e.g. hardware, liquor, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Clever\_Hans](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Clever\_Hans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clever_Hans)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/14 "2002-04-29T16:50:13Z")
Well I use great googely moogely, but lets face facts, I got that one from a commercial for snickers. I still use “hoot” but mayhaps that came back into the mainstream thanks to the efforts of a certain cartoon cow, who will remain nameless. I see alot of words that I use, and could not help but put a sweedish accent to yumpin yiminy. ---
**Author:** ![Pencepon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@Pencepon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pencepon)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/15 "2002-04-29T17:11:20Z")
“NOW you’re cooking with gas!” (Meaning, now you’re seeing some success from your efforts, or now you’re speeding up your process.) I don’t know if this is strictly North Dakota Norwegian Lutheran (from my mother) or was ever more universally used: “That looks like tunket!” (Awful.) And, “Honey, why are you looking bedottly?” (Sad, downcast.) Oh, and “It looks as though it’s going to clobber up and churn!” (Rain.) And Bob’s your uncle! (Yes, **Encinitas,** I say it all the time too…and I’ve got people in my office saying it now!) ---
**Author:** ![aenea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@aenea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aenea)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/16 "2002-04-29T17:34:47Z")
Right arm! Jee whilikers, what a keen thread idea! Jinkines, I’ll have to stop giggling now, or my office mates will think I’ve gone right over the edge. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/17 "2002-04-29T18:57:21Z")
During an army training course in 1996, I told another student that he was a “rube” because he was all goggle-eyed at _Tomb Raider_. This became a standard course phrase directed at anyone (including me) who said something dumb or obvious. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/18 "2002-04-29T19:07:40Z")
I have a fondness for “Heavens to Betsy!”, which was a favorite of my late grandmother. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/19 "2002-04-29T19:09:27Z")
Aw, “rube” isn’t all that dated. I like using “jay” to mean the same thing, which goes back to the 1880s at least and NOBODY knows what it means any more. (Although “jay-walker” is still in common use, derived from the the spectacle the poor bumpkin made rushing across the avenue flapping his arms and ducking between the horse-cars.) I also enjoy calling someone “strictly a _square_ from Dela_ware_.” ---
**Author:** ![Lennygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Lennygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lennygirl)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286/20 "2002-04-29T19:24:35Z")
You can tell some of us hung out with our grandparents a lot. When I became a mom, I foreswore the swearing and started using grandma-speak. I now say “goodness gracious!” “criminy!” “jeezum crow,” and when searching for something which has been in plain sight all the time, “well, if it had been a snake, it’d bit me.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-nerts-antiquated-phrases-youve-heard-or-used/106286.md?page=2)