"Aw, Nerts!" Antiquated Phrases You've Heard or Used

You folks are a bunch of weirdos. I’ll have no truck with you!

Hey, let’s not get personal here.

But to contribute, I recall my grandmother (born 1900) using the phrase “man on the moon” to describe the epitome of ignorance, as in: “He no more knows how to run a business than the man on the moon.”

And I was surprised when I heard my brother-in-law, a native Texan, call someone a peckerhead. I had never heard anyone say this with a straight face before. But I guess that’s more of a redneck-ism than an antiquity.

I think I must have missed a few pages of the thread somewhere. Here’s a few of my favorites that I use all of the time.

And, yes, I do get strange looks …
Golly Gee Whillikers

As in, “wow!”
Fritterpated

As in frazzled.
Me bucko

Informal term of address.
Kabloona

Derisive term from a WC Fields movie.

[Well baloney, Mahoney, Malarkey, you big Kabloona!]
Dang nab it!

Mild oath
Va va voom

Verbal substitute for a wolf whistle.
Neatarino

Replaced by, “cool!”
Verschluginer

From MAD Magazine. Old Yiddish idiom. Mild oath.
Left handed catawumpus

Vague descriptor.
Febelvetzer

Another MAD magazine inarticulate noun.
See you in the funny papers

Informal goodbye.
Tommyrot!

Bringlish for “garbage!”
Horseradish!

Slang for “garbage!”
Horsefeathers!

Slang for “garbage!”
Horse Hockey!

Slang for “garbage!”
Bull Hockey!

Slang for “garbage!”
Malarkey!

Slang for “garbage!”
Bull’s pizzle!

Derisive Shakespearean comment.
A mare’s nest

Legendary yet elusive item.
Hen’s Teeth

Legendary yet elusive item.
Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?

Derisive goodbye.
Heaven the thought

(Used in conjunction with “Perish Forbid!”)
Stylin’

Departing
Rainlocker

Canuck for the shower stall.
What a duck!

Derisive term for a lamewad.
Hot Dang Dilly!

Emphatic exclamation.
Shuckey Darn!

Emphatic exclamation.
What a wahoo!

A yokel.
Yokel

See wahoo.
Smart as a whip

Praise.
Silly goose!

Mild insult.
Dunderhead

Dolt
Christmas List

Roster of enemies.
Holy Moses!

Mild oath.
Whosit

Inarticulate noun
Whatsit

Inarticulate noun
Whatchamacallit

Inarticulate noun
Thingummie

Inarticulate noun
Thingumajig

Inarticulate noun
Thingamabob

Inarticulate noun
Humma ding ding

Inarticulate noun
Homina homina

Inarticulate stammer (Ralph Kramden)
The dog’s bark

Superlative
Pull up a chair and sit on the floor.

Informal welcome.
Sit down and make yourself homely.

Informal welcome.
Ver gingle dingin’!

My own inarticulate expletive.

I’ll think of some more later.

Finagle

To inveigle

Ratso!

Mild oath
Mouse nuts

Anything truly minor.
Clear as mud

Something non-obvious.

Blast!

mild oath

Sozzled

Sodden or drunk
Shoes are too tight

Describing an irritable person
Hoo hah

Outcry or shrugging off of something
Brou-hah-hah

Imbroglio
To beat the band

Superlative
Headed south for the winter

Out of commission or departed
On the Fritz

Inoperative
On the blink

Inoperative
Crusin’ for a brusin’

Asking for trouble
Bling blanged!

Mild oath
Poppycock!

Bringlish for ‘garbage!’

…and the horse you rode in on.

peckerhead is the only word I have every heard used both by white people to criticize other white people and by black people to criticize white people. And I mean in a nasty way. I’ve never head a white person call another person a cracker in a nasty way. And I’ve never heard a white person call another white person ofay.

Has anyone noticed that the current vogue for Snoop-styel shizzle nizzle is, in addition to being a new element in the ageless tradition of nonsense, a lot like Tin Pan Alley nonsense and the later work of Ish Kabibble, such as “Mairzy Doats”?

I’m fond of both ’ You’re the cat’s pajamas’ and ‘You’re the bees knees’.

I was recently exposed to " too cool for school " and I find that to be acceptable. :slight_smile:

Cartooniverse

My brother and I call each other “cracker” all the time.

I used to call my black students “cracker” just to make them laugh. “Now LaQuandra, stop being a cracker.” Worked like a charm. Student can’t stay angry with you while laughing.

Ooh, and I like “right as rain”.