# Slang terms and idioms that have stood the test of time
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 11, 2022, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317 "2022-02-11T14:40:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/81 "2022-02-14T17:22:25Z")
> [@solost](#):
>
> Very interesting how adjectives can shift meanings like that. It’s not slang, but it reminds me of the word ‘sophisticated’ for some reason, which today is very positive, meaning worldly and refined; but used to be very negative, meaning dishonest, manipulative or misleading.
My understanding the same was true for “entrepreneur”. In English, it used to have a negative connotation, implying someone was a shady, dishonest businessman.
Getting back to the OP, what about “dude”? While the meaning has changed over time, the word originated in the late 19th century.
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/82 "2022-02-14T17:33:13Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#):
>
> Getting back to the OP, what about “dude”? While the meaning has changed over time, the word originated in the late 19th century.
Yep, the term ‘dude’ used to be an insulting term Western folks would call Easterners who’d come out West being overly fancily dressed and sticking out in a crowd-- similar to ‘city slicker’. Hence the term ‘dude ranch’-- a ranch for city slickers to pretend they were cowboys.
Then the term evolved until The Big Lebowski was called ‘The Dude’ in terms of reverent respect (a character who was the polar opposite of being overly fancily dressed).
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/83 "2022-02-14T17:36:46Z")
> [@solost](#):
>
> Then the term evolved until The Big Lebowski was called ‘The Dude’ in terms of reverent respect (a character who was the polar opposite of being overly fancily dressed).
Between the two, it was adopted from surfer slang to just mean "guy’.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/84 "2022-02-14T17:44:53Z")
Yeah, “cool” goes back surprisingly far. Tom Lehrer parodies the “cool school” of jazz in his 1959 version of “Clementine”
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### Author:  [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/85 "2022-02-14T18:59:41Z")
In the 1990’s I was with some teenagers. One of them said “sucks”. A “good kid”, told him not to use suck, but use stink instead,
Shortly after that I was watching The Philadelphia Story. In the movie a kid said “stinks”. An adult told her not to say stinks, but use “smell” instead.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/86 "2022-02-14T19:07:34Z")
One bit of slang that has not withstood the test of time
**QUOZ**
If you look it up online you get this:
> [@](#):
>
> - An odd or ridiculous person or thing; (with plural agreement) people or things of this kind. Also as interjection: expressing incredulity or contempt.
> **[Dictionary.com | Meanings & Definitions of English Words](https://www.dictionary.com/)**
>
> The world's leading online dictionary: English definitions, synonyms, word origins, example sentences, word games, and more. A trusted authority for 25+ years!
But that doesn’t give you the full flavor of the brief period in the early 19th century when “quoz” became what we today would have to call a _meme_
It’s recorded in Charles Mackay’s wonderful 1841 book **Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds**
> [@](#):
>
> London is peculiarly fertile in this sort of phrases, which spring up suddenly, no one knows exactly in what spot, and pervade the whole population in a few hours, no one knows how. Many years ago the favourite phrase (for, though but a monosyllable, it was a phrase in itself) was Quoz. This odd word took the fancy of the multitude in an extraordinary degree, and very soon acquired an almost boundless meaning. When vulgar wit wished to mark its incredulity and raise a laugh at the same time, there was no resource so sure as this popular piece of slang. When a man was asked a favour which he did not choose to grant, he marked his sense of the suitor’s unparalleled presumption by exclaiming Quoz! When a mischievous urchin wished to annoy a passenger, and create mirth for his chums, he looked him in the face, and cried out Quoz! and the exclamation never failed in its object. When a disputant was desirous of throwing a doubt upon the veracity of his opponent, and getting summarily rid of an argument which he could not overturn, he uttered the word Quoz, with a contemptuous curl of his lip and an impatient shrug of his shoulders. The universal monosyllable conveyed all his meaning, and not only told his opponent that he lied, but that he erred egregiously if he thought that any one was such a nincompoop as to believe him. Every alehouse resounded with Quoz; every street corner was noisy with it, and every wall for miles around was chalked with it.
>
> But, like all other earthly things, Quoz had its season, and passed away as suddenly as it arose, never again to be the pet and the idol of the populace. A new claimant drove it from its place, and held undisputed sway till, in its turn, it was hurled from its pre-eminence, and a successor appointed in its stead.
[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/636/636-h/636-h.htm](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/636/636-h/636-h.htm)
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/87 "2022-02-14T20:09:38Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > nincompoop
Now that’s also a mighty fine word. Was it also 19th century slang? Has it stood the test of time? I don’t know when I learned that word, but it’s not so long ago and it probably was on this board. I also read a lot of 19th century literature, maybe I have it from there.
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/88 "2022-02-14T20:19:46Z")
Samuel Johnson thought it came from _non compos mentis_ which is Latin for…well, “nincompoop”. I assume “ninny” is a shortened form.
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/89 "2022-02-14T20:24:59Z")
I always assumed that, I didn’t know it came from Johnson. If it’s not true (I don’t know what you’d call that, like a backronym?), it’s one hell of a coincidence.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/90 "2022-02-14T20:30:02Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#):
>
> I don’t know when I learned that word, but it’s not so long ago and it probably was on this board.
I absolutely learned this word from Bugs Bunny.
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/91 "2022-02-14T20:52:57Z")
I only ever watched Bugs Bunny in the German dub, so it’s not from there. Now I wonder what they translated nincompoop to…
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### Author:  [@Mr.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.E)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/92 "2022-02-14T21:01:50Z")
> [@AskNott](#):
>
> I worked with a guy who used “the cat’s ass” to mean the best possible option. I wondered when the cat’s pajamas became the cat’s ass, and how many body parts were tried and rejected before settling on ass.
Given how proud my cats are of their asses and how often they display them to me they must be very special body parts indeed.
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### Author:  [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2022, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/93 "2022-02-15T05:10:51Z")
> [@TRC4941](#):
>
> Has anyone mentioned “neat”? I use “cool” and “neat” quite often.
I use it in certain bars. It is the only way to order whiskey.
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### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2022, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/94 "2022-02-15T19:50:41Z")
Tango Uniform is still relevant.
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### Author:  [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2022, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/95 "2022-02-15T23:42:08Z")
🤷🏽
Was that in the right thread? Or is that cool slang from _yo’ hood_, back in the Eisenhower Era?
“So what’s hipness, beat poet pal o’ mine?”
[snapping fingers] “Ever’thang is ever’thang, it all be _Tango Uniform,_ mister crewcut man…”
“You are correct, improvisational goatee fellow. _Tango Uniform_ indeed…” [pulls comb out of penny loafer]
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2022, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/96 "2022-02-16T00:36:44Z")
[ ](https://i.imgur.com/BViiX.jpg)
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### Author:  [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2022, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/97 "2022-02-16T10:26:51Z")
> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> I’m 44 and do recall my parents being bizarrely insistent when I was in middle school that it “sucks” was vulgar before apparently realizing that it no longer had the same suggestive connotation to kids as when they were young, and no longer objecting when we said it.
I’m 42 and had the exact. same. experience.
Now even my mother will sometimes say something sucks, herself.
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> I just assumed it was nouning “bad” to mean “mistake” or “fault.”
Did you just … verbify the word “noun” ?!?
Well done, good sir. Well done.
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### Author:  [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2022, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/98 "2022-02-16T11:24:37Z")
I often hold entire conversations with dull blabber-mouths just using the words “cool” and “sucks”, with a few modifiers thrown in to boot. It’s a way to appear engaged in the conversation, while not really listening, and making the chat as short as possible.
Blabber-mouth: _blabber, blabber, blabber…_
Tibby: _cool!_
Blabber-mouth: _blabber, blabber, blabber…_
Tibby: _that sucks._
Blabber-mouth: _blabber, blabber, blabber…_
Tibby: _that really sucks._
Blabber-mouth: _blabber, blabber, blabber…_
Tibby: _cool, man._
Blabber-mouth: _blabber, blabber, blabber…_
Tibby: _that sucks big time._
Blabber-mouth: _blabber, blabber, blabber…_
Tibby: [looks at watch] _Hey, man, it was cool talking with you, but sucks I gotta go now and see a man about a horse._
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2022, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/99 "2022-02-16T12:30:56Z")
> [@Tibby](#):
>
> …just using the words “cool” and “sucks”, with a few modifiers thrown in to boot.
“cool” and “sucks” pretty much covers the entire describable spectrum of life, with perhaps “meh” centered in between.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2022, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/100 "2022-02-16T12:39:34Z")
“Saucered and blowed” — hmmm, it’s still somewhat used, but not so much these days.
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