# 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:** 18
**Page:** 7
### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2022, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/121 "2022-02-21T16:17:48Z")
I found this article interesting, and thought it might make a good contribution to this thread:
[https://getpocket.com/explore/item/12-old-words-that-survived-by-getting-fossilized-in-idioms?utm\_source=pocket-newtab](https://getpocket.com/explore/item/12-old-words-that-survived-by-getting-fossilized-in-idioms?utm_source=pocket-newtab)
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### Author:  [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2022, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/122 "2022-02-21T17:23:35Z")
That was quite good. #7, “fro” caught my attention. Apparently there was a usage of “froward” that fell out of favor, probably because it is to easy to mistake for “forward”, but has been partially replaced by “untoward”, a word that puzzled me (in terms of origins) for the longest time.
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### Author:  [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2022, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/123 "2022-02-21T21:32:30Z")
IMO, the 1920s Jazz Age introduced the most colorful slang into the English language, much of which stood the test of time. There’s a pretty good sampling on [this site.](https://www.1920s-fashion-and-music.com/1920s-slang.html)
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### Author:  [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2022, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/124 "2022-02-21T21:46:09Z")
> [@](#):
>
> - Bronx Cheer - To boo someone unmercifully. Usually done in Philadelphia today.
> …
> - Raspberry - To boo loudly, Bronx cheer.
These two definitions seem ever so slightly off to me.
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### Author:  [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/125 "2022-02-21T21:57:00Z")
This [PDF site](https://center.uoregon.edu/NCTE/uploads/2014NCTEANNUAL/HANDOUTS/KEY_1991992/Slangofthe1920s.pdf) appears more accurate and expanded.
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2022, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/126 "2022-02-21T22:48:20Z")
Some Dr. Hepcat…
> [@](#):
>
> Two music lovers are comparing their band idols:
>
> (a) “He is solid as a rock and he don’t need no shoulder pads because he’s forty feet wide and tuffer than saddle horse steak. He always crashes ether with some real gone jive that will make a wooden man get his kicks.”
>
> (b) But when —— ——— riffs, if you can’t rock you gotta reel, he plays on the kind of kick you can feel. He can solid cool you and school you with some frantic issues that just want don’t. He is wild bulling and tuff enough.
>
> (a) Please excuse me, but —————— comes on like “WE THE PEOPLE” riffs like whiraway, cool like snow white and fades like gang busters, Jackson if you ever pin it your knowledge box will bust wide open.
>
> (b) Yes —————— is a mad cat with his claws most sharp. He’s got a real crazy beat and a weird kick that will carve your knob. You can believe that every pound is hip to the tip. And will pull you dead to the curb, So if you want to get sent one time don’t be like the “goon from Saskatoon” let somebody wake you.
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2022, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/127 "2022-02-21T23:23:19Z")
Thank you, @solost , for that link. I always wondered what “running roughshod over” meant.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2022, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/128 "2022-02-21T23:40:51Z")
I henceforth resolve to work “carve your knob” into a conversation every day.
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### Author:  [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2022, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/129 "2022-02-25T22:20:14Z")
Reminds me of widget, once the name of a Gilette product of which I have a couple.
link:
[1980s Vintage GILLETTE WIDGET scraper cutter NOS New Old Stock rare # 288-062 JP | #1882655185 (worthpoint.com)](https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1980s-vintage-gillette-widget-scraper-1882655185)
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### Author:  [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2022, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/130 "2022-02-25T23:19:49Z")
> [@Dereknocue67](#):
>
> It’s raining cats and dogs.
> A gulley washer.
> A frog strangler.
> It’s raining buckets.
A turd floater
(It’s raining cats and dogs…I just stepped in a poodle)
The “Valley Girl” speak—tubular, gnarly, grotty to the max, gag me with a spoon—was mercifully short-lived.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb21lsCQ3EM)
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2022, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/131 "2022-02-26T01:16:45Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#):
>
> The “Valley Girl” speak—tubular, gnarly, grotty to the max, gag me with a spoon—was mercifully short-lived.
But not the ending every sentence like it was a question? That’s stuck around?
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### Author:  [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2022, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/132 "2022-02-26T01:34:20Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> It’s funny, because I was thinking of the word “bitchin’.” Where I’m at, or at least among my peers, it had a renaissance c. 1991/1992 before just disappearing again. I didn’t realize the word went back that far.
My mother was shocked at the use of bitchin’ as an adjective (eg. Have a bitchin’ summer!) in my yearbook back in the mid to late 60s. It was surfer slang then.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2022, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/133 "2022-02-26T01:37:41Z")
Totally tubular, dude! 🙂 Heh … now that I hear it in my head imaging circa 60s surfers, I could see absolutely see “bitchin’” at home there.
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2022, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/134 "2022-02-26T02:07:51Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#):
>
> > [@lobotomyboy63](#):
> >
> > The “Valley Girl” speak—tubular, gnarly, grotty to the max, gag me with a spoon—was mercifully short-lived.
>
> But not the ending every sentence like it was a question? That’s stuck around?
I wonder if the relatively recent phenomenon of [vocal fry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6r7LhcHHAc) is an evolution of ‘Valley Girl speak’…?
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2022, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/135 "2022-03-03T17:49:32Z")
…and the adoption of the word ‘like’ as a quotative…
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### Author:  [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2022, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/136 "2022-03-13T13:27:03Z")
toad choker
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### Author:  [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2022, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/137 "2022-03-13T13:31:11Z")
whence
(Not slang or idiom, means from which place or source, so don’t put “from” in front of it!)
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### Author:  [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2022, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-terms-and-idioms-that-have-stood-the-test-of-time/959317/138 "2022-03-28T22:58:49Z")
Yes, [this](https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/bronx-cheer.html) page seems a good cite. I’d heard the Cockney rhyming slang derivation before; that’s the one I’m rooting for.
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