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Friday, September 14, 2007Etymology is funnier than the name makes it soundIf you don't believe me, check out this article. Or at least, this page, which lists a wonderful assortment of flapper-slang synonyms for the 'bee's knees': 'cat's miaow', 'elephant's adenoids', 'tiger's spots', 'bullfrog's beard', 'elephant's instep', 'caterpillar's kimono', 'turtle's neck', 'duck's quack', 'gnat's elbows', 'monkey's eyebrows', 'oyster's earrings', 'snake's hips', 'kipper's knickers', 'elephant's manicure', 'clam's garter', 'eel's ankle', 'leopard's stripes', 'tadpole's teddies', 'sardine's whiskers', 'pig's wings', 'canary's tusks', 'cuckoo's chin' and 'butterfly's book'. I think 'kipper's knickers' is long-overdue for a revival, but my nostalgic heart still belongs to 'cat's pyjamas', which is what we used to say when I were a young'un. It was fixed in my attention by Roald Dahl's immortal couplet in Revolting Rhymes, where, as he retells the tale of Snow White, the magic mirror tells the wicked Queen: You are the only one to charm us, Queen, you are the cat's pyjamas. I feel a return to childhood coming on. Knickers! Kniiiiiickers!!!
Comments:
You must have really been enamored of "bullfrog's beard"--you listed it twice. ;)
I remember reading a similar list in a book I grew up with called I Hear America Talking, which was all about the origins of slang through American history. Most interesting was the fact that so many slang terms for "drunk" were coined in the 1920s--during Prohibition!
"banana oil." As in:
Person A: *puts forth succession of untrue statements" Person B:"That's a load of banana oil." I never heard anybody say it, I just like it so much. Somebody wrote in to an advice columnist when I was a kid in an effort to bring it back into usage. I don't think it worked. "N'doi!" meaning "well obviously, duh" seems to have gone the way of the dodo as well. And I always thought actual bee's knees must be cute.
Ah, I've heard 'banana oil'; Gene Kelly says it in Singin in the Rain. Possibly it's a slightly politer way of saying 'snake oil'?
Apparently, in (I think) Victorian Britain, people would say 'quoz!' a lot. Which didn't mean anything very much, but they liked to say it; it was not unlike 'boyakasha', I think - a popular nonsense word.
The list of words for drunk was very, very long. I remember ones like "juiced" and "jiggered" that I don't see used today, and ones like "smashed" and "plowed" that I sometimes do. And lots of variations on "lit" as in "lit up like a Christmas tree", "lit up like Times Square" and "lit up like a house on fire."
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I suspect the reason so many slang words for drunk showed up in the 20s is the same reason so many little odd ways of saying "would you like to smoke some marijuana" have evolved--as a way those In The Know can communicate around those Out Of The Know without them getting it. << Home ArchivesJuly 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December 2009 January 2010 February 2010 March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 |
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