'FENDER SKIRTS'
A term I haven't heard in a long time, and thinking about
'fender skirts' started me thinking about other words that
quietly disappear from our language with hardly a notice like
'curb feelers'
And 'steering knobs.' (AKA)
'suicide knob,' 'neckers knobs.'
Since I'd been thinking of cars,
my mind naturally went that direction first.
Any kids will probably have to find some older person
over 50 to explain some of these terms to you.
Remember 'Continental kits?'
They were rear bumper extenders and spare tire covers
that were supposed to make any car
as cool as a Lincoln Continental.
When did we quit calling them 'emergency brakes?
At some point 'parking brake' became the proper term.
But I miss the hint of drama that went with 'emergency brake.'
I'm sad, too, that almost all the old folks are gone
who would call the accelerator the 'foot feed.'
Many today do not even know what a clutch is
or that the dimmer switch used to be on the floor.
For that matter, the starter was down there too.
The choke is another word that the young wouldn’t know about.
Didn't you ever wait at the street for your daddy
to come home, so you could ride the
'running board' up to the house?
Here's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth
but never anymore - 'store-bought.'
Of course, just about everything is store-bought these days.
But once it was bragging material to have a
store-bought dress or a store-bought bag of candy.
'Coast to coast' is a phrase that once held all sorts
of excitement and now means almost nothing.
Now we take the term 'worldwide' for granted.
This floors me.
On a smaller scale, 'wall-to-wall' was once
a magical term in our homes.
In the '50s, everyone covered his or her hardwood floors
with, wow, wall-to-wall carpeting!
Today, everyone replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting
with hardwood floors. Go figure.
When was the last time you heard the quaint phrase
'in a family way?'
It's hard to imagine that the word 'pregnant'
was once considered a little too graphic,
a little too clinical for use in polite company,
so we had all that talk about stork visits and
'being in a family way' or simply 'expecting.'
Apparently 'brassiere' is a word no longer in usage.
I said it the other day and everyone cracked up.
I guess it's just 'bra' now.
'Unmentionables' probably wouldn't be understood at all.
I always loved going to the 'picture show,'
but I considered 'movie' an affectation.
Most of these words go back to the '50s,
but here's a pure '60s word I came across
the other day 'rat fink.'
Ooh, what a nasty put-down!
Here's a word I miss - 'percolator.'
That was just a fun word to say.
And what was it replaced with 'Coffee maker.'
How dull... Mr. Coffee, I blame you for this.
I miss those made-up marketing words that were
meant to sound so modern and now sound so retro.
Words like 'Dyna Flow' and 'Electrolux' and 'Frigidaire'.
We were introduced to the 1963 Admiral TV,
now it's
'Flat Screen Video'
Food for thought.
Was there a telethon that wiped out lumbago or rheumatism?
Nobody complains of that anymore.
Maybe that's what Castor oil cured,
because I never hear mothers threatening kids
with Castor Oil anymore.
Some words aren't gone, but are definitely
on the endangered list.
The one that grieves me most is 'supper.'
Now everybody says 'dinner.' Save a great word.
Invite someone to supper. Discuss fender skirts.
