Phrases that date you
I was recently in hospital and got talking to another patient about phrases that the “younger generation “ wouldn’t understand. The first one was that another person sounded “like a gramophone record with the needle stuck “
In this day of digital y, would any young person know what I meant? (I am 65)
Are there other such “dating phrases”?
In this day of digital y, would any young person know what I meant? (I am 65)
Are there other such “dating phrases”?
Comments
I only really twigged where that phrase came from when reading something historical in my teens. This despite having used a public loo in Oxford when aged about 6 or so where you put a 2p piece in to work the lock! No idea if the phrase is still used; it wasn't all that common where I grew up.
Probably not. Our techs still refer to remote access to a computer system as "dialling in" despite it not involving phones, much less dials, for decades.
True, true. But I still have a memory of my nephew staring at my old rotary phone (before my cat destroyed it--but that is another story for another time) and asking "how do you use it????" The old movie gag of listening to the clicks as somebody dials a number to figure out where they are calling may disappear even from "period" movies. How do you explain to new audiences why that would work?
They are going to discontinue making them, though.
But do you understand the euphemism to “spend a penny”?
A bit like saying “hang up” to end a call
Many youngsters would know this one. My son plays only vinyl at home and has a record player and big old speakers on his 1950s sideboard.
It's the in thing!
No shortage of those - so many common expressions reference a physical and cultural world we no longer inhabit. 'Pitch black' - when did you last see liquid tar? 'Bone dry' -who is familiar with Ezekiel? 'Sour grapes' - or Aesop? Strong as a horse/stubborn as a mule/fat as a pig - even though we no longer live in proximity with farm animals.
'I'm feeling under the weather.' has very old origins.
It's used here for waterproofing felt roofs, and the road patching vehicle carries a bucket of hot tar.
I think people would describe it as 'tar' or 'tarmac' rather than pitch.
Is it the official name for a certain coin ?
Yes, a penny is the coin that, as @Lamb Chopped says, has a value of one cent (1/100 of a dollar). The plural is pennies rather than pence.
'Please.'
'Railway station.'
"Pitch and felt" is the usual description of the roof type, but you'd talk about "retarring" the roof. The road material would be tar (the 'mac' being the stony bits).
*FHB = Family Hold Back.
She gave me such a scowl, I realized a made a mistake. I had to explain my friend and I needed to get together.
If I said to my friends from the 80's, Dolly did it, it wasn't me, Dolly did it!!, they would all know what I meant, but I suspect anyone younger would not, nor would anyone outside Oz.
I still say "Well I never!"
"That almost an armful!" That really dates me.
I think I was working in my first job when the Comedy Company was on TV with Marianne Fahey performing the schoolgirl Kylie Mole and the toddler (I think her name was Josephine), who always insisted That Dolly did it, when she was caught up to mischief. The online encyclopedia tells me the program aired from 1988-1990.
I think far more people use that than can have seen the sketch, though I might be in a biased group as a blood donor.
Well, quite. Dolly the mag was an Australian publication aimed at 13-18 year old girls.
I've got an audio version on vinyl...
Me too, with Radio Ham on the other side.
Whenever I discuss my upcoming visit to Tokyo, I have to quote “It’s not raining in Tokyo, you know”.
Strange as it may seem, that and the Tony Hancock sketch it came from were what prompted me to become a blood donor.
When I said soto the person who enrolled me she gave me a very odd look.