January 6, 2016

Moxie

amoxir.jpg

Back in the olden days we had a lot of moxie. We’d put on our best bib and tucker and straighten up and fly right. Hubba-hubba! We’d cut a rug in some juke joint and then go necking and petting and smooching and spooning and billing and cooing and pitching woo in hot rods and jalopies in some passion pit or lovers’ lane. Heavens to Betsy! Gee whillikers! Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat! Holy moley! We were in like Flynn and living the life of Riley, and even a regular guy couldn’t accuse us of being a knucklehead, a nincompoop or a pill. Not for all the tea in China!

Back in the olden days, life used to be swell, but when’s the last time anything was swell? Swell has gone the way of beehives, pageboys and the D.A.; of spats, knickers, fedoras, poodle skirts, saddle shoes and pedal pushers. Oh, my aching back. Kilroy was here, but he isn’t anymore.

Poof, poof, poof go the words of our youth, the words we’ve left behind. We blink, and they’re gone, evanesced from the landscape and wordscape of our perception, like Mickey Mouse wristwatches, hula hoops, skate keys, candy cigarettes, little wax bottles of colored sugar water and an organ grinder’s monkey.

Where have all those phrases gone? Long time passing. Where have all those phrases gone? Long time ago: Pshaw. The milkman did it. Think about the starving Armenians. Bigger than a bread box. Banned in Boston. The very idea! It’s your nickel. Don’t forget to pull the chain. Knee high to a grasshopper. Turn-of-the-century. Iron curtain. Domino theory. Fail safe. Civil defense. Fiddlesticks! You look like the wreck of the Hesperus. Cooties. Going like sixty. I’ll see you in the funny papers. Don’t take any wooden nickels. Heavens to Murgatroyd! And awa-a-ay we go!

Oh, my stars and garters!

Excerpt From Old Words And Phrases Remind Us Of The Way We Word | Richard Lederer's Verbivore Via HappyAcres

Posted by gerardvanderleun at January 6, 2016 5:54 PM
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

Now we need safe places. Don't offend me. I have my Obamaphone! If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. And you can kiddoo without 23 because of all the Gummint bullshit spread around.

Posted by: Vermont Woodchuck at January 7, 2016 3:03 AM

Every now and then as a kid, I would opt for a Moxie. Weird stuff. Sort of fit in with Iodine for cuts, wax paper for wrapping sandwiches, kerosene stoves...

Posted by: Will at January 7, 2016 4:27 AM

They forgot to add: 'Hillary'.

Posted by: Smokey at January 7, 2016 11:16 AM

And VO5 on your hair.

Posted by: ghostsniper at January 7, 2016 1:19 PM

We replaced all those words with f**k. We don't need words any more. We just look at pictures. And I still use swell. Of course I have had people ask me why I use big words.

Posted by: Teri Pittman at January 7, 2016 9:13 PM