Can You Guess the Meanings of These Old-Timey Phrases?

“Put an egg in your shoe and beat it; make like a tree and leave; imitate an amoeba and split.” –Stephen King from Needful Things

Sometimes called the ducktail (or more offensive terms), this hairstyle screams 1950’s. Worn by non-conformists like Danny Zuko in Grease, the hairstyle required a log of hair grease and a rattail comb.

“It’s a mental fake-out to myself. I make believe I’m making a new show, so I forget the material I was working on and make up some fresh material.” –Eric Bogosian

The term originated in the 1960’s. Ironically, Manteca, California could be considered the literal “Fat City” since Manteca means “lard” in Spanish.

“They’re creepy, and they’re kookie, mysterious, and spooky. They’re all together ooky, the Addam’s Family.” –Vic Mizzy from the opening lyrics of the Addam’s Family.

“Threads” became the slang for clothing in the 1920s. The word comes from an Old English word that means “twisted, fine cord.”

“Ah, children, pity level-crossing keepers, pity lock keepers, pity lighthouse keepers, pity all the keepers of this world (pity even school teachers) caught between their conscience and the bleak horizon.” –Graham Swift

“Drag” has many meanings throughout the decades. A drag race is a short straight-line race between two vehicles. People can also take a drag (inhale) from a cigarette.

“I got binoculars ‘cause I don’t want to go that close.” –Mitch Hedberg

This phrase began in the 1940’s and was a reference to the actor Errol Flynn. Flynn was said to be a womanizer, accused of raping several underage girls, and after his death, his home was found to be filled with peepholes and two-way mirrors.

“We’ll look at you. You get a bump on the noggin, and you think you’re Pancho Villa.” –John Spartan in Demolition Man

Nosebleed is another word that has several slang definitions. Currently, “nosebleed seats” are those stadium seats at the highest and furthest point from the screen, stage, or playing field.

“Come on, Mia. Let’s go get a steak.” “You can get a steak here, Daddy-O.” –Vincent and Mia in Pulp Fiction

“The life of Riley” is traced back to World War I. The Riley referred to in the phrase has been traced all the way back to a ballad of the 1820’s about Willy Reilly who ran away with an heiress.

“Now instead of loading up your jalopy and heading for California, you take a second badly paid job. ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ has turned into ‘Nickel and Dimed.’” –Geoff Dyer

Backseat bingo was once a way of making out. Now, it is a brand of board games that have sliding panels and that people on trips can play in the car.

“I think what democracy means today, in reality, is to a large extent manipulated consent—not forced consent, manipulated consent—and manipulated more and more with the help of Madison Avenue [advertising].” –Erich Fromm

China currently makes ¼ of the world’s tea and has historically been the world’s largest producer. The phrase is said to have originated around the 1900s in Australia.

“If that’s a joke, I’m a monkey’s uncle.” –From the Chronicle-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) February 8, 1925 (the year of the Scopes trial and first year this phrase appeared in print)

The largest insect in the grasshopper Order, Orthoptera, is the wētāpunga (weta). The largest recorded weta was 4-1/3 inches long and had a leg-span of 7 inches.

“How do you keep people from jerking your chain? Don’t give your chain to jerks.” –Bill Crawford

In the 1300s, “To set on six and seven” meant to risk a fortune carelessly. How it eventually became a phrase that means confusion is at sixes and sevens itself.

BBC news anchor, Tomasz Schafernaker, suffered backlash after stating on air that rain would fall “mainly in Nowheresville” and gesturing toward northwest Scotland. The Scots were offended although Schafernaker later apologized and said he was actually talking about the Highlands in an areas where only a few sheep reside.

This phrased started as the Americanized, “hold your hosses.” Hoss is an old-fashioned American slang term for the word “horse.”

“Bless the seven little men who have been so kind to me, amen. Oh yes, and please make Grumpy like me.” “Hah! Women—a fine kettle of fish!” –Snow White and Grumpy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

There are several origin stories, including an event in England where Marquis Henry de la Poer Beresford is said to have painted the town (and some night watchmen) red in 1837. However, the earliest printed references seem to begin around 1883 in America and may be related to turning the entire town into a “red-light district.”

“He tried to run the post office business under Cleveland’s administration but couldn’t ‘cut the mustard.’” –The Ottawa Herald, August 1889 (the earliest known instance of this appearing in print)

The definitive (but disputed) cat dictionary was compiled by Mildred Moelk in 1944. She stated that there were three categories containing 16 different sound patterns cats make.

“Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the song of a bird? …People who try to explain pictures are usually barking up the wrong tree.” –Pablo Picasso

The idiom refers to where car tires touch the pavement. It seems to have originated in the 1950s.

“Investors repeatedly jump ship on a good strategy just because it hasn’t worked so well lately, and, almost invariably, abandon it at precisely the wrong time.” --David Dreman

At one time in the United States, games at the fair gave away cigars as prizes and this is thought to be the origin. The 1935 film version of Annie Oakley contained the line, “Close Colonel, but no cigar!”

“Life will throw everything but the kitchen sink in your path, and then it will throw the kitchen sink. It's your job to avoid the obstacles. If you let them stop you or distract you, you're not doing your job, and failing to do your job will cause regrets that paralyze you more than a bad back.” –Andre Agassi from Open

This one originated in the United Kingdom in the early 1900s. The first place it appears in print was in a literary review titled The Athenaeum (1919).

“Keep your shirt on. Let me read.” –The Grandfather in the Princess Bride