Old Timey slang. My grandpa's glossary
Last night at the dinner before the talk show, my guest Merlin casually dropped "pack of fives'"into conversation. As in, "If that guy gives you any trouble, give him a pack of fives." You say this while raising a fist to illustrate.
This let to a bunch of fun reminiscing about my grandpa Sam and the stuff he would say. One of his favourite ways to show affection was to say "I'm gonna give you a punch in the nose McGee." We were all McGee at different times. Also MacDuff. He also liked to call his grandchildren Butch or Butchie from the time we were infants (I was the only one for which this name was the least bit accurate). Trumpanick and Muzzik were also common terms for us, though these are Yiddish words and really Old Timey in a different way, meaning "troublemaker." He emigrated/was summgled out from the shtetl to Canada when he was 5 years old.
I miss my grandpa,but everytime I hear his words I feel like he's here.
What's your granparent's Old Timey slang?
July 14th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
My great-grandma is in her 80's and still uses some amazing slang. Some of my favorites are
*madder than a boiled owl
*all the way to maggie's room (far away)
*you don't know poop from applesauce
Also, my dad was in his early 20's when I was born (1980) but he's called everyone of his 7 kids "McGeever" at some point.
*sigh* Old slang is the best.