Slang – the colloquialisms and idioms of the day – are the markers of our age.

The 60s revolution gave us fab, groovy, nifty, hippy style clothes and “bad” music. They had a “blast” and got “blitzed,” and some went “ape.”

How many of you had “far out” experiences?

They were not after “bread” but looked for “foxes” and avoided “the fuzz” when things got “hairy.”

Those of you who know what I just wrote can say, “I dig it.”

Made in the shade

If you got sick in the 50’s you “ended up on a one way street to Germsville.”

If you were doing well financially, you were “made in the shade” and of course, avoiding sunburn.

My dad used to call my daughter a “rug-rat” and “ankle biter.”

This does not imply that children are small, annoying, biting creatures.

To compliment a women’s “classy chassis” was not to compliment her car, it was a reference to her figure.

If you were into hot rod cars, you like strong chassis, where you could “press that pedal to the metal” and “burn some rubber.”

At street races, your social status would go up if you had your beautiful “classy chassis” by your side.

In the 50s, “fat city” was where “big daddy” lived.

Today, with low carb and low fat diets, no one wants to be a “big daddy.”

When you heard something exciting, you promised not to “flip your wig!”

In the 40s, a “zoot suit” was a man’s suit of an exaggerated style, characterized by a long, loose jacket with padded shoulders and highwaisted tapering trousers.

Bean shooters

The 1930s, had its own brand of slang.

Paper-dragon.com has an entire list of these.

A bean shooter is a gun, and “the big house” is a prison.

“All the way” was chocolate cake with ice cream, not how you want a hamburger. The term for having the advantage is you having a “bulge.”

I don’t think we see a “bulge” the same. Today that’s a “baby bump.”

A Chicago overcoat was a coffin, and a typewriter was a “Tommy gun.”

“Drumsticks” was a term for legs, and paws and “meat hooks” were hands.

An “egg” was a crude person, while “eggs in coffee” meant something was running smoothly.

A “genius” was an extremely stupid person, while a “grifter” was a con man.

You don’t want to be a “pill,” a disagreeable person but a “pip,” an attractive one. “Wheat” was not a grain but a person unused to city ways.

I will now take my sometimes “salty” and “saucy” self and search through urbandictionary.com, after going to the gym to work on my “classy chassis!”