After my parents passed away, we siblings gathered to close down their home. It was a fraught time, my husband and I worked with a brother-in-law to set up the necessary event and most of us pitched in well, fully engaged and enthralled with the task.
Enthralled may seem a strange word, but that’s how many moments felt, as we explored the inner reaches of my parents’ lives. My father scramble-saved lumber and my mother saved all of the used homemade clothing patterns, wrapping paper, and ribbons.
History of the days of our lives.
Most endearing to me was the opportunity to peruse their crammed bookshelves, each of us allowed to gather our hearts desire. I selected several books – after all we were flying back to California and I had to be mindful of weight. One of them was a book owned by my mother’s father: Girl of the Limberlost, a book by an Indiana author, Gene Stratton Porter. I read the book, awed by the fact that on every page there was a word that had disappeared from common use. It had been 100 years since the book’s publish date. As a linguist by hobby as well as avocation, I found that peculiarly thrilling – yet not.
Relish the changes in lingo that 50 years may have wrought.
-R-
Rat
noun; bad person. Also a verb; tattle. “Did you rat on me?”
Razz
verb; tease, make fun of in a good-natured way. “The boys started to razz me and I just laughed .”
Riot
adjective; something spectacular. “Was it good? It was a riot!” (Gas, blast)
Rock out
verb; groove to rock music.
-S-
Shades
noun; sunglasses. “Did you buy some new shades?”
Slick
adjective; good, great, best. “Isn’t that guy slick?”
Split
verb; to leave, go away. “Let’s split. This is getting dull.” (Make tracks)
Stoked
adjective; likes someone or something very much. “Boy, he’s really stoked on that girl.”
Stoned
adjective; drunk, intoxicated. “Those three guys over there are stoned.” (Loaded, crocked, plastered)
Sweet
adjective; cool, great-looking. “Isn’t that Corvette sweet?”
-T-
Thick
adjective; naive, dense, dumb. “He’s as thick as they come.”
Threads
noun; clothes. “I bought some new threads today.”
Turn on
verb. An introduction to something new. “I turned him on to that new song.” Sexually attracted to someone. “That chick turns me on.” To get high on drugs. “Let’s get turned on.”
-W-
Weed
noun. Marijuana. “Do you have any weed?
Weirdo
noun; a nonconformist, an odd, strange, or peculiar person. “That new boy is a weirdo.”
What’s with you
What’s bothering you? “Hey, what’s with you, man. You’re really bent.”
Wheels
noun; car. “I can’t take my girlfriend out tonight because I don’t have any wheels.”
Winner
noun; a person the speaker dislikes, an unattractive, clumsy person. A loser. “What a winner. He flunked all his classes.”
-Z-
Zig-Zags
noun; thin pre-shaped paper to roll joints.
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