Terms Which Have Disappeared

[KayEn78]

There's an OTR episode of Suspense called, Short Order that aired around 1945. We know the term "fast food" didn't exist then, but "short order" cook did. Is this in reference to "quick" food like at drugstore lunch counters or automats? You order a sandwich and it's ready in minutes, if not sooner. Would "short order" be the Golden Era term for today's and post-war boom of "fast food" joints?

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

There's an OTR episode of Suspense called, Short Order that aired around 1945. We know the term "fast food" didn't exist then, but "short order" cook did. Is this in reference to "quick" food like at drugstore lunch counters or automats? You order a sandwich and it's ready in minutes, if not sooner. Would "short order" be the Golden Era term for today's and post-war boom of "fast food" joints?

In a word, "yes".

 

[Stanley Doble]

Short order refers to food that can be prepared and served quickly in a diner or lunch room. Sandwiches, hamburgers, salad plates, and the like. If you can watch the cook prepare your lunch it is a short order. Carpet on the floor and waiters, not.

 

[sheeplady]

Places around here still advertise for "short order cooks." Mainly diners and chain places that are like diners. (Despite all the fast food places, we still have a few locally owned diners. We also have several chain diners of IHOP and Denny's which also hire "short order" cooks.)

 

[Seraph1227]

Single cylinder motorcycles are still referred to as One Lungers.

my cohorts and I call them thumpers.

 

[Seraph1227]

That is funny, I watched The Big Sleep last night. Did you know there were 2 versions, the first 1945 version that was never released, and the one the public saw which was recut to include new scenes, made to capitalize on the Bogart-Bacall romance?

If you saw the movie, I believe they nailed it. Think early Las Vegas with a Western theme. Guests dressed up in Hollywood fashion, cigarette girls in revealing costumes, Bacall winning $14,000 on one spin of the roulette wheel.

For my money the 1945 cut is a better movie. It tells the story, which is complicated enough, in a way you can follow. The 1946 cut butchers the story.

Speaking of the story. It doesn't make any sense unless you understand the official attitude towards blackmail cases. The authorities would do anything they could to protect the victim from exposure. Especially a rich family like the Sternwoods. This is why Bernie Ohs recommended Spade, because a private detective could keep things off the police blotter and handle things more discreetly. It also explains why Spade concealed evidence and got in trouble with the police - he was trying to do his job and protect his client. This is brought out better in the 1945 movie.

Gambling was illegal in Los Angeles and the surrounding area but so were a lot of things that were tolerated by the authorities. Especially outside Los Angeles city limits. Police and politics were notoriously corrupt if you were big enough to pay off the right people. For the little guy the cops could be plenty tough.

Card games were legal in Gardena up to a point. Bill Harrah started out with a card room in Gardena but moved to Reno, where gambling was legal, when the payoffs and official hassles became too onerous.

I agree, I have both versions. The plot is quite intricate, in order to truly follow the story you have to read the novel which explains a lot of things.

 

[Seraph1227]

Earlier in the thread, someone mentioned the phrase "to the nines", as in "Dressed to the nines". The history of this phrase eludes me. I wonder if someone, Lizzie perhaps, could enlighten me. My contributions to the list of less used terms is " tooling around".

 

[Zombie_61]

That is funny, I watched The Big Sleep last night. Did you know there were 2 versions, the first 1945 version that was never released, and the one the public saw which was recut to include new scenes, made to capitalize on the Bogart-Bacall romance?...For my money the 1945 cut is a better movie. It tells the story, which is complicated enough, in a way you can follow. The 1946 cut butchers the story...

Warner Brothers (the studio, that is) thought Bacall had potential, but she'd received a lot of "not too favorable" reviews for her performance in Confidential Agent (1945) so they shot additional scenes that played up on the chemistry Bogart and Bacall had in To Have And Have Not. The trouble is, when they re-cut the movie to include these new scenes they removed other scenes that "connected the dots" with regards to the plot, and most audiences found the movie difficult to follow.

I hadn't seen the movie until last year when TCM aired a "restored" version (with both the original and the added Bogart/Bacall footage) and enjoyed it so much that I bought the DVD that includes both versions. I haven't made time to watch the "theatrical" version yet, but a good friend told me he prefers it to the restored version even though the plot is incomprehensible.

 

[vitanola]

"Like Grant took Richmond", an referring to something loud, dynamic or aggressive.

 

[sheeplady]

The "I remember" thread brought up a term that increasingly seems to be rare: "churchkey."

A can opener (in my mind) refers to the opener that you crank that has the turning circular blades.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The "I remember" thread brought up a term that increasingly seems to be rare: "churchkey."

A can opener (in my mind) refers to the opener that you crank that has the turning circular blades.

There's all kinds of ridiculous, baroque speculation around the Internet on why a church key is called that -- people theorizing about monks being brewers, or the idea that it's a gibe at the religious supporters of Prohibition, and similar foolishness. None of them ever seem to hit on the real reason for the name -- it's meant to be funny. Churches in the Era usually didn't *have* keys -- the doors didn't even have locks, so that people could come in and use the sanctuary any time. A "church key" was simply a fanciful name drawn from the idea that there was no such thing as an actual church key.

"Church keys" weren't specifically invented for beer cans -- they existed before canned beer, and were used for puncturing cans of fruit juice, condensed milk, or other canned liquids.

 

[sheeplady]

There's all kinds of ridiculous, baroque speculation around the Internet on why a church key is called that -- people theorizing about monks being brewers, or the idea that it's a gibe at the religious supporters of Prohibition, and similar foolishness. None of them ever seem to hit on the real reason for the name -- it's meant to be funny. Churches in the Era usually didn't *have* keys -- the doors didn't even have locks, so that people could come in and use the sanctuary any time. A "church key" was simply a fanciful name drawn from the idea that there was no such thing as an actual church key.

"Church keys" weren't specifically invented for beer cans -- they existed before canned beer, and were used for puncturing cans of fruit juice, condensed milk, or other canned liquids.

When I was a kid we always used them to open fruit juice- I specifically remember when my parents would buy Juicy Juice as a treat for me it always was opened with a church key- same with the rare treats of something like pineapple juice. I've never seen a beer can that wasn't pop-top in my life (well, not one that wasn't rusty or a collectors item... I've picked out enough rusty beer cans out of pastures in my life to be aware they exist).

The one thing that irritates me, and this really irritates me- is that now everything seems to be pop-top (and they are cruddy pop-tops) *except* things that kids could eat straight out of a can. I am always on the lookout for food for a rural school that packs lunches for kids over the weekend. They want healthy things (fruit, veggies, crackers, protein) that can be made without a stove or a can opener. (Some of the kids are too young to work a stove, some aren't in stable living conditions, may not have access to a can opener, etc.) But often the stuff I could buy that is canned doesn't have a pop top.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I have the habit of eating tuna fish straight out of the can for lunch at work -- and the one kind that uses a pop top is the most expensive kind on the shelf. I pay fifty cents a can less and open it with my Girl Scout knife.

 

[dh66]

Marble orchard - meaning a cemetary

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[Stearmen]

What’s buzzin’, cousin?

 

[Stearmen]

Chitty, bang bang!

 

[DNO]

I used the term 'tempest in a teapot' today and then had to explain what it meant. I despair.

 

[Fading Fast]

I used the term 'tempest in a teapot' today and then had to explain what it meant. I despair.

I must sound old, I used that in a meeting last weekend to explains why a problem wasn't really a problem.

 

[skydog757]

All day long and twice on Sunday.

 

[Stormy]

My daughters don't know what a telephone pole is.