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Terms Which Have Disappeared

Messages
10,939
Location
My mother's basement
A lot of this area is served by a rural power cooperative, originally part of the Rural Electrification Administration. The monthly magazine for members always had ads for mail order dentures in the back section. I don't recall how they were fitted. It's possible they sent you something to bite down on as much as you were able I suppose. I believe that they still exist in a slightly different form. You get the dentures and put them in boiling water then bite down on them. Which is exactly how I fitted my football mouthpieces 35-40 years ago. I doubt they fit anybody particularly well, but it would beat nothing.

About how far back were those magazines carrying the denture ads published?
 

3fingers

One Too Many
Messages
1,797
Location
Illinois
About how far back were those magazines carrying the denture ads published?
They were still there in the 1990's when I moved out of the co-op service area. That little magazine was a holdover from the past. The ads could just as easily have been seen in a magazine from the 1940's. All kinds of things you really wouldn't see advertised elsewhere any more.
I suppose their customer base has changed as the older folks have passed on and the rural areas have depopulated so quickly.
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,766
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
The Sporting News used to put out a little statistical annual called the Baseball Dope Book. Remarkably, it continued publication right thru the cocaine scandals of the 1980s. You'd look thru it and expect to see a big writeup on Dwight Gooden or Dale Berra.
 
Messages
10,939
Location
My mother's basement
The Sporting News used to put out a little statistical annual called the Baseball Dope Book. Remarkably, it continued publication right thru the cocaine scandals of the 1980s. You'd look thru it and expect to see a big writeup on Dwight Gooden or Dale Berra.

“Dope” rivals “cool” for variety of meanings.

I suspect that “dope” meaning illicit drugs stems from the similarity in appearance between pipe dope and opium and certain opium derivatives. Thick, gooey, tarry. Usage expanded to include illicit drugs of all sorts, most of which in no way resemble pipe dope, not even in a dope user’s most dope-influenced imaginings.
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,766
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
"Airplane dope" was a common product in the Era, a cellulose nitrate solution used to shrink and stiffen the fabric covering on the wings of aircraft. One reason the Hindenburg burned so spectacularly, aside from the hydrogen, was that it was covered entirely in fabric coated in nitrate dope. Hey gang, let's cross the Atlantic in a gigantic flying bomb!
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,766
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
"Drugstore cowboy."

A popular, derisive term in the Era for someone who liked to dress up in flashy Western regalia -- cowboy hats, boots, belts, etc -- but never actually rode anything more impressive than a stool at a drugstore counter. By extension it referred to any kind of swanking poltroon who assumes the costume of a particular role without actually doing the work associated with it.
 
Messages
10,939
Location
My mother's basement
"Drugstore cowboy."

A popular, derisive term in the Era for someone who liked to dress up in flashy Western regalia -- cowboy hats, boots, belts, etc -- but never actually rode anything more impressive than a stool at a drugstore counter. By extension it referred to any kind of swanking poltroon who assumes the costume of a particular role without actually doing the work associated with it.

“Dime store cowboy” was a commonly heard variation, and meant pretty much the same thing.

“Rhinestone Cowboy,” besides being the title of a hit song and not-quite hit movie, meant the sort of character who donned gaudy Western-themed getups — replete with spangles of various sorts, including, yup, rhinestones — often in service to his occupation: rodeos, maybe, or C/W music. The phrase isn’t necessarily derogatory, although a person wearing such attire outside such a professional context might be thought a tad light in his Tony Lamas. Foppish, at any rate.
 
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Messages
17,220
Location
New York City
"Making time" as in a guy trying to talk-up a girl - "he's making time with her."

This came up as I pointed out to my girlfriend a waiter in a diner who was "making time" with the cashier at which point she said, "yes, but please don't say that to others as you sound like you're 120 years old." :(
 

2jakes

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,680
Location
Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
"Making time" as in a guy trying to talk-up a girl - "he's making time with her."

This came up as I pointed out to my girlfriend a waiter in a diner who was "making time" with the cashier at which point she said, "yes, but please don't say that to others as you sound like you're 120 years old." :(

I would’ve said “flirting” which probably makes me sound ancient.
On the other hand, I will say," making out” although this is when two people have passed the point of "making time”. :D
 
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3fingers

One Too Many
Messages
1,797
Location
Illinois
"Making time" as in a guy trying to talk-up a girl - "he's making time with her."

This came up as I pointed out to my girlfriend a waiter in a diner who was "making time" with the cashier at which point she said, "yes, but please don't say that to others as you sound like you're 120 years old." :(
Related terms: wooing or pitching woo, sparking, making eyes at. Don't feel bad. I have been accused of being 120 years old or so myself. :D
 

Takedeadaim

New in Town
Messages
13
Seems like you hardly hear, simple things like "how do you do" or "Good day sir", much anymore. They look at me funny when I stop at the local convenience store for a cup of coffee and say good morning, thank you and have a nice day.

Oh god, its happened, Im getting old
 

3fingers

One Too Many
Messages
1,797
Location
Illinois
Seems like you hardly hear, simple things like "how do you do" or "Good day sir", much anymore. They look at me funny when I stop at the local convenience store for a cup of coffee and say good morning, thank you and have a nice day.

Oh god, its happened, Im getting old
Good manners may come as a shock to some people, but they will never go completely away as long as we keep them alive. It is worth the small effort it takes to be pleasant. Carry on.
 

Takedeadaim

New in Town
Messages
13
Good manners may come as a shock to some people, but they will never go completely away as long as we keep them alive. It is worth the small effort it takes to be pleasant. Carry on.

I don’t think I could not do it. It’s one of those things that just feels right so I keep doing it. Besides I think both grandpas and my dad can still somehow reach down and slap the back of my head should I forget “how I was raised”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

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