Complex Numbers

Thirties Words

I've done entries about older slang in here before. Here are some examples from nearly a century ago.

    20 Delightful Slang Terms From the 1930s  
These 1930s-era slang terms will blow your wig.

It's important to remember that, a century from now, if anyone's still around, they'll be doing websites or braincasts or clay tablets or interactive holograms or whatever is the tech at the time to resurrect and/or ridicule the fashion and slang of the 2020s. Yes, even "rizz." Especially "rizz."

I won't be highlighting all of them here. You can go to that link from Mental Floss. But of course, I have something to say about a few of them, starting at the very beginning.

1. Nogoodnik

Given that the suffix -nik denotes a person associated with something, nogoodnik is, expectedly, a word for someone who’s nothing but trouble.

The links provided on the page are to the OED, which is fine, but I don't think they go far enough for this complex word. See, it's essentially Yiddish. "But it's clearly from 'no good,' which is English." Sure. But Yiddish, like English, likes to borrow words from neighbors and never pay them back. Or, in this case, suffixes. "-nik" is a Slavic/Russian suffix. "Beatnik" is another English use of it, from a few decades later. One particularly Yiddish example is "nudnik," which is loosely "annoying person."

And apparently, there's a Russian word, romanized as "negodnik," which means reprobate... or no-good person. So "nogoodnik" is English-Yiddish-Russian, and we should really be using it more, but there are too many syllables in the word for it to ever make a resurgence in today's short-attention-span slang.

3. Blow One’s Wig

There's a repeated theme in jazz lyrics about "blowing one's top." Anywhere but jazz, that meant being angry, like in the cartoons when someone's face turns red and steam comes out their ears. In jazz, it seems to be about being completely surprised, but in a pleasant way. Personally, I'm pretty sure it's a euphemism for orgasm.

6. Dog’s Soup

Asking a server to bring you some dog’s soup while you browse the menu might result in a worried glance today, but back in the ’30s, a thirsty patron ordering some dog’s soup would be granted a fresh glass of water.

This one would never fly today. The sibilants would merge, leading to inevitable misunderstandings. You can order a hot dog, but not dog soup. Well, not in the US, anyway.

7. Boondoggle

The next time you’re tasked with tedious or impractical busywork, it may break a bit of tension to call it a “boondoggle.”

This word is still around, of course, but I've only ever heard it used to describe government spending of limited public value.

11. Gobsmacked

I still see this occasionally, but I think it's still mostly British.

13. Nitwittery

Nitwittery is a particularly posh-sounding word for stupidity.

I do like that word. Might have to work on bringing it back. Made me wonder about "nitwit," though, so I checked. Is it a modification of something like "nought-wit?" As in "witless?" Well, maybe   something like that. Another source thinks "nit" comes from the word for louse eggs. Which could also work, in the sense of "lousy."

19. On Sus

Another slang term 1930s people have in common with Gen-Z, sus, according to the OED, is an abbreviation of suspicion or suspect, and indicates a feeling that questionable activities are afoot.

Obviously, this one reappeared in a different form. As "sus" is only one syllable, it fits in well with emojiworld.

20. Floss

In 1938, floss or flossing was synonymous with flirting or showing off, especially about one’s possessions.

Possibly a variant of "flaunt?" Or maybe an association with more expensive stuff, as "floss" in the other sense comes from something meaning silk, which was at historically pretty high-end stuff. Hence the British use of "candy floss" for what we call "cotton candy."

Doubt this one will come back, because the meaning would be too ambiguous. "She's over there flossing." Yeah, wrong head-picture.

Several more at the link. I tend to doubt some of the etymologies, but many of the words are fun.