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Sunday, July 21, 2013

Fender Skirts and Supper -Words You Don't Hear Anymore

 
 


FENDER SKIRTS AND SUPPER

 

I know some of you will not understand this message,

but I bet you know someone who might.

I came across this phrase yesterday.

'FENDER SKIRTS '

 

 

A term I haven't heard in a long time, and thinking about

'fender skirts ' started me thinking

about other words that quietly disappear from

our language with hardly a notice like 'curb feelers '

 

And ' steering knobs. ' (AKA)

'suicide knob, ' 'neckers knobs. '

 

Since I'd been thinking of cars,

my mind naturally went that direction first.

 

Any kids will probably have to find some older person

over 50 to explain some of these terms to you.

 

Remember ' Continental kits? '

They were rear bumper extenders and spare tire covers

that were supposed to make any car

as cool as a Lincoln Continental.

 

 

 

When did we quit calling them ' emergency brakes?

At some point ' parking brake ' became the proper term.

But I miss the hint of drama that went with ' emergency brake. '

I ' m sad, too, that almost all the old folks are gone

who would call the accelerator the ' foot feed. '

Many today do not even know what a clutch is

or that the dimmer switch used to be on the floor.

For that matter, the starter was down there too.

 

 

Didn't you ever wait at the street for your daddy

to come home, so you could ride the

'running board ' up to the house?

 

 

Here's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth

but never anymore - ' store-bought. '

Of course, just about everything is store-bought these days.

 

But once it was bragging material to have a

store-bought dress or a store-bought bag of candy.

 

'Coast to coast ' is a phrase that once held all sorts

of excitement and now means almost nothing.

Now we take the term ' worldwide ' for granted.

This floors me.

 

 

On a smaller scale, ' wall-to-wall ' was once

a magical term in our homes. In the '50s,

everyone covered his or her hardwood floors with,

wow, wall-to-wall carpeting!

 

Today, everyone replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting

with hardwood floors. Go figure.

 

 

 

When was the last time you heard the quaint phrase

'in a family way? ' It's hard to imagine that the word ' pregnant '

was once considered a little too graphic,

a little too clinical for use in polite company,

so we had all that talk about stork visits and

'being in a family way ' or simply ' expecting. '

 

Apparently ' brassiere ' is a word no longer in usage.

I said it the other day and my daughter cracked up.

I guess it's just ' bra ' now.

'Unmentionables ' probably wouldn't be understood at all.

 

I always loved going to the ' picture show, '

but I considered ' movie ' an affectation.

 

 

Most of these words go back to the ' 50s,

but here's a pure ' 60s word I came across

the other day ' rat fink. ' Ooh, what a nasty put-down!

 

Here's a word I miss - ' percolator. '

That was just a fun word to say.

And what was it replaced with ' Coffee maker. '

How dull... Mr. Coffee, I blame you for this.

 

 

 

I miss those made-up marketing words that were

meant to sound so modern and now sound so retro.

Words like ' Dyna Flow ' and ' Electrolux ' and ' Frigidaire ' .

Introducing the 1963 Admiral TV, now with ' Spectra Vision! '

 

 

 

Food for thought.

Was there a telethon that wiped out lumbago?

Nobody complains of that anymore.

 

Maybe that's what Castor oil cured,

because I never hear mothers threatening kids

with Castor Oil anymore.

 

 

 

Some words aren't gone, but are definitely

on the endangered list.

The one that grieves me most is ' supper. '

Now everybody says ' dinner. ' Save a great word.

Invite someone to supper. Discuss fender skirts.

 

 

 

Someone forwarded this to me.

I thought some of us of a ' certain age '

would remember most of these.

 

 

 

 

Just for fun, pass it along to others

of ' a certain age. '

 

 

 

 

 

              IF YOU AREN'T OF A CERTAIN AGE, YOU MUST KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, July 18, 2013

DION (DiMucci) Celebrates Birthday, New Book- Excellent Interview Covers An Extroardinary Life



But for a coin flip, this interview could have been with Richie Valens and not Dion DiMucci. You see, Dion LOST the coin flip in February 1959 for a seat in the ill-fated plane that cost the lives of Valens, Buddy Holly and Big Bopper. Actually, Dion WON the coin flip, he relates, along with Big Bopper, but didn't want to spend the $36 and deferred to   Valens.


Dion is one of the true pioneers of rock and roll, maybe not from the VERY beginning, but definitely the first wave of the Fifties. Over 50 years later Dion has been to hell and back - and he talks in detail about this all this including stories about 'old soul' Buddy Holly and his friends as if it were yesterday - and his many career phases, from the social comment song of 'Abraham , Martin and John' to religious songs.


Today, Dion has found answers to many of his and life's questions - 'We're all wanderers' he says - as he relates in his book 'The Wanderer Talks Truth'.  He talks about his relationship with fellow New Yorker, John Lennon and others. SEE   Dion Store  - scroll down to bottom for book





Dion, with many seminal songs in rock and roll , including 'I Wonder Why,' ' Runaround Sue' and 'The Wanderer' , has to be considered among the Top 10 true rock and rollers and certainly one of the top doowop acts.  He was one of the few early artists to write and record many of his own songs and he talks about the real life inspiratons for these.


Though he's in the rock Hall of Fame, Dion has sometimes been left out  of rock's historical perspective  as he's never quite fit one category and spanned them all, so this is a important interview - and book that will, hopefully,  bring him more cred- if that even matters to Dion. We look forward to viewing both. Enjoy!


PS One story we love about Dion, certainly covered in the book, is where he, a Christian, talks of walking by the Jewish Synagogue in New York and loving the minor, meloncholy melodies of the Cantor, which would inspire much of his sound and songs, such as 'Diane.'

Saturday, July 6, 2013