Musings of a Member by Kerchief Davroten

Bits & Pieces of the 1920s

We still remain fascinated with the 1920s, the decade from 1920 to 1930. The Jazz Age, The Roaring Twenties, the era that produced bathtub gin, gangsters and flappers, the age that brought us both larger-than-life heroes and villains. The period begins with women getting the right to vote and a social experiment called Prohibition. It ends with the crash of financial markets and the beginning of a worldwide Depression, leading us eventually to the most devastating war in human history. All this was the 1920s.

Let's Ankle Sheba

They're all desperadoes, those kids, all of them with any life in their veins; the girls as well as the boys; maybe more than the boys. Warner Fabian

The 1920s was the first decade in American history to define a "youth" culture, with its own distinct style and language, separate and apart from the older generation, but ultimately exerting considerable influence upon it. A sampling of this new vocabulary listed below contains many of the words that are still in use today.

ankle: to walk
bearcat: a "hot" or passionate girl
coffee varnish: illicit liquor often poisonous
dewdropper: young male who doesn't have a job and sleeps all day
Ethel: an effeminate male
floorflusher: an avid dancer
gams: legs
hooch: booze
iron one's shoelaces: to go to the restroom
jack: money
mooch: to leave
nookie: sex
ofay: a black expression for whites
petting pantry: movie theater
razz: making fun of
sheba: one's girlfriend
torpedo: hitman or thug

and some more...

blind pig---------------------- lower class establishment where drinks were cheap, but possibly made from liquor that might blind or even kill you.

It------------------------------a word coined to define a woman who had animal magnetism or strong sexual attractiveness.

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Some very old English words

pudibund: modest, bashful, prudish
clyster: an enema, using warm water or gruel
kintra-cooser: a human stallion; has his way with rural girls
burke: to kill, to murder, secretly and without noise
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A conundrum is an amusing comparison between things quite unlike; the answer is frequently made out by a play upon words.

a. Why is a lazy man like a magician? Answer: He works by spells.
b. What fish has its eyes nearest together? Answer: ?
c. Why is hope like a decayed cheese? Answer: ?
d. Why is a politician like a stray dog? Answer: ?
[answers next time]
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Any suggestions, thoughts or ideas?