83 Old Slang Phrases We Should Bring Back
Jason English mentalfloss .com
History is full of fun, fascinating old school slang terms that are well overdue for a comeback.
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Mental Floss
History is full of fun, fascinating old school slang terms that are well overdue for a comeback. Here are 83 words youâll want to start using, adapted from an episode of The List Show on YouTube.

1. Wet Sock

A wet sock is a limp handshake or, in Australia, a dull person.

2. Happy Cabbage

Happy cabbage is a sizable amount of money to be spent on self-satisfying things.Â

3. Pang-Wangle

Pang-Wangle is to live or go along cheerfully in spite of minor misfortunes.Â

4. In the Ketchup

In the ketchup means âin the redâ or âoperating at a deficit.â

5. Flub the Dub

Flub the dub means âto evade oneâs duty.â

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6. Pine Overcoat

A pine overcoat is a coffin.

7. A Butter and Egg Man

A butter and egg man has nothing to do with breakfast preferences. The term, according to Greenâs Dictionary of Slang, refers to a wealthy but unsophisticated small-town businessman who acts like a playboy when he visits the big city.

8. Zib

A zib is a nincompoop.

9. Give Someone the Wind

To give someone the wind is to jilt a suitor.

10. Bags Oâ Mystery

The 1909 book Passing English of the Victorian Era: A Dictionary of Heterodox English Slang and Phrase captured some great phrases: For instance, they called sausages bags oâ mystery.Â

11. Cop a Mouse

Cop a mouse was a Victorian-era phrase that meant âget a black eye.â As Passing English explains, âCop in this sense is to catch or suffer, while the colour of the obligation at its worst suggests the colour and size of the innocent animal named.â

12. Donât Sell Me a Dog

Donât sell me a dog was a fancy way of saying âDonât lie to me.â

13. Door Knocker

A door-knocker was a type of beard, âshaved leaving hair under the chin, and upon each side of the mouth forming with moustache something like a door-knocker.âÂ

14. Fly RinkÂ

A bald head was called a fly rink.

15. Gigglemug

A gigglemug referred to a person who was always smiling.Â

16. Nose Bagger

A nose bagger is âsomeone who takes a day trip to the beach. He brings his own provisions and doesn't contribute at all to the resort heâs visiting.â

17. Not Up to Dick

If something or someone was not up to dick, it was not healthy.

18. Take the Egg

Take the egg means âto win.âÂ

19. WhooperupsÂ

Inferior singers.

20. Rain Napper

A rain napper was an umbrella.

21. Sauce Box

Your mouth was your sauce box.

22. Pretzel-Bender

Hereâs a multi-purpose bit of slang, according to the 1967 Dictionary of American Slang: Pretzel-bender can mean a peculiar person, a player of the French horn, a wrestler, or a heavy drinker.Â

23.-32. Having Your Flag Out (and Other Ways to Say âDrunkâ)

So what happens when a pretzel-bender drinks too much? Thatâs when youâd need to use some old slang terms for being drunk. Like having your flag out, or being soapy-eyed, full as a tick, seeing snakes, canned up, zozzled, owled, striped, squiffed, or swacked.

33. Hotter Than Dutch Love in Harvest

People needed a lot of ways to describe excessive heat in the days before air conditioning. One phrase was hotter than Dutch love in harvest.Â

34. and 35. The Bear Got Him and Full of Moist

You might also hear the bear got him (the bear, in this case, was heatstroke) and full of moist.

36. Hot as a Half-F***ed Fox in a Forest Fire

A regional term from the south for anything hot.

37. Gives a Body the Flesh Creep

Give a body the flesh creepâa.k.a. the shiversâcan be used when itâs cold outside.

38., 39., and 40. Colder than the Hinges of Hell, Colder than a Brass Toilet Seat in the Yukon, and So Cold That the Milk Cows Gave Icicles

More very colorful ways to refer to the cold.

41. To Have Oneâs Shirt Out

Nineteenth-century Australians had some phrases we may want to adoptâlike to have one's shirt out, which means âto be angry.â

42. And 44. Off his Kadoova and Off His Chump

Two ways 19th-century Australians could describe someone who was acting a little bonkers.Â

44. Hump the Swag

To hump the swag means âto carry your luggage on your back.â

45. Happy Returns

Happy returns describes vomiting, despite those returns being less than happy.

46. Leanaway

Someone who is tipsy could be called a leanaway.

47. Off the Cob

This piece of beatnik slang means âcorny.â

48. Red Onion

Red onion is another name for a dive bar.

49. Focus Your Audio

To focus your audio means âto listen carefully.â

50. Claws Sharp

In beatnik speak, someone whoâs claws sharp is well informed on a variety of topics.Â

51. Bright Disease

But if you know too much, particularly of the kind of information that could lead you to ratting someone out, you might have bright diseaseâoften fatal, at least in the mafia.

52.-56. Blobber (and Other Ways to Call Someone a âRatâ)Â

There are actually a lot of old school ways to call someone a rat, like blobber, cabbage hat, pigeon, viper, and telegram.

57.-61. Master John Goodfellow (and Other Words for Male Anatomy)Â

There are also, of course, many interesting words for anatomy. For me, there are a master john goodfellow, gentleman usher, the staff of life, the Cyprian scepter, and the maypole, among many others.

62.-65. The Phoenix Nest (and Other Words for Female Anatomy)Â

And for women, there are the Phoenix nest, the Netherlands, Mount Pleasant, and Mrs. Fubbsâ Parlor.

66.-69. Amorous Congress (and Other Slang Terms for Sex)Â

Bring these things together and, at least according to the 1811 version of Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, you get amorous congress, basket making, blanket hornpipe, or convivial society.

70., 71., and 72. Carrying Tackle, Being on a Left-Handed Honeymoon, Groping in a Peculiar River

And if you were caught cheating on your significant other a century ago, you could be accused of carrying tackle, being on a left-handed honeymoon, or in Shakespeareâs time, groping for trout in a peculiar river.

73. Cluck and Grunt

Letâs talk food slang: Cluck and grunt referred to ham and egg.Â

74. Chicks on a Raft

Eggs on toast.

75. Bloodhound in the HayÂ

Hot dogs with sauerkraut.

76. Frog Sticks

French fries.

77. Hounds on an Island

Frank and beans.

78. On the HoofÂ

Any kind of meat served rare.

79. A Pair of Drawers

Two cups of coffee.

80., 81., and 82. Adamâs Ale, City Juice, and Dog Soup

All ways of saying water.

83. George EddyÂ

George Eddy is a customer who doesnât tip well.Â