Most people grow up thinking that slang or colloqiual expressions are something totally modern. Nobody had alternate names for things before they came along. Before they came along, a girl was a girl, not a ‘chick’ or a ‘ho’ or a ‘slut’ or a ‘looker’. A car was a car, not a ‘ride’ or a ‘hummer’ or a ‘lemon’. But slang has been part of humanity and part of the English language for decades, indeed, even centuries. The 1920s and 30s, the Jazz Age and the Age of Depression, gave us many of our most famous, and at times, still-used slang-words. Some of these have fallen out of regular use, some are still used as frequently today as they were 80 years ago when our grandparents were still children. Words like ‘soused’, ‘spiffed’, ‘Ritzy’ and ‘ciggie’ or ‘smoke’ are probably just as easily understood now as they were in 1925.

The 1920s were a colourful time in world history with its own, unique brand of colourful, suggestive language to go along with it. The 1930s were dark times where even more language, brought on by the problems of the Depression, started to make an appearance. Maybe you’ve watched old movies or listened to Old Time Radio shows? Perhaps you’ve seen modern movies set in the 1920s and 30s, like “Road to Perdition” or “Once Upon a Time in America”, and you’ve heard period-slang which you don’t understand? Some of the words are pretty easy to figure out, some, not so easy. Here are a few slang-words from the 20s and 30s, which you may or may not recognise…

23 Skiddoo.
Meaning: To leave in a hurry.
Possible origin: From 23rd Street, Manhattan. The famous Flatiron building is located here, and the underground ventilation-grilles had a way of blasting up hot air from below which lifted up women’s skirts as they walked over them. Men wanting an impromptu peepshow would hang around here to get a gander. If a policeman showed up, the men would leg it sharpish, or else be arrested for loitering or inappropriate behaviour in public. This quick departure became known as doing the ’23 skiddoo’.

Bootlegger.
Meaning: A smuggler of alcohol.
Possible origin: Comes from large, old-fashioned cowboy boots or gumboots, the sides of which went right up to the wearer’s knees. Crafty smugglers would slip slim, easily-concealed bottles down the loose sides of their boots so that they would not be found if a policeman or other lawman decided to frisk their person.

Torpedo.
Meaning: Henchman.
Possible origin: Honestly not sure, probably because they got to the point really quick!

Chopper.
Meaning: Thompson submachine-gun.
Possible origin: Well…when you see what a Tommy gun can do to the human body, you’ll understand. At 600rpm, the Tommy gun delivered death in a quick and messy way which could leave a human body totally butchered and pumped full of holes.

Flatfoot.
Meaning: Policeman, usually a beat-cop.
Possible origin: Fallen arches or the pedal condition known as ‘policeman’s foot’, which some officers were prone to contracting after hours pounding the beat on the streets.

Certifiable.
Meaning: Looney, mad, crazy, insane.
Possible origin: From the phrase ‘certifiably insane’, meaning that someone was clearly nuts and this qualified for their swift and probbaly permanent placement in a lunatic asylum.

Sore.
Meaning: Upset, resentful.
Possible origin: Unsure. Generally used in a reproachful way. Eg: “Hey bud I didn’t mean it! Don’t be sore on me…”

Sugar-Daddy.
Meaning: Older boyfriend (or just a boyfriend) who showers his girlfriend with gifts in exchange for sex.
Possible origin: Rather obvious. A boyfriend who acts as sweet as sugar in order to get what his girlfriend can naturally give him.

Slang from the 1920s lasted for a surprisingly long time in popular speech. TV shows and radio-shows from the 50s were still using terms created up to 30 years earlier, as if they never went out of style. Some terms from the Jazz Age are still used today…like…Gold-Digger, Sugar-Daddy, Killjoy, knock up or fag (meaning either a cigarette or a homosexual…this term started being used interchangably around the early 20s).

In time, I hope to start a small index of archaic slang-terms. Slang is part of our language and our history and how it changes mirrors how society and vlaues have also changed over time. A hundred years ago, if you were ‘gay’, you were happy. Today you’d be a homosexual. Eighty years ago, a ‘bimbo’ was a real tough-guy. These days, a ‘bimbo’ is a derrogatory name for a stupid, air-head blonde.