1920's Slang Words
- and how! - I agree
- all wet - totally wrong
- attaboy or attagirl - great job! (From "That's a boy!")
- baby - a term of endearment
- balled up - messed up
- baloney - nonsense
- beef - a problem
- bent or blotto - drunk
- bimbo - a tough guy
- darb - great
- dogs - feet
- doll - an attractive woman
- dope - drugs
- dough - money
- gams - legs
- gay - happy - never used as slang for homosexual
- get-up - an outfit, clothing
- goof - an oaf
- goofy - in love
- grungy - jealous
- grummy -depressed
- high hat - a snob
- hip to the jive - trendy
- jack - money
- jake - great
- jalopy - a dumpy old car
- john - a toilet
- joint - an establishment
- keen - appealing
- kill-joy - someone who refuses to enjoy themselves at a party
- line - a false story or lie
- lollapalooza - a humdinger or wonderful time
- live wire - lively person
- milquetoast - a timid person
- mazuma - money
- nifty - great
- nookie - sex
- oh yeah! - I doubt it's true!
- pill - an unlikable person
- piffle - nonsense
- quiff - a woman who has sex with many men
- razz - to make fun of
- rats! - how disappointing!
- regular - normal, average
- rummy - a drunk
- sap - a fool or idiot
- shiv - a knife
- skirt - a woman
- spill - to talk
- swanky - elegant
- tasty - appealing
- tight - attractive
- upstage - snobby
- vamp - to flirt with or seduce
- wet blanket - a kill-joy
- whoopee - wild fun
- beat your gums - talk idly
- beat it! - get out of here
- don't know from nothing - doesn't have any information
- don't take any wooden dimes - don't get cheated
- get a wiggle on - start moving
- I have to see a man about a dog! - I need to leave now (usually to buy illegal alcohol)
- knows his onions - knows his business
- left holding the bag - to be blamed for something
- mind your potatoes - mind your own business
- now you're on the trolley! - now you've got it!
- puttin' on the Ritz - doing something in style
- so's your old man - an exclamation of irritation
- take someone for a ride - to drive someone to an isolated spot and kill them
- tell it to Sweeney! - tell it to someone who cares!
- what's eating you? - what's wrong?
- you slay me! - that's really funny!
The Roaring Twenties were also a time when people invented nonsensical fad phrases meaning "Excellent" - at one time, nearly everyone made up their own silly phrases, but some of them have survived to modern day, including:
The bee's knees, the cat's meow, the cat's pajamas, the elephant's eyebrow, the eel's hips, and don't forget the caterpillars' whiskers, my personal favorite.
Some others :
Applesauce: an expletive.
Bank's closed: no kissing or making out.
Blind date: going out with someone you don't know.
Butt me: I'll take a cigarette.
Cash or check: kiss now or later?
Crush: infatuation.
Daddy: a young woman's boyfriend/lover, especially if he is rich. (sugar daddy)
Dapper: a Flapper's dad
Dolled up: dressed up
Double cross: to cheat, stab in the back.
Flapper: a stylish, brash hedonistic young woman with short skits and short hair.
Fly boy: a glamorous term for an aviator.
Glad rags: going out on the town clothes.
Gold digger: a woman who associates with or marries a man for his wealth.
Hair of the dog: a shot or liquor.
Hooch: bootleg liquor.
Hood: hoodlum.
Java/Joe: coffee
Joint: a club, usually selling alcohol.
Ossified/spifflicated: a drunken person. Also, canned, corked, tanked, primed, jazzed, plastered, lit, fried to the hat.
Tomato: an attractive female
Upchuck: to vomit when you have drunk too much.
