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Structure
Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 160 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 American Slang
slicker. These are of course the derogatory versions.
china-clipper. A china-clipper is someone who works as a dishwasher. A chatterbox is a gun that goes ackack...
let the cat out of the bag. To "let the cat out of the bag" is to reveal a secret, not to stop talking.
schlep. schlep meaning dragging something around, or yourself! Schlepping around town.
bright eyed and bushy tailed.
an inferior chess player. Now checkmate like a man!
to dance. I guess this is self-explanatory.
nitty-gritty. Nitty-gritty meaning of course, getting down to the essential, or the brass tacks. Flapdoodle is a personal favorite.
oomph. Now those are strange.
an honest person. Just like a straight arrow, someone who doesn't stray.
on his butt. Okay... if you don't know where it stems from, imagine the shape of the number 6. This expression too seems to be popular in the military, more specifically the Air Force.
It may also refer to the numbers on a clock. Imagine facing the 12 - someone "on your six" would be right behind you. Since pilots do use the clockface for directions, this seems logical.
in many tiny pieces. This term originated in Ireland.
absent. Stems from the military phrase 'Absent Without Leave'.
an earnest student. Like many slang words this one has a military origin. It refers to someone who diligently does his/her paperwork and likes to do things by the books. 'Gunny' is used as well.
nonsense. Gubbish is a combination of garbage and rubbish, which explains a lot. It's a computer generation type of slang, where in email words get abbreviated a lot. The word was used in the early eighties and seems to have gradually disappeared.
alcohol intoxicated. Also used is the term 'boiled' or 'toasted'. Perhaps this is because alcohol can give you this warm feeling inside?
Morphine. The phrase dates back to the days of the Civil War, and fits within the tradition of not really naming but just indicating problems.
| I had just arrived at the theater where I would meet my friend to go see a movie when he told me that he "dug my skins". That was a bit awkward, him complimenting my skin like that, although I must admit, I had been using lotion lately.
But, as it turns out, he was complimenting something completely different. What was it? | This Quiz is Bad
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My clothes. Skin before 2000: Flesh, or a rug made from a bear
Skin after 2000: Still means flesh, but also means clothes, rags, threads
I had no idea that clothes these days were called "skins". I had heard of "rags" and "threads", but calling my clothing "skins" was all new to me. Further, I did not quite know what he meant by "dig". When I asked, he told me that "dig" meant "like". So if someone "digs your skins", they aren't burrowing into your flesh; they like your clothes.
| I got a call from my friend asking me if I had any bacon. Completely and totally confused as to why he wanted bacon, I asked if he was making breakfast.
He replied with "What? No, I want bacon. You know, lettuce, bread."
He must be making a BLT. What does he REALLY want? | This Quiz is Bad
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Money. Bacon before 2000: A fatty, delicious pork product often eaten with eggs
Bacon after 2000: Moolah, simoleons, dead presidents, frogskins, cash, dough, greenbacks, money
My friend went through dozens of terms for money before I finally understood what he wanted. He called it "bread", "cabbage", "lettuce", "bacon", "beans", and "chips". I thought he was really hungry, but it turned out that he was a few dollars short of a new skateboard and needed to "hit me up for some cash" (ask me for money).
| I was sitting, talking to a group of friends. Then another person walked up and said "Wuttup, peeps?"
Confused, I asked the person next to me what he just said. What did that phrase mean, anyway? | This Quiz is Bad
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How are you, friends?. Peeps before 2000: Making a sound, a delicious marshmallow candy, also a catchphrase of Stavros on "Harry Enfield and Chums" (thanks highfells!)
Peeps after 2000: Friend, pals, companions
It turns out that "wuttup" is a word that is similar to "wuzzup", or "wazzup". That word is used as a "mash-up" of the term "what's up". If he had only asked that, I would have told him it was the ceiling. But really, "what's up" is a phrase that asks "how are you"? Shades of Bugs Bunny!
| My friend, after months and months of begging, finally convinced me to play an online game with him. When I joined, I read a message from him that told everyone, "Look guys, we have a noob with us today, so go easy."
I knew he was talking about me, but I did not know what he was calling me. I was a bit offended. In truth, though, what was he saying when he said "noob"? | This Quiz is Bad
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He was telling them that I had never played the game before. Noob before 2000: This term was never used before, we called them "newcomers"
Noob after 2000: Newbie, inexperienced
Apparently, when my friend told everyone that I was a noob, he was simply alerting them that I was a "newbie", a newcomer, that I had not played the game before. It turns out, being tagged as a noob isn't so bad; I got the hang of the game right away and was doing great, and they were going easy on me at first, so I won a lot.
| When it was starting to get dark at the park, my friend checked his watch and said "Gotta bounce". I watched him, waiting for him to start jumping for some strange reason. He never did, though.
Instead, what did my friend do? | This Quiz is Bad
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He left; he had to get home. Gotta bounce before 2000: What one says when they have a sudden urge to hop up and down
Gotta bounce after 2000: Gotta go, see ya later, I can't be here right now
When my friend told me he had to "bounce", I thought he was going to start doing jumping jacks or something. Instead, after yelling "Gotta bounce" he ended with "TTYL" and he was gone. I had no idea what had just happened until I asked someone what it meant, and they told me he said he had to go, talk to you later.
| My friend and I were playing basketball in the park when he stopped me and pointed. I looked in the direction, and he was pointing to a girl. He said "she's so fly" and we started playing again.
I had no idea what that meant. Perhaps you know? | This Quiz is Bad
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He thought she was attractive. Fly before 2000: What a bird or a plane or Superman does, or an annoying insect, also slang for cool (It was used in "In Living Color" in the 90s [thanks ferfer72])
Fly after 2000: Attractive, pretty, cool
I remember saying "good-looking" or "hot" when someone was pretty. But my friend, he said she was "fly". It seems that the English language has been morphed into a completely new language, which I will call "teenspeak".
| On a Saturday in December my friend decided to text message me and ask me if I wanted to chill with him. I text messaged him back and told him that I didn't like cold weather.
I got a text back from him that only contained a question mark. He must have had a different definition of "chill" than I did. What could it have meant? | This Quiz is Bad
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He wanted to hang out at his house. Chill before 2000: Make something cold, freeze it, possibly even a shiver up your spine, relax (yes, it was slang before 2000, as well)
Chill after 2000: Hang out, relax, "chillax"
It turns out that my friend never wanted to go outside. It was far too cold and he couldn't play any sports, so he was bored. He texted me to ask me to come to his house so we could "chill", which, apparently, means "hang out".
| I asked my friend if he wanted to come over to my house, and he said he would. Then he asked if he could bring his shorty along.
I assumed he meant his little brother. I said he could bring "shorty". Imagine my shock when someone completely different came with him. Who? | This Quiz is Bad
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His lady (girlfriend). Shorty before 2000: Small fry, pipsqueak, generally short person
Shorty after 2000: Girlfriend, shawty, sometimes even meaning boyfriend
I recall being called "shorty" many times in my younger days in elementary school. I was a bit vertically challenged at the time, thus I was called "shorty". I also used to call my sister shorty, because, well, that's just something older siblings seem to do. Nowadays, everyone seems to use the word "shorty", often pronounced and spelled as "shawty" to describe their boyfriend or girlfriend. Things have changed.
Interestingly, though, "shorty" can be used much differently in Australia, where it refers to someone very tall. Alternately, someone very short may be called "stretch".
| I asked my friend the other day if he wanted to see a movie with me. And what was the response, you wonder? He text messaged me back with the randomly written letters "fo shizzle". I assumed his fingers were off center and twitching, thus hitting all the wrong letters.
But the truth is, he really meant to say "fo shizzle". What does that even mean? | This Quiz is Bad
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He was down with that (he wanted to go). Fo shizzle before 2000: Well, we didn't say that when I was a kid!
Fo shizzle after 2000: For sure, okay, definitely, I understand.
I grew up just fine without adding "izzle" to the end of so many words. Today, though, it seems that is a wildly popular thing to do. There is even a song ("1, 2, Step") that starts out "This is a jazzy fizzle productizzle." Couldn't they have just said it was a jazzy production? I mean, really?
When we left the theater, my friend looked at me and said that was fat. I looked at him and told him that was very rude; I thought the actress was pretty. He looked at me questioningly, then told me he meant phat with a "ph", which meant he liked the movie.
| When I was watching "The Sing Off" season 3, Shawn Stockman told a group that their performance was ill. I could not tell what that meant until he finished speaking.
What was Shawn's view of the performance? | This Quiz is Bad
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He thought it was "off the chain" (good). Ill before 2000: Sick, under the weather, down with that
Ill after 2000: Good, awesome, sweet, sick, "the bomb diggity"
When I was younger, saying "ill" meant I was sick. In the 2000s, ill still meant sick, but sick happened to mean good. If something is "sick", "ill", or "off the chain", it is a good thing. So if a youngster comes up to you and says your clothes look ill, they are complimenting you; you should say thank you. They'll probably not appreciate you slapping them for calling you "ill".
| I asked a friend to go golfing with me and he replied, "I'll be there with bells on." Obviously, he was enthusiastic about the prospect of hitting the links. But why bells? Who came up with that? | Vintage American Slang
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Conestoga wagonners. Drivers decorated their harnesses with lots of bells, of which they were quite proud. If they broke down or got stuck during a trip, the teamster who came to help might ask for some bells as part of his payment. To arrive at a destination with "all your bells on" signified a successful trip.
Keep a secret. The derivation is pretty simple, really. If it's "kept under your hat", it stays in your head. In other words, think about it, but don't say it. This term did not come into use until the 20th century.
| If you are evaluating your assets and get too far ahead of yourself, you may be warned, "don't count your chickens before they're hatched". Wise advice, but where did it come from, originally? | Vintage American Slang
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An old English Poem. This is one of the oldest bits of slang, originating from a poem published by one Thomas Howell, dated 1570. "Counte not thy chickens that vnhatched be, waye words as winde, till thou find certaintee". (Standardized spelling had not yet come into use).
| If you are in an extremely difficult situation for which you imagine there is no solution, you may be "between a rock and a hard place". What brought this term into usage? | Vintage American Slang
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A copper mining labor dispute. This is a fairly recent addition to American English. In 1917, Colorado copper miners struck for better, safer working conditions. The mine owners refused, threatening to send the strike leaders to mines in New Mexico, which they eventually did. These leaders found themselves "between a rock and a hard place".
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