Ye Olde Dictionary Of Fun 3 (1941)

Behold! I found yet another vintage dictionary with a "new words" section -- this one's from 1941! So, like last time, I'll be posting some of my favorite "new words" from that year, along with their definitions, my comments (in red), and the 14th photo that comes up in a Google search for that word.

A note before I begin: Many of the "new" words and phrases here were related to the current events of the time, including the names of weapons, war-related air crafts, etc. as well as cringe-worthy words such aryan, nazi, concentration camp, blackout, blitzkrieg, fascism, fuhrer, and gestapo. I don't want to ignore that they're in here. In fact, if you want to see all the new words from 1941, click to enlarge any of these pictures:

But yeah, I'm not really in the mood to highlight those.

So, here we go with some of the more fun & delightful "new" words from 1941:

Automatism: Surrealism. Suspension of the conscious mind in order to release for expression the repressed ideas and images of the unconscious.

(Hmmm... I see an airplane with glasses.)

Autostrada: A trunk highway, usually of concrete and without intersections, reserved for high-speed motor traffic.

(So, a freeway?)

Bangboard: A sidepiece mounted above the far sidepiece of a wagon, from which the ears of corn tossed by a husker rebound into the wagon.

Barbecue: To roast or grill (esp. pork or beef) slowly in sizable pieces before an open fire, or on a gridiron or revolving spit or in a trench, often drenching with a sauce of vinegar, salt, and pepper.

Boysenberry: A huge blackberry like bramble fruit with raspberry like flavor, developed in California from three blackberries, a variety of raspberry, and the loganberry.

Bra: Short for brassiere. A close-fitting outer waist for women, often with sleeves.

(Sleeves?)

Bulldozer: A broad blunt horizontal ram or pusher propelled by a tractor, for use in road building.

Codeball: A game in which a pair or two pairs of players play an inflated ball six inches in diameter entirely with the feet, either against the six surfaces of a handball court or on a golflike course into fourteen inverted metal bowls.

Corny: Affecting, or rendered in, a banal, bland, or unsophisticated style, so as to elicit sentimental feelings; -- contrasted with hot (see below.) Slang.



(Corny -- kind of like that girl's Codeball shirt, mmhmm.)

Disqualify: Sports. To debar from further participation or competition because of an infringement of the rules or of official rulings.

Dither: A distracted or unbalanced state of overexcitement.

Groove: In The Groove, Swing Music. Playing swing music in exalted mood and in top form.

Hair-do: A way of dressing the hair.

Heel: A contemptibly mean-spirited scoundrel likely to double-cross a pal. Slang. Orig. Underworld slang, US.

(A contemptibly mean-spirited scoundrel... as opposed to a loving, warm & fuzzy scoundrel?)

Hot: Slang. Impassioned and exciting in rhythm and mood, often also vehement in execution; as, hot jazz; a hot dancer.

(Yeah, I'm not posting the 14th picture for this one. Search "hot" on Google if you want to see a lot of (apparently) sexy ladies, though. We'll just move on, here...)

McCoy, The: Also, the Real McCoy. The genuine person or article; the real thing. Slang, US.




Mickey Finn: A drugged drink of liquor.

(1941: Bad drink! 2018: Good drink! Time travelers must be so confused.)

Mocha: Designating a rich icing made with butter and chocolate and flavored with coffee, or a cake iced with it.

Perisphere: A perfect sphere; a globe; -- coined for use at New York World's Fair, 1939-40.



(I'm happy that the definition of "perisphere" hasn't changed in 77 years. It's still just a giant globe thing from the NY World's Fair, forever and for always.)

Pinball: A game played by driving a small ball up a groove alongside of a sloping board studded with small spikes, or pins, and furnished with numbered holes, the object of the game being to cause the ball, as it rolls down the board, to fall into the highest-numbered hole.

Plummet: To drop or plunge straight down.

Softball: A modified form of baseball played out of doors with a ball like the one used in indoor baseball but smaller and harder; also, the ball used in this game.



(The history/nuances of baseball/softball are super confusing and I'm done with trying to understand them.)

Stellar: Chief; leading; principal; star.

(I was secretly hoping to see a picture of Zenon, here, so... Bonus Picture Time!)

(Better.)

Video: [L, videre to see.] Television. Pertaining to or used in the transmission or reception of the image; as, video channel; video frequency.

Welsh Corgi: A short-legged, long-backed dog with foxlike head, belonging to either of two Welsh breeds: the Cardigan, marked by rounded ears, slightly bowed forelegs, long tail; the Pembroke, by pointed-erect ears, straight legs, and short tail.

(Much of the world may have been at war in 1941, but at least the citizens of the planet were not without Welsh Corgis.) 💜💖💛

Ye Olde Dictionary Of Fun 2 (1959)

Back in 2010, I did a post about a 1962 Webster's Illustrated Dictionary I'd bought that had a "newly-added words" section. New words/terms added that year included conga, boloney, racism, snafu and wacky, and I very much enjoyed going through the list. So much so, in fact, that for the past eight years, whenever I've seen an old dictionary at an estate sale, garage sale, or Good Will, I've checked to see if it has a "newly-added words" section. And I kid you not, I've probably leafed through 80 dictionaries over the past eight years, and not ONE of them had such a section/feature.

Until today.

And so I present...

1959, baby.

This recent find, Webster's NEW American Dictionary, was published by "Books, Inc." in New York. The 1962 version I found eight years ago, while still edited by the same group of old white men, was published by "Publisher's Company, Inc." out of Washington D.C. Perhaps because these two dictionaries were published independently of each other in different locations, some of the "new words" in the 1959 dictionary also appear as "new words" in the 1962 one. There is, disappointingly, a lot of overlap, but there are some exceptions. For example, "astronaut" appears in the 1962 dictionary, but not the 1959 one.

Just for fun, I decided to go through this 1959 "new words" list and pick out the most amusing words. Amusing to... well, me, of course. And to take it one step further, for each word/term I've Googled it and grabbed the 14th photo that appears. (Unless the 14th photo is too weird. Then I'll take the 13th or 15th instead.)

So won't you join me on this wacky conga line of boloney?

😊

Dictionary words are in bold

My observations are in red.

Air Raid Warden 

Definition: A civilian officer in charge of a specific area for air-raid defense.

14th Google Photo:

(1959 seems a little late to be adding this one, but... carry on.)

Aussies

Definition: Slang. A name first given to Australian soldiers in World War I.

14th Google Photo:

(D'aw, look at the cute little soldier!)

Back Number

Definition: person or thing that is out of date.

14th Google Photo:

("You're still wearing Poodle Skirts, Linda? You are such a back number!")

Barbiturates

Definition: In chemistry, a group of drugs used as sedatives and hypnotics.

14th Google Photo:

(Are these supposed to look delicious?)

Beano

Definitions: 1. A gambling game employing numbers. 

2. Slang A treat or spree; a beanfest.

14th Google Photo:

(Who doesn't enjoy a good beanfest?)

Big Shot

Definition: Slang. An important person.

14th Google Photo:

Bobby Socks

Definition: Colloq. Ankle-short socks.

14th Google Photo:

Bone Head

Definition: A dull-minded person.

14th Google Photo:

Bottleneck

Definitions: 1. A narrow opening. 

2. A point where traffic becomes congested. 

3. Any location or condition which impedes progress.

14th Google Photo:

Brunch

Definition: Colloq. A meal substituted for both breakfast and lunch.

14th Google Photo:

Chiclet

Definition: Trade-mark name for a candy-coated chewing gum; made from chicle.

14th Google Photo:

Chowmobile

Definition: Slang. A canteen trailer or truck used to transport and serve food to shipyard or factory workers, military personnel, or other groups.

14th Google Photo:

Collage

Definition: A surrealist "picture," made up of heterogeneous fragments, as seaweed, matchbooks, etc., pasted up and arranged with related lines and daubs of color.

14th Google Photo:

(Ah yes. Everyone remembers making collages in elementary school, complete with the obligatory seaweed and matchbooks.)

Congeroo

Definition: A vigorous dance; a combination of the jitterbug and the conga style of dancing.

14th Google Photo:

Culottes

Definition: Literally, breeches. A garment divided like trousers but having a full skirt: worn by women.

14th Google Photo:

Drag

Definition: Slang. A girl escorted to a dance or ball by a midshipman of the U.S. Naval Academy.

14th Google Photo:

(Who's to say this person wouldn't want to be escorted to a Naval Academy dance or ball?)

Filmstress

Definition: A motion picture actress.

14th Google Photo:

(If words can catch on I guess you could say this one caught off.)

Fluff

Definition: A slip of the script or of the tongue in a radio broadcast.

14th Google Photo:

Matilda

Definition: Austral. Colloq. A hobo's affectionate name for his bundle of possessions.

14th Google Photo:

(So a waltzing Matilda was a... oh, never mind.)

Mugger

Definition: Slang. A hoodlum or gangster who robs a victim while confining him in a stranglehold; usually in darkened, quiet city streets.

14th Google Photo:

Parapooch

Definition: Colloq. A dog trained to be dropped from an airplane by parachute. 

14th Google Photo:

(But but but WHY?)

Phooey

Definition: An expression of contempt.

14th Google Photo:

Samba

Definition: A ballroom dance of Brazilian origin, danced by couples in a two-four step pattern with an accented musical accompaniment.

14th Google Photo:

Save Face

Definition: To act so as to avoid humiliation or disgrace.

14th Google Photo:

Smorgasbord

Definition: A Swedish buffet meal consisting of an abundance of foods.

14th Google Photo:

(Life before brunches and smorgasbords must have been brutal.)

Teenster

14th Google Photo:

Definition: Also, teenager.

(I'm strongly reminded of this for some reason.)

Tutu

Definition: The classical "powder puff" skirt of the ballet dancer.

14th Google Photo:

*****

P.S. New Words added to Webster's in 2018 include:

Hangry
TL;DR
Airplane mode
Predictive
Yorkie-poo
Force quit
Adorbs
Rando
Mansplain
Latinx
and
Glamping

If someone comes across this blog in 2077 and wants to make fun of these words, PLEASE DO IT.)