Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Words & Phrases From The 1950s | '50s Slang



For some reason blog posts focused on old-school slang seem to get lots of hits. I've covered the '70s, '80s and '90s, so here are some fun phrases from the 1950s. Obviously the '50s era is before my time so I'm depending on web research for this list. Yes, some of these words are still commonly used today.

Bread: Cash, money, dough. Example: "Gimme some bread so I can buy the new Elvis album!"


Crumb: Jerk, creep, idiot. Example: "Stay away from that guy, he's a real crumb!"

Daddy-o: Hip way of addressing a male. Example: "What's shakin' Daddy-o?!"


Flip your lid: Go crazy or lose it. Example: "Dad, I'm only five minutes past curfew, don't flip your lid!"

Out of this world: Great, amazing. Example: "This apple pie is out of this world!"



Out to lunch: Not all there. Example: "The receptionist at my doctor's office is totally out to lunch."


Pad: House, home, place of residence. Example: "I just got a new pad downtown."


Sharp: Snazzy, fashionable. Example: "You're looking sharp!"

Take five: Take a break. Example: "Why not take five and we'll regroup in a bit."

Wig out: Same as Flip your lid.

16 comments:

Macey said...

Crumb? I never heard that one. That't totally lame. Haha. There's an 80's reference for ya.

Copyboy said...

Finally, phrases that weren't part of my time period. Nice research!

Christopher said...

somehow i'm still using half of these

Anonymous said...

I love "wig out" and "Daddy-O" :-)

Marlene said...

I must've watched a lot of Happy Days or something....the 50's are well before my time, yet I use a lot of these phrases NOW! HA!

Anonymous said...

These are great! Yes, we still use many of them today. I wonder which of today's slang words we will still be using in 50 years. Hopefully not: "phat","that's hot" and "wardrobe malfunction" among others. - G

Riot Kitty said...

That's hilarious. I can't imagine using any of these with a straight face.

Pat Tillett said...

that's right cool chicky, you got one classy chassis...

Cheeseboy said...

Funny. Some of these are coming back. I hear the kids say pad all the time now.

Thomas Pluck said...

Crumb is short for crumb-bun or crumb-bum, and became "crummy"

Salt said...

I still use a lot of these! Wig out is a fave of mine.

Unknown said...

I say wig out and out of the world sometimes...maybe I'm from the past?? :)

CiCi said...

I was a little squirt in the fifties. So that makes me ancient. Ha. I remember saying all these and hey, I still wig out sometimes.

Teachinfourth said...

Man, I still hear some of these things...

Bernice said...

You are so "Out of this World" for posting this! You "Sazzy" young lady... :)

RealHousewivesOfFashion.blogspot.com

Teachinfourth said...

I still use some of these...

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