The success of Endangered Words , Simon Hertnon’s scholearly but eminently readable collection of rarely heard words, prompted Skyhorse’s publisher, Tony Lyons, to invite me to write one for phrases. However, rather than limit its contents to obsolete phrases and expressions that are the linguistic equivalent of embalmed, I was more interested in assembling a less erudite, more nostalgic and sociological book that focused as well on phrases and expressions that were on their way out. Language is organic, and vocabularies change over time. Phrases and expressions are created for a variety of reasons. Many enjoy a certain vogue and then fade into obscurity when circumstances change or another more popular word or phrase comes along. For example, Southern California–born Val-Speak was all the rage forty years ago, but now you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone whose response to an improbable situation is “gag me with a spoon!” (however, like the Dude, “well duh!” abides).
Regionalisms were a large part of our national linguistic panorama. Imaginative as all get-out (New England’s “as accommodating as a hog on ice” and the South’s “faster than a cat lapping chain lightning”), they started disappearing as migration and mass media caused our speech to become homogenized.
New technologies added to vocabularies. The radio gave us “crystal set” as well as such phrases made popular by radio personalities and shows as “Fibber McGee’s closet” and “Quiz Kid.” The phonograph produced “broken record” and “flip side.” Motion pictures gave us “double feature,” “B movie,” and phrases from the flicks like “circle the wagons!” From television came “just the facts, Ma’am” and “peanut gallery.” (No doubt some of today’s computer-generated phrases will stay with us while others will vanish into cyberspace).
Classical education provided many phrases, but as schools stop offering such courses, the phrases are joining Latin as a dead language. A pity, because “between Scylla and Charybdis” and “O tempora! O mores!,” to cite just two such phrases, enrich anyone’s vocabulary.
The advent of political correctness has had an effect on speech. Where once most people didn’t think twice about using “Chinaman’s chance,” “black sheep,” and “lawn jockey” or even such a seemingly innocuous phrase as “stew zoo,” the overt or implicit racial or gender slurs have just about caused the phrases to disappear, certainly from polite conversations.
One of the pleasures of assembling this book was to test whether a particular phrase was indeed endangered. I did so by bouncing it off younger friends and colleagues, and if the response was a “Huh?” or a blank stare, I knew I was onto something (I quickly stopped following up with “You mean you never heard that one?” which did nothing but confirm my advanced age). Many times came the answer, “Yeah, I’ve heard it, but I don’t know what it means,” and that was followed after I explained with “That’s cool!” Speaking of age, as I came across any number of phrases and expressions, I heard in my mind’s ear the voices of my parents and grandparents and others of their generation. Other people had the same reaction, and I suspect you will too.
I came across lots of endangered phrases in the course of reading and especially from watching television (thank you, Turner Classic Movies). Many books and cybersources were responsible for leads and contributions. Among the reference works were Brewer’s Dictionary of Fact and Fable, A Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage by Bergen Evans and Cornelia Evans, and Common Phrases … and the Amazing Stories Behind Them by Max Cryer. Websites included The Phrase Finder (http://www.phrases. org.uk/index.html), Expressions&Sayings (http://users.tinyon-line.co.uk/gswithenbank/sayindex.htm), The Dog Hause (for animal phrases) (http://www.doghause.com/idioms.asp), Alpha Dictionary (http://www.alpha dictionary.com/slang/), and two indispensable sites for “wordies”: Wordsmith (http://www.word-smith.org) and The Word Detective (http://www.word-detective. com/).
Then there were the friends and relatives who were kind enough to suggest phrase candidates. Profound appreciation goes to Tony Ard, Mike Cohen, Kathy and Larry Burd, Dr. Jeff Buckner, Linda and Hank Beebe, Mari and Rich Goldman, Mandy Lorraine, Diane Maglaris, Dr. Mitchell Sweet, Melanie Garnett, Judy Goldman, John Sands, Lee Weisel, David Perl-mutter, Richard Berleth, Joan and Richard Liebmann-Smith, Margy Danson, Norman Fine, Jim Wofford, Sally Stith Bur-dette, Pat Daniel, and a particularly deep bow to Betsy Wesman.
Finally, my editor Sara Kitchen’s unfailing enthusiasm and keen eye contributed volumes to this volume, for which I am, in a phrase, beyond grateful.