Saturday, January 30, 2010

1950's American Slang Word of the Day #4

The definitions for the 1950's slang word of the day come word for word straight out of 'The pocket dictionary of American Slang' pub.1960 and compiled by Harold Wentworth and Stuart Berg Flexner.


The 1950's American Slang Word of the Day is :

Cat. adj. Drunk. n. 1. A Spiteful woman; A malicious gossip. coloqu. 2. A Lion, a Tiger, a Leopard or any other member of the cat family. circus use. 3. A man who dresses in the latest fashions and pursues women. A dude. A Sport, one who Tomcats, one who is worldly, wise, or Hep. Probably from "Alligator", "Gator", "Gate", and then corrupted to "Cat", reinforced by "Tomcat". Mostly Negro use. 4. A Jazz musician associated with and popularized by Swing use.
Wide bop use but cool and far out musicians are not referred to as cats by their devotees. Fairly well known general use since c.1940. 5. A Devotee of Jive and Swing, a hepcat, jive and swing use 1935-1942. 6. A devotee or any member of a group that is or anyone that appreciates bop, cool, far out, or beat. Anyone who is a member of the avante garde of music, art or literature. Any Non conformist, specifically a hipster. used by members of these groups since c.1950 and fairly common general use since c.1955 mainly owing to the sensational newspaper articles about hipsters and the beat generation,. 7. A man, a fellow or guy. Any human being. 1. To court or seek women for sexual reasons. To consort with prostitutes or promiscuous women. 2. To gossip, to make disparaging remarks 3. To loaf or idle. To spend ones time idling on street corners. Some teenage street gang use since c.1950 .

Example: "Hey Chooch, that guy Paulo is a real smooth Cat. He a friend of yours?"

Clarification: "Hey Charles, that young man Paul is quite a polished and refined gentleman. Is he someone that you know well?"

1 comment:

  1. I just found your blog, a little while ago, and have been reading some of your posts, ever since. Love it. I'm a big fan of the old Twilight Zone. Its great to see that you are, too.

    ~ Just Joany
    Red Wagon Flights

    ReplyDelete

LABELS

$60000 Question (1) 1880 (1) 1930's (1) 1940's (3) 1950's (67) 1960's (9) 1970's (3) 4th of July (1) addiction (3) advertising (34) Alcoholism (1) American Slang (27) Arrow shirts (1) art instruction ads (3) Astronaut space suit (1) atomic (3) Avon (1) Bachelor Father (2) Beat Generation (4) beatnik (2) beauty (7) beauty products (4) Bell Telephone System (1) Bobby Troup (1) bras (1) Brides (1) Brute Father (1) cab calloway (1) Cast a Kitten (1) cat (1) cavaliers (1) Celebrities (8) Chani (1) Cheeze its (1) Cherries (1) Chesterfields (1) children (1) childrens books (1) Clearasil (1) Collecting (1) comics (1) cookbooks (1) crafts (2) Curves Ahead (2) Cyd Charisse (1) Dad (1) Daddy-O (1) Dame (1) dark eyes (1) decorating (1) Devil Girl From Mars (1) Douglas Dc-8 (1) Draw Me (3) Eames (1) electric range (1) Elizabeth Taylor (1) EMERGENCY (1) Etiquette (2) extremely cool blogs (1) fall (1) Family (1) Family Circle (5) fashion (4) feminine instruction (2) Fiction (12) fight (1) food (6) four letter man (1) Fredricks of Hollywood (1) French Walk (1) fun (1) gambling (1) Gargo (1) girdles (2) Gladys Cooper (1) glamour (3) Gloria Grahame (1) Gloria Lockerman (1) Gog (1) Gold Chloride (1) Good Housekeeping (2) Gort (1) Grandpa (2) Guns (1) hairstyles (2) Heat (1) Heavenly Pink Cloud (1) hep (1) hepcat (2) Hindenburg Survivors (1) hipster (1) Hostessing (2) Household tips (4) Hyacinthe (1) I Love Lucy (1) Ike (1) Jack Webb (1) Jailbait (1) Jelly Roll (1) Jive (1) Joan Crawford (1) John Forsythe (2) journey (1) Julie London (2) Jungle (1) Keeley Institute (1) Ladies Home Journal (3) Lady with gun (1) language (1) Leggs (1) Leslie E Keeley (1) lifestyle (1) Lili St. Cyr (1) Livingroom gig (1) lucky strike (1) Lustro Ware (1) lysol (1) Mad Men (1) Madison Avenue (1) make-up (1) Marilyn Monroe (1) Mario Lanza (1) Martha Raye (1) Marvel (1) meatball (1) Melody Raye Condos (1) memories (1) Modern Confessions (1) musician (2) Myrna Loy (1) Navy (1) Neat Stuff (1) Nesbitts (1) Nick Condos (1) Noreen Corcoran (1) Norman Lear (1) nose job (1) Oleo (1) OMG (6) peepshow (1) Pic of the Week (3) pimples (1) Pin Up Girl (1) Pinky (1) Polident (1) polio (1) popular culture (2) president (1) Prom (1) pulp fiction (1) Pulpy fiction covers (1) Quarreling (1) Quotes (1) Ranch Home (1) REALLY COOL STUFF I MADE (2) Recipes (3) Reefer Party (1) resolutions (1) RETRO (2) Revealing Romances (1) reward (1) Robbie The Robot (1) Robert Redford (1) Robots (1) Rod Serling (1) salk (1) Salt and Pepper Shakers (1) Samee Tong (1) sausage (1) scans (11) Scene (1) Sexy (1) sheets (1) Sitcoms (1) Sizzle (1) Skate (1) skid row (1) skidroad (1) Skin (1) skinny (1) slang of the day (1) slot machine (1) smokin' (3) Sofa Lizzard (1) Square America (1) SS Saratoga (1) Stanley (1) Stolen From (4) Stories (11) Street Corner Girl (1) strip tease (1) stripper (1) Swell (1) Tallulah Bankhead (1) Target Earth (1) teens (1) Television (3) Tenor (1) The Day the Earth Stood Still (1) The Fever (1) the Red House (1) Thermo-lite (1) three dollar bill (1) three letter man (1) Thrift (3) Thursday Stuff (3) Tim Tam Braid (1) tips (3) to do's (1) Tobor the Great (1) Town Journal (1) True Confessions (1) True Detective (1) True Romance (1) True Secrets (1) True Story (4) Tuna (1) Twilight Zone (2) United States of America (1) USO (1) Vaudeville (1) vegetables (1) Vera Ellen (1) vintage (28) Vivian Vance (1) Weird stuff (2) wonder cream (1) ww2 (1)