Sayings on the show you don't hear anymore

[Mister Kitzel]

I think cigarettes were only called fags in England, not in the USA.

[Maxwell]

From the Merriam-Webster dictionary, fold as a verb: to incorporate (a food ingredient) into a mixture by repeated gentle overturnings without stirring or beating.

[helloagain]

Here's something that I think fits into this thread. Not exactly something that was said, but was done. When was the last time you heard of a person getting a hotfoot? I was listening to a Benny program from 1941 and they mentioned that Phil had to stay after school because he gave his teacher a hotfoot. This was the subject of many gags around this time, and was very funny ( unless you were the recipient ). If anyone is unfamiliar with it, check out this link....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_foot

[Chasitykins]

My age probably shows here, but I certainly had never heard of a hotfoot until I listened to OTR.

I heard Jack talking to Dennis in one episode about having two heads and asking why he doesn't put either one to use. It reminded me of an episode of the Flintstones where Fred is asking Barney about a costume that gives him another head, and Barney asks what he'd need three heads for.

What is this about two heads that I don't know? Unless it's a dirty joke...

[Brad from Georgia]

Ah, the two-headed freak. The gentleman was a well-known sideshow attraction in the 1920s; however, sadly, he was unstable mentally and eventually he had surgery to correct the condition that was (falsely) exploited to give him "two heads." The general public had heard of him, and news stories had reported that his mind had been afflicted by his condition. Hence the rather cruel "two-headed freak" jokes...

[kbbl]

Being a baseball fan, I've seen it in a few instances (seems the non-starters sometimes have a bit too much time in their hands in the dugout and bullpen) usually in year end highlight type reels or blooper type clips.

And I have often folded in ingredients (usually on cookies, and other recipes with a bunch of dry ingredients)

[grittys457]

I just listened to a show where Rochester had his friend Roy over helping to clean up after a party at Jack's. In the morning Jack is talking with Mary or somebody and he says "Rochester is with his boyfriend Roy cleaning up".

I know today girls call their friends that are girls "girlfriends" but I never heard boyfriend used between men. At least not in that way.

[Maxwell]

I think in an introduction to one of the shows, Don Wilson refers to Roy that way, too. I've never heard "boyfriend" used between two guys either, at least in a relationship that is strictly friendship.

[mdclimber]

Frank Sinatra as a skinny wimp. Not just on Jack Benny, but Burns and Allen and other shows of the time - they always made fun of Frank Sinatra for being a skinny little wisp of a guy. Kind of a wimp. It's not the tough guy "Chairman" image I grew up with.

[grittys457]

Frank- A man gets used to eating three meals a day

Jack- Well brother......no, I won't say it!

[scottp]

I remember when I was about 18 and my mom was on the phone talking to someone about what she had served for dinner the night before... "I'd never tried making that before, and one of Scott's boyfriends happened to be over..."
I was mortified... at first I figured she was losing it...

Even now it doesn't sound right for the middle-aged Rochester and Roy.

[kbbl]

Sinatra- I was used to that as a result of watching Looney Tunes. Especially the Barnyard where all the swooners were birds.

Another one I was recently thinking about was "hash." I don't know if it's referenced in an other parts of the country, but I never heard of hash growing up. I always figures in the 30's 40's etc, it was looked at as a something people did in the depression to get by.

B.

[Hank the All-Nite DJ]

Maybe it's a regional thing, but what I know as a plunger or a plumber's helper is a "plumber's friend"

I've heard it when they discuss Gladys Zybysko's occupation as a plumber and in the 5/9/1954 episode when Dennis describes Jack in his bathing suit and swim cap. He's so skinny he looks like a "plumber's friend."

I think plumber's helper is more apropos. Would you do that to a friend?

[helloagain]

I'm 60 years old and using the term 'boyfriend' in this way is a new one on me. This is the first time I can recall hearing it used between 2 guys, straight or otherwise. And people stopped doing the skinny jokes about Sinatra after he made 'From Here to Eternity' and changed his image.

[scottp]

There's a circa 1950 "You Bet Your Life" where a male contestant, telling one of those "embarrassing moments" stories, says he had a girl on a date and he intended to take her "up to the apartment of a boyfriend of mine."
(... where he was in the habit of getting in through the garbage chute, but this time he had the wrong apartment...)

I've also heard a couple of contestants use the word "grand" when reacting to a prize.