20 Vintage Slang Words Which Sound Hilarious Today

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20 Vintage Slang Words Which Sound Hilarious Today

A lot of things in culture are cyclical. They're great for a few years, then fall out of favour for a decade or two, and then they go back to being great again. Just look at fashion, or music, or nutrition. 

But one aspect of culture that never seems to get a second act is slang. It has a brief surge at popularity and then, with few exceptions, gets swept into the dustbin of history. 

Occasionally, a slang phrase has staying power, like "hip" or "groovy." But those are the rare exceptions; the vast majority of slang gets just one shot at glory.

Herein are 20 vintage slang terms that once-upon-a-time dominated the world, today only elicit laughter.

1. Church Bell
An overly talkative woman. Yeah, if you're going to be wildly sexist, you might as well do it using slang that references 19th-century churches.

2. Knuckle Sandwich
We're sure this '40s-era slang, an expressive way of describing a fist that's prepared to punch you right in the face, this is intended to be intimidating. But it's always just struck as loveable.

3. Daddy-O
Mid 50's to mid-60's hipster slang. Somewhat equivalent to today's "dude" or "man" but with streetwise hipster attitude.

4. Sewer
1950s slang for someone who can't keep a secret.

5. Spifflicated
A fancier way of saying inebriated which, ironically, is almost impossible to pronounce while inebriated.

6. Sauce Box
Your mouth. As in, the place you put sauces.

7. Applesauce
Back in the '20s, the term for mocking someone who was full of baloney was applesauce. If you were full of applesauce, it's not because you just had a delicious snack.

8. Ankle-biter
A child, who apparently in olden times had a bad tendency to bite the ankles of adults. Either that or grown-ups were confusing them with dogs.

9. Gigglemug
Someone who can't or won't stop smiling. Hey, we can think of a way to wipe that smile off their face. Just called them a gigglemug and see their expression fade from happy to quizzical.

10. Flutterbum
If you called somebody a flutterbum during the '50s, they'd think you were complimenting their appearance. Probably not safe to try that today, as it kind of sounds like you're tossing out an insult.

11. Hotsy-totsy
Something was not so good, but now it's great. "Yeah, we are arguing for a while, but everything is hotsy-totsy now."

12. Meathook
Your hands. As in, "get yer meathooks off me!" Presumably from a time when more people had hooks coming out of their arms than actual flesh-and-blood hands. It was a rough time to be alive

13. Hornswoggler
Not, the name of one of the houses at Hogwarts, Harry Potter's school. This is actually a slang word for somebody you suspect of cheating or swindling you in some way. As in, "Don't open that email, it's just spam sent from a hornswoggler!"

14. Unmentionables
If you lived during a time when underwear seemed so scandalous that they should never be mentioned, giving them a name like "unmentionables" is not helping your case.

15. Whooperup
A singer who isn't doing an especially good job at hitting all the notes.

16. Gasper
Another word for a cigarette.

17. Pumblechook
The slang is derived from Uncle Pumblechook, a character described as the "basest of swindlers" in the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations. 

18. Gas pipes
A term for a gentleman with long legs who wore especially tight trousers. Which we guess was something that happened a lot in the Victorian era. So, there you go, definitive proof that hipsters have been around for centuries.

19. Abercrombie
Another term for a know-it-all, this word from the 1930s.

20. Handcuff
Another way to say engagement ring. Or more honestly, another way to say, "I am in no way ready for marriage. This whole thing is freaking me out!"