Copacetic colloquialisms
Regarding “Flappers said ‘baloney!’ to idea that slang was for men” in the Dec. 14, 2020, Monitor Weekly: Oh, what fun memories Melissa Mohr’s column stirred up for me. I was born in the late 1920s, so I grew up hearing my folks and their friends use “flapper slang.” I figured it was just normal English.
I’m now living in a large retirement building and will occasionally use “the cat’s pajamas” or “the bee’s knees” or “the cat’s meow” – which always makes someone say with delight, “Oh, I haven’t heard that for years!”
In 1922, there was even “A Flapper’s Dictionary,” and that’s not “baloney!” Flapper slang is fun and refreshingly different from today’s colloquialisms. Right? Right.