A little googling and I found several sites with slang language listings. Amazing what a couple of decades will do to our English language. Some phrases have evolved into very different meanings, some stay the test of time.
See how many of these words or phrases you know the meaning of without googling.
Hit me with your best shot...
Clams
Breezer
Darb
Face stretcher
Gams
Hayburner
Heavy Sugar
Joe Brooks
Ossified
Punch the Bag
Candy Leg
Cake Eater
Moll Buzzer
Murk
Sheet and Scratch Man
Soft Heel
No wonder English is one of the hardest languages to learn!
9 comments:
Okay, Miss Pattie ..... here goes .....
Clams = dollars
Breezer = convertible
Darb = good
Face stretcher = plastic surgery
Gams = legs
Hayburner = horese
Heavy Sugar = ?
Joe Brooks = someone who could afford to dress in Brooks Brothers
Ossified = drunk
Punch the Bag = ?
Candy Leg = rich man (Sugar Daddy?)
Cake Eater = someone who gets it all, and eats it too
Moll Buzzer = ?
Murk = strong coffee
Sheet and Scratch Man = counterfeiter
Soft Heel = private eye (gumshoe?)
Ha, reading all those works bt F. Scott Fitzgerald comes in handy!
I came up with six that I'd heard before and I wasn't even sure of all the meanings of those. Guess I need to go look for my classics comic version of the Great Gatsby!
Well, let's see if I can expand on what Jeff said.
Hayburner = hot time in the ole town
Heavy Sugar = lots of loving
Ossified = rigid and uncompromising
Candyleg = weakness for sweeties
Moll buzzer = guy after the ladies
Soft heel = weakness for whatever
Yeah, these words are the scourge of ESL folk and I guess some of us, too, me included.
Jeez. I think I only know clams; which is "moolah", "smackaroos"...
"cake eater" = "wuss"
"heavy sugar" = "mucho dinero"
bill
I also tried not to look at other commenters' answers.
Clams are money, gams are legs and as for the rest of 'em? Hey, I was born in the early 1970s, so these were only found in old movies by the time I came along. Gag me with some history!
- T-bone
Hmmmm. I only knew two.
I suspect that these are particularly american slang expressions, and that Real English (tm) may have its own - different -ones.
Here in Germany, there's a guy (language student) who has just brought out a dictionary of endangered words, not all of them slang.
Hell, I never heard most of those expressions. Too young, I guess. hahaha!
Great answers, guys and dolls!
Here's the scoop:
Clam - money
Breezer - convertible
Darb - great person or thing
Face stretcher - older woman trying to look younger
Gams - legs
Hayburner- gas guzzler or a horse one loses money on
Joe Brooks - perfectly dressed man
Ossified - drunk
Punch the Bag - small talk
Candy Leg - rich and popular young man
Cake Eater- Ladies' man
Moll Buzzer - pick pocket who targets women
Murk - coffee
Sheet and Scratch Man - high class forger
Soft heel - detective
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