Pretty, Fizzy Paradise

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Friday, February 24, 2006

Rare non-comic post...

Been looking up 1940s slang. Because it's fun. I've been finding mostly gangster and "hardbroiled" slang (i.e. from detective novels). Which is awesome. Not quite teenage slang, but I'm sure I can find that too.

Besides, teenagers *always* want to sound street-tough, so it's not a total loss.

And it's so colorful. "Bindle stiffs" and "Eggs in the Coffee", "Highbinders" and "Alderman"...only good can come of knowing this, I truly think. :-)

Now if I were writing something involving superheroes and sidekicks in the forties, (like a period piece or flashback), one that I'd really like to use but would probably never be allowed to is "Gaycat".

Which means pretty much what you probably think it does, literally: "A young punk who runs with an older tramp and there is always a connotation of homosexuality" .

Crime-fighting hero, teenage sidekick...you *know* they'd have heard it. :-) Besides, maybe it wouldn't be such an old joke in the forties. :-P

Oh well, there's still a lot of useful stuff here. Yay! Now the trick'll be to watch a lot of old movies and get enough practice with it to make it sound natural. :-) That'll be a trick, in and of itself. Also to avoid the temptation to go overboard with it

...though at the right moments the complete incomprehension of the more "out of touch" characters could be decidedly entertaining...

7 Comments:

  • At February 25, 2006 1:06 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Excellent idea. I have to recommend that you watch a lot of James Cagney movies. No one delivered those lines with as much punch as Cagney.

     
  • At February 25, 2006 1:10 AM, Blogger kalinara said…

    *nod* I'm fond of Bogart too. Not as much punch, but he could just roll them off and sound natural. :-)

     
  • At February 25, 2006 9:17 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Another good slang word from back then is "gunsel". Contrary to popular belief (from watching Maltese Falcon), a gunsel isn't a gunman or bodyguard. It's a young man kept for...immoral purposes. So it makes for a good sneering reference to someone's sidekick. :-)

     
  • At February 25, 2006 9:23 PM, Blogger kalinara said…

    Hee, nice one! I like you!

    Sneering sidekick references amuse me because I'm a sick sick person.

     
  • At February 27, 2006 4:13 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Oh, yeah. Bogart's terrific, as are Edward G. Robinson and, to a lesser extent, George Raft. Most WB gangster movies are solid stuff. Cagney's just my favorite is all.

     
  • At February 28, 2006 9:09 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Bogart is king! Movie suggestions: action in the north atlantic, the guns of naveron(sp) 1941 (for comedy;)), the train, And for the EEEVIL germans "Dos Boat" And last but not least "THE GREAT ESCAPE w/ Steve Maqueen as "the cooler king" SHAME on all u's useless mugs fo fergten ma boy Steve.

    Happy Mardi Gra Kal. Heres looken at you kid $I;-)

     
  • At March 01, 2006 9:27 AM, Blogger kalinara said…

    green: Back atcha!

     

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