Lost Words of the 1940s: Slang That Shaped a Generation

The way we speak can reveal much about the way we are. This, I’ve found, is especially true in the context of the slang each generation coins, recycles, and leaves behind. Lately, I’ve been thinking about the language of the 1940s, a pivotal decade for many Americans. Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, I’d like to crack open the jargon of those days, uncovering forgotten histories along the way.

Mid-Century Women, a Generational Divide

The 1940s comprised a decade of incredible change in the American culture. At the time, many households were managed by stay-at-home mothers like my character Marta in Forever Blackbirds, my recent novel about the women who waited out the war. These women, born in the “Greatest Generation” for the 1900-20s, those who were patriotic, driven and frugal, occupied their days with cleaning and baking, laundry and meals, the marketing and church obligations. These traditional tasks carried over into my mother’s generation, though there was already some pushing at the edges of those roles during WWII.

At that time, many of these stay-at-home women were pushed into helping with the war effort. Thus, we had the birth of Rosie the Riveter. In Forever Blackbirds, we see the two daughters in their early twenties pressing against the boundaries of societal expectations. Their secret whiskey-drinking and smoking—and even pursuit of one daughter’s sexual needs—were hinted at as a secret affair and began to emerge from under the covers.

Crooners, Beauty Mags, and Celebrity

This era saw the beginning of the “crooners” like Frank Sinatra, of big bands like Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington, and an increasingly solid footing for jazz. Films of this era featured glamour girls like Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Susan Woodward. The young women of the time absorbed these new “possibilities” through Silver Screen and Photoplay magazines which I poured over as a teenager in the 50s.  My own granddaughters can hardly tear themselves away from People Magazine. So, the enhancement of celebrity culture may well have expanded in this era after the Gloria Swanson’s and the Ginger Rogers’ fame of the 30s and early 40s began to fade. Women were stepping out of the shadows and forward into the limelight in a way they hadn’t before.

Which Words did We Leave Behind?

Today we don’t hear terms like clams (meaning money; originally derived from the Native American use of shells for exchange of goods). A man who would call a woman a dame or a dish would get the evil eye in 2024 whereas in the 40’s, this was a great compliment. Dreamboat, an attractive man or woman who draws attention, is likewise a term that no longer exists. Someone would look at you with a cocked head if you said hot diggity dog in place of WOW!  

Slang is unique to the era it emerges from. The 20s and 30s had their own versions of slang. But some words “cross over” into future decades. Joe remains a term some folks (perhaps my age) still use to mean coffee. Bender refers to going on a drinking spree, though today we’d be more likely to call that binge drinking. We only occasionally hear someone refer to greenbacks (meaning money) and almost never, lettuce, meaning money as well. Shuteye still means sleep. A common term, pain in the neck, is often changed to pain in the butt.

Gender, Sexuality, and Etymology

Queer, while now reclaimed by the LGBTQ+ community, was not spoken of then. If it was said, one often turned the other way as though they didn’t hear it. The pejorative connotation of the word has travelled down the decades until shrugging off its stigma around the 2010s. In the ‘50s, “queer” became a political football during the McCarthy hearings. At that time, anyone suspected of homosexuality was immediately under suspicion and could quickly become a target for violence, condemnation, and even death. In my own experience, two men I adored and loved, who were absorbed into my family, would have been killed in the ‘50s if they’d been openly gay. We thought of them as “roommates.” A euphemism to say the least.

There are those in the culture who continue to refer to women as broads. The user of the term may be looked at askance or ignored or even celebrated in certain crowds. There are those women who still look for a sugar daddy to provide them with life’s luxuries and perhaps the delusion that they’ll be taken care of. Today, some men look for a sugar mama, a seldom talked about phenomena. We perhaps see it most in celebrity accounts where a woman marries her trainer or her chauffer.

Old Slang—A Sampling

But I’m getting off the subject. In the 2010s, hipster was used to refer to someone who was tuned into the popular culture. Interestingly, the term had the same meaning when originally coined in the ‘40s. A cold fish continues to be an unresponsive person, usually in the realm of affection. Other terms, though, have fallen out of fashion. A fat head connoted someone who is stupid or foolish. An excellent, outstanding person might have been called sweet, but in today’s world it can also mean naïve. There are countless other terms we no longer see. Natch, meaning of course. Gas as in someone who is funny. Cut a rug: to dance. Moxie: courageous. Peepers: person’s eyes. Stompers: shoes.

“Cut a rug” was just one of the several words we used to discuss dancing.

Common Speech

I studied writing for a long time with Tom Spanbauer (Dangerous Writers) who often talked about found text. I understood that to mean any word or language that is so common in  our everyday speech that it has therefore become tired and meaningless. He was very opposed to found text. For better or worse, many of my characters “adopt” the speech and mannerisms of their time and their “common speech” or found text becomes part of the voice. I usually employ this in dialogue. Also, once a character’s voice inhabits my head, like Becky did in my debut novel, About the Carleton Sisters, all the rules about found text go out the window when she speaks.

Looking at language in this way can be fun. What is the slang of this era? Please let me know what you think.      

In other news…

I’ve joined the community of authors on Story Origin. This means that I’ll have many exciting short stories, novellas, and book samples to share with you. To start, enjoy a free e-book of author P.D.R. Lindsay’s women’s fiction anthology Women Waking Up.