Idioms that Need to be Retired

[Qs Laptop]

The massive thread drift that occurred in the recent Gen Z thread, when the discussion wandered to carburetors and push starting automobiles, I was reminded of a popular idiom that has become outdated and should be retired from common usage.

"Pump the brakes."

Usually used to implore someone to stop and analyze what they are doing because it's probably incorrect.

Well, with the advent of anti-lock brakes and advanced braking systems people have been instructed for at least 20 years not to pump the brakes. Just press and hold the brake pedal and let the braking computer do the rest.

Another one that should go is:

"You sound like a broken record."

Used to mean that someone is being repetitive and monomanical in some assertion.

A couple of problems with this one. First, a broken record would not be playable. It would literally be in pieces and would not work on the turntable. A better description would be, "you sound like a record with a skip in it."

Second, while vinyl records are making a comeback among audio purists, they are nowhere near as commonplace as they were 30, 40, 50 years ago.

The point is that a Gen Z'er would likely have no clue as to what these idioms mean.

Anybody else have some examples of idioms that should be retired?

 

[easysurfer]

Watch the tape

 

[Car-Guy]

Rewind the tape. (What's a tape)

Drop a dime. (Payphone)

Toll quality voice. (One of my favorite)

Double nickel. (Speed limit in the 70s)

 

[Qs Laptop]

Stop the presses.

Hold the phone.

Bite the bullet.

Don't cry over spilled milk.

It got right down to the wire.

Don't miss the boat.

Not yet, but probable after EV's take over:
"I was running on fumes."

 

[braumeister]

Telephones:

Dial a number
Take it off the hook

 

[aja8888]

Tastes like chicken...

 

[Gumby]

Ones that I think many younger people would not understand today

A bridge too far
Burning the midnight oil
The game's not worth the candle.
A white elephant
Sowing wild oats
Reap the whirlwind
A stitch in time.
There is a tide.
If wishes were horses.

 

[Amethyst]

Roll down the car window (accompanied by a spinning motion with the fingers). The last vehicle I had with roll-down windows was a 1990.

Gumby, I didn't understand half those idioms when I was a kid.

 

[razztazz]

I have noticed in recent years that it is on the wane, being replaced by "video", but people can still be heard saying "footage" referring to video on film.

Along with the other telephone references above: To "hang up" on someone. Made sense when all phones had the receiver "hanging" on the cradle e.g. Andy Taylor's phone, the single white phone hanging on the kitchen wall in my house in the 1960's, but the invention of "modern" desk-top phones sort of obviated that idiom.

 

[Chuckanut]

Referring to a person who talks too much: “vaccinated with a victrola needle.”

 

[Andre1969]

"You sound like a broken record."

I have my own set of cliches to use, whenever someone keeps beating a dead horse, or constantly harping on something from the past, or so on.

1) "Find a BUSH, Audrey!!"
2) (singing) "You swear you've heard it before as it slowly rambles on and on. No need in bringing it back 'cuz it's never really gone!"
3) (whenever someone repeats something, for effect, such as "you've got to fill out your timecard on time. You've GOT to fill out your timecard on time.") "You can say that again!" Do it in a bright, cheerful tone, with a smile on your face.

Even if the person who's annoying you doesn't get those first two references, it's usually enough to at least derail their train of thought. And the third one is always good for getting a perplexed look from the speaker, and some snickers from any bystanders who are also getting annoyed.

As for the broken record? I remember an episode of "The Incredible Hulk" (the cartoon, that ran from around 1982-83) one of the characters said "Man, your record's skipping!" I'll confess I've used that one a few times. My housemate likes to listen to a lot of techno and similar music, the type where they'll actually put skipping sounds in for effect, or have sections with a lot of quick repetition. Sometimes, I'll say "Man, your record's skipping!" as a joke, when one of those songs hits that part.

 

[USGrant1962]

Referring to a person who talks too much: “vaccinated with a victrola needle.”

Huh? I think that one was retired long ago...

 

[bbbamI]

Tastes like chicken...

 

[Car-Guy]

Ones that I think many younger people would not understand today

A bridge too far
Burning the midnight oil
The game's not worth the candle.
A white elephant
Sowing wild oats
Reap the whirlwind
A stitch in time.
There is a tide.
If wishes were horses.

Guess I'm younger than I thought.

 

[FiveDriver]

When something obvious happens, somebody will always say, "Politician caught mis-spending Campaign Funds. Film at 11".

They don't use Film in the News anymore.. And the News is now a 24 hour business.

 

[Surewhitey]

Especially for our Cali folk...
"Read my lips: no new taxes"

 

[Car-Guy]

Fubar
snfau

 

[Qs Laptop]

Here's one I'd never heard before until last week, and I thought it was kind of clever:

"The juice is worth the squeeze."

 

[MichaelB]

Fubar
snfau

Respectfully, I disagree. These are as meaningful and valid today as ever and I don’t know any other 5 letter acronym that conveys so much information.

 

[Car-Guy]

Here's one I'd never heard before until last week, and I thought it was kind of clever:

"The juice is worth the squeeze."

Used that one for decades, still do here occasionally. Maybe that's where you heard/saw it. But I typically say, "the juice ain't worth the squeeze"

 

[Car-Guy]

Respectfully, I disagree. These are as meaningful and valid today as ever…

True enough, I just don't hear it from younger folks these days. But then again, I don't know a lot of younger folks.

 

[Gumby]

Guess I'm younger than I thought.

"The game's not worth the candle" carries the same meaning as "the juice is not worth the squeeze"

"There is a tide" comes from Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar", when Brutus urges his fellow conspirator Cassius to act (to fight Marc Antony and Octavius):

There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.

Essentially, "seize the moment".

and, finally

"If wishes were horses .... beggars would ride."

My mother said that to me every time I ever wished to have something or to do something.

 

[Car-Guy]

I figured the first one was along those lines, but didn't have a clue on two and three.

 

[Koolau]

This is fun.

Some of my mom's sayings have aged well though I don't really hear them much anymore.

About as broad as it is long
Six of one, half a dozen of the other
The one: "If wishes were horses..." actually finishes "Beggars would ride" is so self-explanatory, it matters not that few folks still ride horses for daily transportation.

Heh, heh, I still recall a scene in "Saving Private Ryan" in which they (IIRC) explained SNAFU and FUBAR.

I wonder how many folks know that "foo fighters" as a term was coined during WWII to describe what have become first "UFO" and now "UAP"

I recall one of Megacorp's empl*yees from the UK visiting to collaborate with me on a mutual problem we were having. Especially during our small talk over coffee, we were constantly stopping each other, asking what something meant. The old phrase "Two countries, divided by a common language" came to mind. YMMV

 

[TheWizard]

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