How many of you could identify the era a girl camped by the expressions, slang or sayings of the times? If you can’t remember some of the famous ones, go to this site for a memory refresher—-http://people.howstuffworks.com/53-slang-terms-by-decade6.htm
Judy Alcorn wrote the famous sayings in 1947 for the “Loon”, which included Dona Johnson’s “We never do that in hut 6”, Nan Kendall’s “Ain’t that quaint?”, Beverley Schlatter’s “Oh Man!”, Pauline Clark’s “Oh, Hegenauer!”, Nancy Hamme’s “Oh, be quiet”, Shirley Blunden’s “Oh, for John Pete!”, Yolanda Erickson’s “Oh, Pot!’, Sara Leet’s “Oh, Corn!” and Jean Sayle’s “Whoop-e-do”.
The hut sayings, according to an edition of the 1949 “Loon” included “Gee Whiz, Bear It Or We’ll Move You Down, Oh Fizz, Oh Norman, Cheese and Crackers, Wa Happened, Baby?, Holy Toot, What’s Up With The Polish, Gotta Go Bim, and Don’t Get Hysterical”.
There were “Famous Last Sayings” in 1950, which included “Vickie, come here”, “Clean up the hut”, “If you go to the Brownie, wake me up”, “Pass the potato chips”, “Anyone got some gum?”, “Run! A motorboat!”, “Get off my bed”, “Sweep the floors before inspection”, “Oh, be quiet”, and “Eek! A spider!”.
The hut sayings were “That’s An Insult”, “Don’t Be Snippy”, “Crumb”, “Jumping Catfish”, “Day Of Sorrow”, “Irma Ohla”, “Very Good”, “We’ve Got A Riot Of A Hut”, and “Hmmm”.
In 1952, the “Loon” listed more hut sayings with “I Yi Yi”, “Wha-chamma-jigger”, “Jeepers”, “Go to the staff table”, “That’s news!” “Hot Spit”, “Bilge”, “Shut Up”, “Taps have blown”, “Roger Dodger”, “You Old Codger”, “Match Me”, “By Gum”, “Ain’t that the peaches”, “Go over to the staff table”, “That’s a failure”, “Remember the golden rule”, “Raise the flag”, and “I’m going to get the hair brush”.
By the sixties there were expressions favored by the counselors. In 1965 “Snoopy” liked “Obviously”, “Candi” said “Dear Heart”, “Emmy” murmured “And Girls—“, “Frenchie” said “Get your things off my bed”, “Toni” was heard saying “That’s bad news” and Agne’s favorite was “Ye Gads!”.
“Get your food down before the bell ring” was “Bubble’s favorite, while Judy whooped “Whoo Pee Do!”. “Very Good” was uttered by “Colorado”, “Poor Baby” by “Mel”, and “What may I help you with?” by Betsy. “Peach” would ask “Are you sure?”, while “Beanie” would call out “Hey babes”. “O.B” said “Slack off”, “Name please” from Lee, “Girls!!!” by “Reb”, “And just a tinsy winsy” by “Corky, while “Smokey” uttered “Here, girls”.
Thank goodness for the “Loon” of 1966, which captured the expressions from the staff. Sayings around camp included “Basically” by Snoopy, “Alas” by Chris, “Cool it” by Ginger (Carol Griffith), “Quiet, it’s too early to get up” by “Kiltie”, “Catch up later” by “Obey”, “Did you turn in your buddy tag?” by “Rusty”, “I’m hurt” by “Collie” (Lorraine Buban), “Only one ice cream and candy bar” by Lee Engel, “”Everybody out!” by Karen Gougeon, “You lose” by “Beanie, “Hands are up” by Dorthe, “God love him, isn’t he sweet?” (of Sam by “Emmy”and “Bring up your garbage” by Laurie Cone.
These memory-making slang expressions were brought to you by years of campers and staff who will be remembered for their sayings. What do you remember from your years at camp?
