Flapper Speak

Hats off to the ladies of Stuff Mom Never Told You; they've done it yet again with this week's podcast on the history of flappers. As they recount, there's a lot more to flappers than cigarettes and fringe. Most amusing for me - their language. The vernacular used during the 1920's, I've discovered, is not merely ingenious and impossible to decipher. It's also, somehow, still very much ingrained in my vocabulary. Behold...

applesauce: flattery, nonsense
bank's closed: no kissing or making out
beercat: a hot-blooded or fiery girl
berries: (1) perfect (2) money
cake-eater: a lady's man
cat's meow: great or cool
dewdropper: a young man who sleeps all day and doesn't have a job
dogs: feet
ducky: very good
egg: a person who lives the big life
fag: a cigarette
floorflusher: an insatiable dancer
futz: a euphanism for the f-bomb
giggle water: booze
handcuff: engagement ring
hope chest: a pack of cigarettes
joint: an establishment
juice joint: a speakeasy
mind your potatoes: mind your own business
nookie: sex
on a toot: a drinking binge
quiff: a slut or cheap prostitute
rag-a-muffin: a dirty or disheveled individual
razz: to make fun of
rhatz!: how disappointing!
rub: a student dance party
rummy: a drunken bum
splifficated: drunk
stilts: legs
sugar daddy: older boyfriend who showers girl with money/gifts in exchange for sex
swanky: good or elegant
tomato: a 'ripe' female
torpedo: a hired thug or hitman
vamp: a seducer of men
zozzled: drunk

I'd like to grab some giggle water - the beercat that I am - and go on a toot. Mind your potatoes! I'm not looking for any handcuffs, especially from these dewdroppers about town. I'm looking for the joint that doesn't mind a good floorflusher and a zozzled tomato.

Allow the reintroduction of flapper speak to begin. Call me an egg, and meet me at the juice joint.