Harry P.

Polish? Two of my favorites...

We have some pretty hardcore Polish neighborhoods here in Chicago...

Welcome aboard, neighbor! I'm also in the NW Chicago 'burbs. But one small request... please post your full name... it's a forum rule. Thanks!

Here ya go... Here’s a good one for all of us ‘who remember’…… Heavens to Murgatroyd! Would you believe the email spell checker did not recognize the word murgatroyd? Lost Words from our childhood Words gone as fast as the buggy whip! Sad really! The other day a not so elderly (65) lady said something to her son about driving a Jalopy and he looked at her quizzically and said what the heck is a Jalopy? OMG (new phrase!) he never heard of the word jalopy!! So they went to the computer and pulled up a picture from the movie "The Grapes of Wrath." Now that was a Jalopy! She knew she was old but not that old... I hope you are hunky dory after you read this and chuckle... *WORDS AND PHRASES REMIND US OF THE WAY WE WORD* by Richard Lederer About a month ago, I illuminated some old expressions that have become obsolete because of the inexorable march of technology. These phrases included "Don't touch that dial," "Carbon copy," "You sound like a broken record" and "Hung out to dry." A bevy of readers have asked me to shine light on more faded words and expressions, and I am happy to oblige: Back in the olden days we had a lot of moxie. Hubba-hubba! We'd cut a rug in some juke joint and then go necking and petting and smooching and spooning and billing and cooing and pitching woo in hot rods and jalopies in some passion pit or lovers lane. Heavens to Betsy! Gee whillikers! Jumping Jehoshaphat! Holy moley! We were in like Flynn and living the life of Riley, and even a regular guy couldn't accuse us of being a knucklehead, a nincompoop or a pill. Not for all the tea in China! Back in the olden days, life used to be swell, but when's the last time anything was swell? Swell has gone the way of beehives, pageboys and the D.A.; of spats, knickers, fedoras, poodle skirts, saddle shoes and pedal pushers. Oh, my aching back. Kilroy was here, but he isn't anymore. Like Washington Irving 's Rip Van Winkle and Kurt Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim, we have become unstuck in time. We wake up from what surely has been just a short nap, and before we can say, I'll be a monkey's uncle! or This is a fine kettle of fish! we discover that the words we grew up with, the words that seemed omnipresent as oxygen, have vanished with scarcely a notice from our tongues and our pens and our keyboards. Poof, poof, poof go the words of our youth, the words we've left behind. We blink, and they're gone, evanesced from the landscape and wordscape of our perception, like Mickey Mouse wristwatches, hula hoops, skate keys, candy cigarettes, little wax bottles of colored sugar water and an organ grinder's monkey. Where have all those phrases gone? Long time passing. Where have all those phrases gone? Long time ago: Pshaw. The milkman did it. Think about the starving Chinese. Bigger than a bread box. Banned in Boston. The very idea! It's your nickel. Don't forget to pull the chain. Knee high to a grasshopper. Turn-of-the-century. Iron curtain. Domino theory. Fail safe. Civil defense. Fiddlesticks! Cooties. Going like sixty. I'll see you in the funny papers. Don't take any wooden nickels. Heavens to Murgatroyd! And awa-a-ay we go! Oh, my stars and garters! It turns out there are more of these lost words and expressions than Carter had liver pills. This can be disturbing stuff, this winking out of the words of our youth, these words that lodge in our heart's deep core. But just as one never steps into the same river twice, one cannot step into the same language twice. Even as one enters, words are swept downstream into the past, forever making a different river. We of a certain age have been blessed to live in changeful times. For a child each new word is like a shiny toy, a toy that has no age. We at the other end of the chronological arc have the advantage of remembering there are words that once did not exist and there were words that once strutted their hour upon the earthly stage and now are heard no more, except in our collective memory. It's one of the greatest advantages of aging. We can have archaic and eat it, too. See ya later, alligator!

He's talking about the fact that the rockers are not straight between the front and rear wheels... there is a definite upward slope beginning at about the leading edge of the doors forward to the front wheelwell. A subtle detail, for sure... but not a dealbreaker for me.

I really, really wanted a new '15 Mustang. Just absolutely love the looks of that car. I planned on trading in my '07 GT... I was especially looking forward to the new IRS... light years ahead of my Mustang's "horse drawn wagon" era solid axle and leaf springs. But unfortunately some unexpected medical issues came up, and made quick work of my "Mustang money." So my dream of a new Mustang will have to wait... maybe another year or so... but I will have that new Mustang! PS to Tim: Thanks for your help.

My son used to work at one of those big home center stores when he was younger. Sometimes he manned the returns desk. He told me people would bring back all sorts of stuff that obviously had been used...like a snowblower a few days after a big snowfall...and demand a refund because the product "didn't work." The store policy was to issue the refund, even if it was obvious the customer was scamming them. My son said he couldn't believe the audacity of some people!

Hmmm... how delightfully devious! Unfortunately, I'm too honest to do that... my conscience would bother me.

Yep, language is constantly changing. My kids cringe every time I say that I "taped" a TV show for later. I know I didn't tape it... I digitally recorded it onto my DVR hard drive... but I love to bug my kids!!!

Strange...I just went there a few seconds ago... uploaded a photo... everything worked perfectly.

It's insane! Imagine if a new set of spark plugs cost $40,000, but you could buy a whole new car for $35K! I'm seriously thinking of saving a few bucks and buying a whole new printer instead of the replacement ink!

OK... I know that printer manufacturers make their real money on replacement ink cartridges, not on the printer itself. I know. But this is insanity: I have a small Canon printer/scanner all-in-one. Bought it at Walmart, the thing cost less than $40. And it works great. But the black ink is empty, so I go online to see how much a replacement cartridge goes for. And while I'm at it, I might as well get the color cartridge, too, since it can't be too far from empty either. It turns out the price for a black/color "combo pack" ink cartidges is more than what I paid for the printer in the first place! So it would literally be cheaper for me to buy a brand new printer (which comes with full ink cartridges) every time the ink runs out rather than buy replacement ink!!!

http://www.cabletiesandmore.com/extreme-temperature-ties.php

You don't even need to sign up for the newsletter. Just go to their website and print out the coupon any time. Or if you have the app on your smartphone, even easier.

So... this is not the kit with the clear plastic "wire wheels?"

Call me crazy, but I prefer the stock version.

Any MOPAR man is a friend of mine! Welcome aboard, Les!

While I love the prices I'm paying at the pump these days, the downside is that falling crude oil prices are killing the stock market. My retirement funds have taken a huge hit lately. Oh well... I guess that's the chance you take when you play on Wall Street...

Actually it was the mid '70s.

ZZTop, I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide.

It wasn't all that long ago that the average price of a new house was $33,000...

Tesla needs to get their act together and offer a car or two that mere mortals like me can actually afford to buy! I mean, the cars they have are absolutely gorgeous, with amazing performance. But I'm not one of those who can afford to spend 80 grand on a car... If they ever want to become a mainstream car maker and not just a niche player, they're going to have to figure out a way to build and sell a car at a Joe Sixpack price.

Man, Jim, you sure know ho to crank them out! Nice one, with all the "Crazy Jim" touches.

That is some very nice work. I'm impressed.

Could be as simple as a leaking gasket or O-ring or something.