Dig Those Mellow Kicks

In addition to a great pizza place and a windowless strip club, I'm lucky enough to work around the corner from a truly excellent Salvation Army. I had a little time to spare the other week, so I spent the early evening browsing through denim vests and old prom dresses, hoping to strike fashion gold. (I ended up with a very practical and comfy blue zip-up sweatshirt.) For 99¢ I also got this book:


From the back of the book: Much of the slang popularly associated with the hippie generation of the 1960's actually dates back to before World War II, hijacked in the main from jazz and blues street expressions, mostly relating to drugs, sex, and drinking. Why talk when you can beat your chops; why eat when you can line your flue; and why snore when you can call some hogs? You're not drunk - you're just plumb full of stagger juice.

It's been pure pleasure to read, in a time-travel sort of way. Here are some favorite entries so far:

Make with a mouthful of hi-fi - Sing me a song

Heavy sugar - A large amount of money

Face like the elevated railway - Ugly

Face like a Russian flag - Embarrassed

Mountain dew - Bootleg liquor

I feel like Death Valley - I'm thirsty

Dixie fried - Drunk
"'He hollered 'Rave on, children, I'm with ya. Rave on, cats,' he cried.
'It's almost dawn and the cops are gone, let's all get dixie fried..."
- From the rockabilly recording "Dixie Fried." Carl Perkins, 1956

Static - Complaints, noise
"Hey, that's enough static out of you."
- Station cop to James Dean, from the film Rebel Without a Cause, 1955

Deep-sea diving - Oral sex
"He's a deep-sea diver, with a stroke that can't go wrong
He's a deep-sea diver, with a stroke that can't go wrong
He can touch the bottom and his wind holds out so long."
- From "Empty Bed Blues Part 1," Bessie Smith, 1928