Bukowski peculiar slang terms

[cirerita]

as discussed in other threads, it seems than B used outdated slang intentionally to create a literary "effect".

so far we've discussed three terms:
1) Moxie - A beverage symbolizing courage or get-up-and-go.
2) Turkeyneck - Penis / Dick / Cock, etc
3) Suckerfish - A fish symbolizing a total sucker, a nobody.


We need your input. Please add any (outdated) slang term you've read in B's works which you believe he used intentionally.

 

[ESMoist]

I always liked what he called a toilet: A "crapper."

He called young women "birdies."

 

[mjp]

"Hang the paper" in the "crapper."

 

[Rekrab]

One I mentioned elsewhere: "shackjob" (a woman you're living with) Verb: "shacked", "shacked up".

I like how he called his knife a "shiv."

By the way, if you're not familiar with the slang and popular culture of the 1930s to 1950s, you can learn a lot from old movies, especially "film noir." These classic films often have great stories, great dialog, fine acting, excellent photography, and you feel like you're back there in a world that has long since disappeared. You can pick up some of the context of Bukowski's stories from these movies, plus they're entertaining as hell.

 

[ESMoist]

I like how he called his knife a "shiv."

Or "Hey man, I'm carrying my steel."

 

[mjp]

We called knives "steel" when I was a kid. And flashing steel got me out of a lot of fights. I'm a better flasher than fighter. ;)

 

[Erik]

How about the term "high yellow". Is that special or old?
I always associated it with "tall blonds" or some such, but just looked it up in the Urban Dictionary and realize that I've been wrong all these years... ;)

 

[bospress.net]

"high yellow" is still used. I hear it said a lot. Not a very nice saying, but it is still in use.

Bill

 

[Rekrab]

Damn, Erik, you beat me to the punch with "high yellow". I went to bed last night thinking I'd post it in the morning. The only place I ever heard that growing up was in old blues songs and in Bukowski. It is an old term for a fair-skinned black person, but in Buk and in the blues, it seems to be applied mainly to women.

Buk also called his knife his "blade" I think.

This would be a good time for a photographic memory.

 

[jerry]

I just finished rereading Barfly and two slang words I'd never heard of.
Gams: Legs

I'm gonna wack off to those gams.

Or Cuff: on the house; free

One for the road, Jim. On the cuff.

Now I might have heard of the second one before. seems more and more fimiliar the more I see it.

 

[ESMoist]

No one calls a bartender bar keep these days.

"Hey, bar keep, go fetch me a draft."

He also uses a term for a hamburger that I remember my grandparents using:

a hamburger steak...

And calling socks stockings. What guy do you know these days that calls their socks stockings?

 

[skbruce]

Speaking of 1930's-1950's popular slang, Buk uses "Ham" for a bad actor, something you don't hear as much anymore.

 

[el23]

I guess it's not really slang but I always found it strange when Buk would use the phrase "and how" in response to something someone said, or to reinforce a point that was made.

I've since seen the phrase used elsewhere but I haven't ever heard anyone use it in daily life. Does it just mean "I agree"?

 

[Rekrab]

I've heard "and how" all my life, and still do. It means "I agree", but with the added suggestion of "and then some." So if someone said "You've been busy" and you answered "and how," it would mean you haven't had a second to yourself all day. Kind of like "you can say that again" or, "tell me about it."

"Gams" goes way back, 1920s or 30s, I'm guessing. I only heard that in old movies.

 

[hoochmonkey9]

86'd.
does anyone use the term 86'd anymore?
I used it in a conversation recently, and the person had no idea what I meant.
I'm sure I still hear it used, but it could be my anacranistic brain shitting me again.

 

[cirerita]

keep 'em coming, guys, I really dig this thread. Those words might be forgotten anytime soon, so keep 'em alive somehow!

 

[reasonknot]

how about gingham dress,bedsheets,or right up the pickle barrel

i like this thread too
it makes me flip through my b collection more.

 

[HenryChinaski]

I got a good one.

goosed...in Notes On The Pest he says..."a father who used to goose himself with brillo pads,"

Transitive verb
Slang Inflected forms: goosed, goos·ing, goos·es 1. To poke, prod, or pinch (a person) between or on the buttocks.

he also uses the term in the Barfly screenplay.

 

[stimso]

more of the same

Being from the old school, he used a lot of expressions I used to hear from the older people I knew as a kid....perhaps that's why a lot of these don't seem so out of date. But goosed, turkeyneck, moxie, crapper, bedsheets, gingham dress and 86'd are still pretty current in my opinion. I've heard them pretty regularly all my life (I'm only 36). Even gams is used quite a bit these days, but usually a bit more ironically or with an awareness of it's 1940's feel.

I was thinking that perhaps many of these things that seem outdated are in fact regionalisms. I lived so long in the South that when I moved to NY (upstate) I had my ears opened to a whole slew of words I thought long gone. I mean, they still refer to carbonated beverages as "pop." I hear that and think of "Leave it to Beaver"! ;)

 

[poptop]

 

[the only good poet]

well, kiss my bubs, can anyone tell me what canned heat means? i've always assumed it to mean one of the higher percentage lagers, of the sort that winos drink (and me.)

and while i'm here, how about green beer? cheap draught lager?

 

[chronic]

Canned Heat is sorta like napalm, only friendlier. It's a flammable gelatin in a can, mostly used for keeping food warm outdoors.

 

[Short Bus]

. canned heat Urban dictionary offering (Questionable source)

a very hawt, physically-appealing, oversexed whore who is incarcerated.

I'll take the above over sterno anyday.

 

[the only good poet]

Canned Heat is sorta like napalm, only friendlier. It's a flammable gelatin in a can, mostly used for keeping food warm outdoors.

jesus! thanks. "warm and graceful for some moments..."

 

[Ninjerk]

Sterno is a-ok with me. I made a thread about ATD. Not a whole lot of people (or 15-25 or so kids anyways) call marijuana "grass" here. I almost NEVER hear cunt, and Bukowski seems to only differentiate between "cunt" and "clit." I've not seen pussy, twat, or anything else in reference to the vagina.

 

[the only good poet]

what are you talking about?

 

[Ninjerk]

After only having read 3 of his books now (and still on Ham On Rye), I can't recall him using any other slang than "cunt" for the female anatomy. Although, it's been a year or so since I read Post Office and Hot Water Music.

 

[ROC]

"Sugar-tit" was always one of my favorites.

 

[Zarlingotoo]

"The Soup"

 

[seasofbeer]

I don't think it is really slang, but i always think it is endearing when he says 'curbing' instead of curb. Like ...he drove up to the curbing. or ...he stepped out onto the curbing.