A couple a Janes

It’s Friday, we’re hittin on all sixes,  time to get a wiggle on, head down to the juice joint  and shake a leg with the other hoofers!…ahem, in other words, it’s the weekend, why don’t you grap some dancers and head out to some of Londons great events this weekend? We’ll mostly be shaking it down at Club Thunderbird, The Big Ten Inch or maybe the Last Days of Decadence.

Don’t forget to go prepared with some more essential twenties slang

Hair of the Dog – a shot of alcohol
Handcuff - an engagement ring
Hard Boiled – a tough, strong guy
Hayburner - (1) a gas guzzling car (2) a horse one loses money on
Heebie-Jeebies – The jitters
High-Hat – To snub
Hit on all sixes - to perform 100 per cent; as “hitting on all six cyclinders”
Hooch - Bootleg liquor
Hood - hoodlum
Hoofer - Dancer
Horsefeathers - an expletive ; same usage as applesauce
Hotsy – Totsy – Pleasing
It – Sex appeal
Iron - a motorcycle
Jack - money
Jake - OK, as in , “Everything is Jake.”
Jalopy - Old car
Jane - any female
Java – coffee
Jitney - a car employed as a private bus. Fare was usually five cents; also called a “nickel”
Joe - coffee
John - a toilet
Juice Joint – a speakeasy

Essential twenties slang A-B

Essential twenties slang C-D

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Donnning your glad rags

So we’re all off to Stokey! Are you donning your glad rags and heading out to the gin mill this weekend? Perhaps you’re off to get an edge off some giggle water or get goofy with some fish or who knows…maybe you’re heading for a real flat tire? Whatever you’re doing, get swotting up on this new installment of essential twenties slang – if only so you can find out what all of that actually meant

Edge - intoxication, a buzz.  i.e. “I’ve got an edge.”

Egg - a person who lives the big life

Fall Guy – Victim of a frame

Fire extinguisher – a chaperone

Fish -(1) a college freshman (2) a first timer in prison

Flat Tire – A dull witted, insipid, disappointing date. Same as pill, pickle, drag, rag, oilcan

Flivver - a Model T; after 1928, could mean any old broken down car

Flapper - A stylish, brash, hedonistic young woman with short skirts & shorter hair

Fly boy – a glamorous term for an aviator

Frame - To give false evidence , to set up someone

Gams - A woman’s legs

Get a wiggle on – get a move on, get going

Giggle Water – An intoxicating beverage; alcohol

Gin Mill – An establishment where hard liquor is sold; bar

Glad rags – “going out on the town” clothes

Gold Digger – A woman who associates with or marries a man for his wealth

Goofy - in love

Essential twenties slang A-B

Essential twenties slang C-D

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“Imagine if David Lynch had discovered a time machine with the dial stuck on 1950 and decided to send a Soho nightclub back through it. Then listen to Sweet Tooth.” Big Cheese magazine

There’s been a great deal of buzz about electro swing lately and any keen listener should not miss out on the irresistible sounds of London based band Sweet Tooth. I’ve had their new Charleston inspired release Venus in Hollywood blasting out my laptop since they put in on their MySpace last week. Sit back, close your eyes and let their sultry retro lounge pop transport you to another time. Don’t forget…you heard it here first.

http://www.myspace.com/sweettoothlondon

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