internet-retro

John E. McIntyre Talk retro to me May 9, 2009 This one is for the Young People, if any such lurk among my readers. Are you mystified by the peculiar turns of speech when Baby Boomers talk? Do you feel ashamed that at your unfamiliarity with the TV series of the late 1950s and early …

St. Catharines, Ontario The following books are available at the St. Catharines Public Library. I LOVE IT WHEN YOU TALK RETRO: Hoochie coochie, double whammy, drop a dime, and the forgotten origins of American speech,by Ralph Keyes What a hoot! Who would have thought a book on slang and speech patterns could deliver the goods. …

Fritinancy: Names, brands, writing, and the quirks of the English language. Word of the Week: Tabloid Tabloid: A reduced-format newspaper, generally half the size of a traditional broadsheet paper, that opens like a magazine for easier reading on buses and subway trains. Introduced in the late 19th century in England and the United States, tabloid …

Faster Times Ralph Keyes is the author of fifteen books, but in some ways his most recent one—“I Love It When You Talk Retro: Hoochie Coochie, Double Whammy, Drop a Dime, and the Forgotten Origins of American Speech”—seems like the one he was born to write. Having authored the 1977 exploration “Is There Life After …

A word Throughout my professional life, I’ve worked hard to avoid using clichés in my writing (except in headlines!) and have tried to be careful with my use of idioms. After three decades, I must say it’s been an emotional roller coaster. I don’t know if my attention to the words I choose even amounts …

89.3 KPCCradio (NPR) in Los Angeles My favorite part of [yesterday’s] program was with Ralph Keyes, the author of ‘’I Love It When You Talk Retro,’’ about how we use shorthand references in our language – ‘’drop a dime’’ for turning somebody in, ‘’Mrs Robinson’’ for an older woman seducing a younger man – without …