The Jazz Age Glossary

The exuberant '20's were extraordinarily fertile years for language in America; dozens of new words and expressions sprang into existence. Much of the new verbiage was scornful of established ways; no less than half a dozen of the terms are roughly synonymous words meaning "nonsense." A partial list of terms that were coined or popularized in the decade appears below.

Additions, corrections and suggestions are welcome. Write to nick@wiseup.org.

all wet
wrong; arguing a mistaken notion or belief
applesauce
a term of derogation; nonsense;same as baloney, bunk, banana oil, hokum and horsefeathers
baloney
nonsense; same as applesauce
banana oil
nonsense; same as above
bee's knees
a superb person or thing
belly laugh
a loud uninhibited laugh
berries
anything wonderful, similar to bee's knees
bible belt
an area in the South or south Midwest where Fundamentalist religion prevails (coined by H.L. Mencken)
blind date
a date with an unknown person of the opposite sex, usually arranged by a mutual friend
big cheese
an important person
bronx cheer
a loud derisive noise from an audience (coined by humorist Bugs Baer, who credited Bronx rooters at athletic events with inventing this mode of expression)
bull session
an informal group discussion
bump off
to murder
bunk
nonsense; same as applesauce, etc. (a shortened form of bunkum, which is also spelled buncombe, from the name of a North Carolina county whose representative in Congress in 1820 explained the irrelevance of a speech he was making by saying that he was "talking to Buncombe")
cake-eater
a ladies man
carry a torch
to suffer from unrequited love
cat's meow
anything wonderful; similar to bee's knees, berries
cheaters
eyeglasses
copacetic
excellent
crush
an infatuation with a person of the opposite sex
darb
an excellent person or thing
dogs
human feet
drugstore cowboy
a fashionably dressed idler who hangs around public places trying to pick up girls
dumb dora
a stupid girl
fall guy
a scapegoat
flapper
a typical young girl of the '20's, usually with bobbed hair, short skirts and rolled stockings
flat tire
a dull, boring person
frame
to cause a person's arrest by giving false evidence
gam
a girl's leg (from French dialect gambe)
gatecrasher
a person who attends a party without an invitation, or a show without paying admission
giggle water
an alcoholic drink
gin mill
a speak-easy
gold digger
a woman who uses fiminene charm to extract money from a man
goofy
silly
gyp
to cheat (from gypsy)
hard-boiled
tough; without sentiment
heebie-jeebies
the jitters
hep
wise
high-hat
to snub
hokum
nonsense; same as applesauce, etc.
hooch
bootleg liquor (from Hoochinoo, a tribe of Alaskan Indians who made distilled liquor).
hoofer
chorus girl
horsefeathers
nonsense; same as applesauce, etc.
hotsy-totsy
pleasing
jake
okay (most commonly used in the phrase "Everything's jake")
jalopy
an old car
keen
attractive; appealing
kiddo
a familiar form of address
kisser
the mouth
line
insincere flattery
lounge lizard
a ladies' man; same as cake-eater
lousy
bad; contemptible
main drag
the most important street in a town or city
neck
to caress intimately
nerts (nuts)
an interjection expressing the speaker's disgust
ossified
drunk
peppy
full of vitality
pet
same as neck
pinch
to arrest
pushover
a person or thin easily overcome
raspberry
same as Bronx cheer
ritzy
elegant
real McCoy, the
the genuine article (the derivation is in dispute; it comes either from a Scottish clan leader named MacKay; a boxer named kid McCoy, who had a rival with the same name, or a bootlegger named McCoy who did not adulterate his liquor)
run-around
deceptive or delaying action, especially in response to a request
scram
to leave hurriedly (from scramble)
screwy
crazy; eccentric
sex appeal
physical attractiveness to members of the opposite sex
sheba
a young woman with sex appeal
sheik
a young man with sex appeal
smeller
the nose
sob sister
a woman reporter who leans toward sentimentality in the treatment of her subject matter
speak-easy
a saloon or bar selling bootleg whiskey
spiffy
having an elegantly fashionable appearance
spifflicated
drunk
struggle buggy
a car (from its use as a place in which boys tried to seduce girls)
stuck on
having a crush on
swanky
ritzy
swell
marvelous
torpedo
a hired gunman
upchuck
to vomit
whoopee
boisterous, convivial fun