Words your characters would say
1920s slang from the Jazz Age
Twenty 1920s slang words and oaths like I’ll be darned, quoted from This Side of Paradise and The Great Gatsby and explained, with a roadhouse scene for Plot.
old sport
A friendly, slightly put-on way to address a man.
The Jazz Age crowd
The words
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the talk of young people at college dances and Long Island parties into This Side of Paradise and The Great Gatsby.
- old sport“Want to go with me, old sport? Just near the shore along the Sound.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1925)1925
- A friendly, slightly put-on way to address a man.
- bootlegger“He’s a bootlegger,” said the young ladies. (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1925)1925
- Someone who sells alcohol illegally during Prohibition.
- a speedShe was a “Speed,” was she? Well—let them find out. (F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920)1920
- A fast young woman, one with a daring reputation.
- crazy about“You were crazy about him for a while,” said Catherine. (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1925)1925
- Very fond of someone; in love with them.
- swell“It’s a swell suite,” whispered Jordan respectfully. (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1925)1925
- Excellent; first-rate.
- baby vampThe “belle” had become the “flirt,” the “flirt” had become the “baby vamp.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920)1920
- A young flirt who leads men on.
- a lineHe was good-looking, “sort of distinguished, when he wants to be,” had a line. (F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920)1920
- A practiced patter of compliments; smooth talk.
- the real thing“But this is the real thing?” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920)1920
- True love, as opposed to a passing romance.
- petting partyAmory had come into constant contact with that great current American phenomenon, the “petting party.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920)1920
- A gathering where young couples kiss and cuddle.
- parlor-snake… introduce her to all the prize parlor-snakes, and the football captain, and all that simple stuff. (F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920)1920
- A smooth young man who charms girls at parties and dances.
- slicker“THE SLICKER” 1. Clever sense of social values. 2. Dresses well. (F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920)1920
- A well-dressed young man with a sharp sense of who matters.
- big man… differing intrinsically from the prep school “big man.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920)1920
- The leading figure at school, usually a star athlete.
- a crush“Oh, yes, you do! You got a crush on Froggy Parker. I guess everybody knows that.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920)1920
- A romantic infatuation.
- bum“He’s a bum dancer.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920)1920
- Bad; no good at something.
- sweetie“And Tom’s the first sweetie she ever had.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1925)1925
- A sweetheart.
- to cut inSmoothly?—boys cut in on Isabelle every few feet and then squabbled in the corners … (F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920)1920
- To take over someone's partner in the middle of a dance.
- P.D.Didn’t you notice how flushed the P. D. was when she arrived just seven minutes late? (F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920)1920
- Popular Daughter: the girl everyone wants to dance with.
- a date… it is made pretty uncomfortable for the one who hasn’t a date with her. (F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920)1920
- An arranged evening out with someone.
- fresh“Oh, I was sort of fresh at first,” he told Frog Parker patronizingly … (F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920)1920
- Forward or cheeky, especially with the opposite sex.
- rotten“They’re a rotten crowd,” I shouted across the lawn. (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1925)1925
- Awful; worthless.
Swear words and oaths
How people cursed, and the softer words they said instead, from the same dated sources.
- my gosh“Oh, my gosh!” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920)1920
- A softened “my God,” for surprise or dismay.
- I’ll be darned“Well, I’ll be darned!” exclaimed Amory in surprise. (F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920)1920
- A polite “I’ll be damned”: well, what do you know.
- gee“Gee! girls, ain’t she some kid!” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920)1920
- A softened “Jesus,” for surprise or delight.
- God damned“I’d be a God damned fool to live anywhere else.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1925)1925
- The oath itself, used to add force. Strong language for a 1925 novel.
INT. ROADHOUSE BAR, LONG ISLAND - NIGHT (1925)
A jazz band plays too fast. RAY CARLIN (30s), white suit, leans on the bar beside CLAIRE HOLT (19), who is watching the door.
RAY
Something to drink, old sport?
CLAIRE
From your own cellar? Everyone says you're a bootlegger.
RAY
Everyone says you're a speed.
CLAIRE
Mother says I'm a baby vamp. Everyone is crazy about saying things.
RAY
It's a swell party, all the same.
CLAIRE
Careful. That sounds like a line.
RAY
Maybe. But you're the real thing.
1920s technology and props
What had just arrived, what was still recent, and what a scene set in these years can't have yet. Each entry names the source that records its date, with a link to it. Dates are for the United States unless an entry says otherwise.
1920–29
Arriving in these years
On the page
On the page
- 1920
Screens and sound
Radio broadcasts
Scheduled radio broadcasting begins: KDKA in Pittsburgh airs the 1920 election returns.
IEEE Engineering and Technology History Wiki, Milestones: Westinghouse Radio Station KDKA, 1920
Early in the decade a radio set is a novelty, and a family gathered around one is a scene in itself. By the 1930s it is furniture.
- 1927
Screens and sound
Talking pictures
The Jazz Singer opens in New York with about two minutes of synchronized dialogue. The rest of it is silent, with title cards.
HistoryofInformation.com, The Jazz Singer, the First Full-Length Film with Synchronized Dialogue
A character at the pictures before late 1927 almost always watches a silent film with live music. After it, talking pictures are the novelty people line up for.
- 1928
Police
Police radio
Detroit police dispatch patrol cars by radio. The cars can hear the station but can't answer it.
IEEE Engineering and Technology History Wiki, Milestones: One-Way Police Radio Communication, 1928
A 1920s officer learns of a crime from a call box, a desk sergeant or a one-way radio. To talk back, he pulls over and finds a telephone.
After 1929
Not yet: keep these out of the scene
On the page
On the page
- 1939
Screens and sound
Television
NBC begins regular television broadcasts in New York as the World's Fair opens.
Television in a 1930s scene is a demonstration at a fair or a rich household's toy, not something a family watches at night.
- 1945
Home and office
Ballpoint pen
The ballpoint pen goes on sale in New York, at $12.50.
Literary Hub, This Week in Literary History: The First Ballpoint Pen Is Sold in New York City
Before late 1945 an American character writes with a fountain pen or a pencil.
Check a whole script for anachronisms
Inkwell's Period Language skill reads your pages against the era you set. It flags words, objects and references that hadn't arrived yet and offers period alternatives as changes you can accept or skip.
Make it yours in Plot
Start with this example or bring your own draft. Develop the story, try another version, and keep the work you want.
Opens as a new Plot project once you sign in or create a free account. Inkwell keeps this copy for 24 hours.
Field notes
Writing dialogue that sounds like its time
Date the word, not the feeling
Check every period word against a source from the time, not a list that sounds old. A dictionary entry or a published novel tells you the word was in use by that year. It does not tell you when it started, so a word recorded in 1859 can belong to a character in 1850, and probably not one in 1750.
Use less than you found
One period word every few lines is enough to place a scene. A speech packed with slang reads like a costume. Let ordinary words carry most of the dialogue and save the slang for the moments a character wants to sound like they belong.
Make the meaning clear from the scene
A reader or an audience never gets a glossary. Put the word where the action explains it: the stolen hat on the table before anyone calls it a rum nab, the sack of silver before anyone says swag. If a word needs a footnote, the scene is not doing its job yet.
Slang says who belongs
Grose and Matsell recorded cant: the private language of thieves, meant to keep outsiders out. A character who uses it is in the gang, and one who misses it is not. Use that. The 1920s words did the same for a young crowd, the 1930s ones for detectives and crooks, the 1940s ones for soldiers and the teenagers they left at home, and the 1950s and 1960s ones for teenagers keeping their parents out. The 2000s words came from rap and the internet, and spread as fast as both.
Where to find more
Dictionaries of slang and cant from the period, novels and plays written at the time, newspapers, and court records all show how people talked. Prefer sources written in the era over histories written later, and keep a note of where each word came from so you can check it again.
Hear it before you keep it
Read the scene aloud, or hold a table read. Period dialogue that looks right can sound stiff when spoken. Cut what an actor trips on, and keep the version you like as a save point before you try another.
Already have a draft?
Bring your Word document or screenplay into Plot and keep developing it with save points and alternate drafts.
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