Words your characters would say
1940s slang from GIs and bobby-soxers
Twenty 1940s slang words from Yank, the Army Weekly, from snafu to hubba hubba, and oaths from FUBAR to jeez, each explained, with a drugstore scene for Plot.
bobby-soxer
A teenage girl, named for her short socks.
GIs and bobby-soxers
The words
Yank, the Army Weekly, printed the slang of American soldiers from 1942 to 1945, and in March 1945 it reported the talk of the teenagers they had left at home.
- bobby-soxerThe girls among the teen-agers are called bobby-soxers. This is because they wear bobby sox. (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 2, 1945)1945
- A teenage girl, named for her short socks.
- jiveThese jive kids of the early and middle 40s are the successors to the gaudy sophisticates of some years back … (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 2, 1945)1945
- Swing music and the slang of its fans. A jive kid is a swing-mad teenager.
- whistle baitA pretty girl is “whistle bait.” (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 2, 1945)1945
- A pretty girl.
- hunk of heartbreakA boy whose mug and muscles appeal to the girls is a “mellow man,” a “hunk of heartbreak” or a “glad lad.” (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 2, 1945)1945
- A handsome young man.
- book beaterA grind is a “book beater.” (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 2, 1945)1945
- A student who studies too hard; a grind.
- wolfA boy given to hugging the girls … is a “wolf on a scooter” or an “educated fox.” (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 2, 1945)1945
- A young man who is always chasing girls.
- dame-dazedA boy who is girl crazy is “dame-dazed.” (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 2, 1945)1945
- Girl crazy.
- khaki-wackyA girl who is boy crazy is “slack-happy” and “khaki-wacky.” (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 2, 1945)1945
- Crazy about men in uniform.
- shot down in flamesTo be jilted is to be “shot down in flames.” (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 2, 1945)1945
- Jilted.
- snafuAmong these are snafu, goof off, sweat it out, snow job, bat the breeze. (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 9, 1945)1945
- A mess; things gone wrong, the Army way. From an acronym for “situation normal, all fouled up.”
- to sweat out… a Pacific island where troops sweat out the war in more ways than one. (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 23, 1945)1945
- To wait anxiously for something, or to endure it to the end.
- dogfaceNaturally, I am not your ordinary dogface: in an army of 10 million I have outstanding qualifications. (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, January 26, 1945)1945
- An ordinary soldier, especially an infantryman.
- goldbrick“Come on, you blankety-blank goldbrick. Close it up.” (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 23, 1945)1945
- A soldier who dodges work.
- the brass hats… the brass hats had declared it must be destroyed. (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 9, 1945)1945
- High-ranking officers.
- the Old Man“If the Old Man wanted us to enter Manila Bay in a rubber boat, we would go …” (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 2, 1945)1945
- The commanding officer.
- repple depple… or left to grow mold in a repple depple until they forget everything they knew … (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, July 13, 1945)1945
- A replacement depot, where soldiers waited to be sent to a unit or home.
- a Section 8… keep right on bucking for that Section 8, pal, because you got a leg up on it. (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 2, 1945)1945
- A discharge for being unfit to serve, often mentally. Bucking for one means acting crazy to get out.
- latrine rumorSorry, but there is no such AR, circular or act of Congress. It’s just a latrine rumor. (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 2, 1945)1945
- A baseless rumor passed around camp.
- scuttlebuttMost of the time our news was just scuttlebutt, but it was usually right. (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 2, 1945)1945
- Gossip; unofficial news.
- hubba hubba“Hubba-hubba” has been used to express practically every type of emotion. (The Chicago Maroon, reprinted in The Y News, Hubba Hubba Proves Baffling to Experts, March 21, 1946)1946
- An all-purpose GI exclamation, brought home from the war.
Swear words and oaths
How people cursed, and the softer words they said instead, from the same dated sources.
- FUBARFUBAR? It means “Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition.” (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, January 7, 1944)1944
- Wrecked past saving. A soldier’s acronym; the printed “fouled” stands in for a ruder word.
- damn itA young captain ran out in front and yelled, “Okay, damn it, let’s go!” (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, January 26, 1945)1945
- The curse that gets a squad moving.
- for cripes sake“For cripes sake,” he yelled. (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 2, 1945)1945
- A softened “Christ,” in irritation.
- blankety-blank“Come on, you blankety-blank goldbrick. Close it up.” (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 23, 1945)1945
- What a magazine printed in place of the words a sergeant actually used.
- jeezJeez — wristwatches. (US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly, March 23, 1945)1945
- A softened “Jesus,” in wonder or disgust.
INT. KESSLER'S DRUGSTORE, DAYTON - NIGHT (1945)
A jukebox plays a crooner. DOT KESSLER (16), bobby sox and saddle shoes, wipes down the soda counter. Her brother FRANK (22), in uniform, drops a duffel bag and takes a stool.
DOT
Hubba hubba. Look what the Army sent back.
FRANK
One tired dogface. I sweated out two months in a repple depple to get here.
DOT
Peg says you came home a real hunk of heartbreak.
FRANK
Peg's whistle bait. What happened to that wolf you wrote about?
DOT
Shot him down in flames. He was a book beater anyway.
FRANK
Scuttlebutt says you're going steady with a sailor.
DOT
Latrine rumor. Every bobby-soxer in town is khaki-wacky, and I'm not every bobby-soxer.
In a booth, a jive kid in a zoot coat can't stop staring at the door.
FRANK
And him?
DOT
Dame-dazed. He's waiting on Peg. It's all snafu around here, Frank.
Recorded in
- US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly (January 7, 1944)
- US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly (January 26, 1945)
- US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly (March 2, 1945)
- US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly (March 9, 1945)
- US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly (March 23, 1945)
- US Army, Yank, the Army Weekly (July 13, 1945)
- The Chicago Maroon, reprinted in The Y News, Hubba Hubba Proves Baffling to Experts (March 21, 1946)
1940s 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: Radio broadcasts
- 1927: Talking pictures
- 1928: Police radio
- 1939: Television
- 1945: Ballpoint pen
- 1950: Charge card
- 1954: Color TV
- 1954: Transistor radio
- 1956: Interstate highways
- 1958: Jet airliner
- 1963: Touch-tone phone
- 1963: ZIP code
- 1964: Pager
- 1966: Miranda rights
- 1967: Home microwave
- 1968: 911 calls
- 1968: Seat belts in new cars
- 1969: ATM
Before 1940
Already there, still recent
When it was new
When it was new
- 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.
- 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.
1940–49
Arriving in these years
On the page
On the page
- 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.
After 1949
Not yet: keep these out of the scene
On the page
On the page
- 1950
Money
Charge card
Diners Club issues the first charge card accepted at many businesses rather than one store.
A 1940s character pays in cash, by check or on a store's own account. Handing over a card for dinner belongs to the 1950s and later.
- 1954
Screens and sound
Color TV
RCA's first color television set, the CT-100, goes on sale.
Color television in the 1950s is rare and expensive. A family watching at home is almost always watching black and white.
- 1954
Screens and sound
Transistor radio
The Regency TR-1, the first transistor radio, reaches stores at $49.95.
A pocket radio at the beach or under the covers is late 1950s or later. Before it, a radio is a tube set on a table or a portable the size of a lunch box.
- 1956
Getting around
Interstate highways
The Federal-Aid Highway Act starts the Interstate highway system.
U.S. National Archives, National Interstate and Defense Highways Act (1956)
Before the Interstates, most long drives run on two-lane highways through every town on the way, with a few four-lane toll turnpikes such as Pennsylvania's, open since 1940. The long, straight Interstate drive arrives over the decades that follow.
- 1958
Getting around
Jet airliner
Pan Am flies its first Boeing 707 passenger service, New York to Paris, with a fuel stop in Newfoundland.
An earlier transatlantic trip is a long propeller flight, often with a fuel stop, or days on an ocean liner. The jet age starts at the very end of the 1950s.
- 1963
Phones
Touch-tone phone
Push-button Touch-Tone service begins in two Pennsylvania towns and spreads one exchange at a time.
Characters dial on a rotary phone well after 1963. The beep of button tones is a later sound.
- 1963
Home and office
ZIP code
ZIP Codes are introduced for United States mail.
An envelope addressed before mid-1963 has no ZIP Code on it.
- 1964
Phones
Pager
Motorola sells the Pageboy I, an early pocket pager that beeps but shows no message.
Before the 1980s a pager is a work tool for someone on call. It only beeps, so the character has to find a phone and call in to learn why.
- 1966
Police
Miranda rights
The Supreme Court decides Miranda v. Arizona.
Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966)
Before 1966 an arrest rarely comes with a reading of rights. "You have the right to remain silent" becomes routine after the ruling.
- 1967
Home and office
Home microwave
Amana sells the first countertop microwave oven for the home, at $495.
The Saturday Evening Post, The Evolution of the Microwave from Exotic Gadget to Ho-Hum Appliance
A 1950s or early 1960s kitchen almost always heats food on the stove or in the oven. A microwave at home is a late 1960s luxury.
- 1968
Police
911 calls
The first 911 call is made in Haleyville, Alabama.
Washington Military Department, 50 years ago this month, first 911 call made
For years after 1968 many places still have no 911. A character in trouble dials the operator or the police station's own number.
- 1968
Getting around
Seat belts in new cars
Seat belts become required equipment in new cars.
A car built before 1968 may have no seat belts at all.
- 1969
Money
ATM
The first ATM in the United States opens at a bank on Long Island, New York. It only dispenses cash.
Before it, a character who needs cash gets it from a teller during banking hours, or cashes a check somewhere that knows them.
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.
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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?
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