AARP Bulletin - June 2010

; Power of 50
1. Asleep at the switch: Railroads woke up to automation

2. Back to the
drawing board:
Now, it’s back to
the computer
3. Beam me up,
Scotty: Outdated
futuristic Star Trek
technology
4. Better dead
than Red: Then
the Berlin Wall fell
5. Big cheese:
Oversize grocery
promotions were
very impressive
6. Came in over
the transom: Only
if you left the little
window over the
door open
7. Carbon copy:
You’re a Xerox of
your father?
8. Catch you on
the flip side:
Do they still make
45s?
9. Close, but
no cigar: Those
fairground booth
prizes were always
hard to win
10. Cut to the
chase: Silent film
directors often
ended movies with
the real action
11. Dial her
up: No, push
buttons
12. Drink the
Kool-Aid: Extreme
compliance, like the
Jonestown mass
suicide
14. Drop a dime:
First find a pay
phone, then
drop 50 cents
13. E ticket: Before
the electronic ticket,
Disneyland’s most
expensive ride coupons
meant a top-of-the line
20. Hit parade:
Predated the
Top 40
15. Film at 11:
Today’s TV news
coverage is digital
16. Full steam
ahead: Fast
forward to diesel
17. Get pink-slipped:
A colored notice
in your paycheck
envelope told you the
job was history
18. Ground zero:
Hiroshima was
ground zero of
ground zeros
21. Hung out to
dry: We still get left
dangling but not on
a clothesline
22. In a
straitjacket: An
old-fashioned
bind
23. In like Flynn:
Things came
easy for film star
Errol Flynn
19. Best thing
since sliced
bread: It didn’t
always come
sliced?
24. In Technicolor:
If only life looked
like that early color
film process
26. Let’s get
cranking:
Or turn the
ignition key
25. Left his
calling card:
Before people
visited online
27. Like a Rube
Goldberg: Making
the simple
complicated
and fun
28. Looks like
the milkman:
Today, it might be
the UPS guy
29. My dance
card is full:
Fox trot pairings
were scheduled
32. Pencil me
in: On your
smartphone
calendar app?
33. Pleased as
Punch: And yet
those puppets
seemed so angry
30. Put through
the wringer:
The spin cycle is
no picnic either
31. Off the hook:
Crazy, like a
ringing phone before
voice mail
34. Push the
envelope: Test pilots
were never satisfied
35. Push the panic
button: WWII
bomber pilots had
them, for good
reason
36. Over the top:
Outrageous, like
leaving the security of
a WWI trench
38. Take a rain check:
Remember the actual
stub for a ball game
rainout?
39. Telegraph
your punches: So
many other ways to
communicate
40. Sounds like a
broken record:
Sounds like a, sounds
like a, sounds like a
37. Soap opera:
Catchier than “low-
carb-lunch opera”

41. Take to the
woodshed:
Traditional site for
whuppings
42. That and a
quarter will get you
a cup of coffee: Tell
that to Starbucks
43. That’s the $64
question: The radio
show became the
$64,000 TV show

Say What?
Technology, customs and culture come and go
with the times. Along the way, they hatch expressions that
become ingrained in our language and outlive their roots.
Perhaps the next generation can use a
little help with understanding these 50 phrases.
By Betsy Towner

44. That’s all,
folks: Where’ve
you been, Porky?
45. Then the
penny dropped:
How the action
started in one-cent
slot machines
46. Watch the
tube: Flat screens
are tubeless
47. Tied to your
mother’s apron
strings: Someone’s
in the kitchen with
Dinah
48. Wear the pants
in the family: Um,
the whole family
wears pants now
AUGUSTUS BUTERA/GETTY IMAGES