The Kashley Show
Brighten your day with our uplifting podcast, where a husband-and-wife duo share heartwarming stories and inspiring good news from around the world. Each episode, we bring our unique perspectives, laughter, and genuine connection as we celebrate the positive moments happening every day. Join us for a refreshing break from negativity and discover that good news is all around us.
The Kashley Show
Vintage Slang
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Are you bored with the usual insults and phrases? Check out the words that once made pioneers laugh, poets turn red, and grandmas shake their heads. Explore this collection of historical slang and see how your everyday vocabulary compares.
https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-ancient-traditions/swear-words-0017538
https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/7gftk3y
https://www.medievalists.net/2026/05/swear-words-middle-ages/
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/absquatulate
https://www.truewestmagazine.com/article/dont-go-wakin-snakes/
http://www.slangcity.com/slang-vocabulary/give-someone-the-mitten.htm
https://www.wgbh.org/news/2015-07-21/12-lost-american-slangisms-from-the-1800s
https://www.mentalfloss.com/language/slang/13-ways-say-youre-mad-hell-across-us
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_the_elephant
https://www.oed.com/dictionary/jelly-belly_n?tl=true
https://www.oed.com/dictionary/zounds_int
https://wordsmith.org/words/smellfungus.html
Welcome to the Cashly Show. We are Kevin and Ashley.
SPEAKER_02Hello.
SPEAKER_00We started this podcast after recent tragedies to take a break from negativity and discover the good things happening all around us.
unknownEverywhere.
SPEAKER_00Kevin's eating a slush, so he's busy.
SPEAKER_02We got a new machine, a slushy machine.
SPEAKER_00The slushie.
SPEAKER_02You put fruit juice, soda, whatever you want. And it makes it into a slushie Kevin loves slushies.
SPEAKER_00This was his early Father's Day present.
SPEAKER_02I think I've had more brain freeze, freeze eye, freezes is in the last month than I've had in the whole rest of my life.
SPEAKER_00But you've enjoyed the cause of the brain freeze.
SPEAKER_02I do. I like fruit juice as a slushie, apparently. I also enjoy soda as a slushie, but I don't know. I guess I I can reason that, you know, fruit juice. It's got water, it's got fruit, it's got Pepsi and doesn't have caffeine in it. I'm sure it still has 46 grams of sugar.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, way too much sugar. Alright, we're gonna start out today with a shout-out. Today's shout-out is for Randy and Carol.
SPEAKER_02Hi Randy and Carol.
SPEAKER_00They've had a rough week, so we are just giving them a shout-out.
SPEAKER_02Thinking of you guys.
SPEAKER_00Yep. We love you guys. Alright, next up is Laffy Taffy.
SPEAKER_02That Laffy Taffy.
SPEAKER_00Ready for your joke?
SPEAKER_02You ready for one? I got one for you. Oh, you do? Yeah, I think that's right. Yeah, you want me to I'll hit you with one first.
SPEAKER_00Our son's been in love with jokes.
SPEAKER_02Where did he get that book? From the library?
SPEAKER_00Or I bought them on eBay. Oh, okay. The Treehouse Books, like I think he's on the 104th story treehouse, has like all these jokes at the bottom of a bunch of the pages. Oh. And he's like saving all the best ones to tell us. He's so excited.
SPEAKER_02Are you ready for this? Yep. What kind of shoes does a frog wear?
SPEAKER_00I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Not even a guess?
SPEAKER_00Well, maybe like something like a ribbot or a croak or crooks.
SPEAKER_02Crocs, yeah. Or croaks, yeah. But no, you're wrong.
SPEAKER_00Oh.
SPEAKER_02But I think those are that's a good answer. Croaks would be like a that's probably what I would say. Open toed samples. Ribbit.
SPEAKER_00Croaks is probably better. Yeah, I think. Alright, here's yours. Ready?
SPEAKER_02I am ready.
SPEAKER_00What do you call a line of men waiting to get haircuts?
SPEAKER_02What do you call a line of men waiting to get haircuts? Basic training. Boot camp.
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_02Okay, those are my answers, so I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Okay. A barbecue. It was a good one. Alright, today's Kevin and Ashley take is do you call it soda or pop?
SPEAKER_02Soda. I already just call it soda earlier.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you did.
SPEAKER_02Pop. Uh my grandpa called it pop.
SPEAKER_00It's very common in Utah to call it pop. And I called it pop until I met you, and you always called it soda, and we're like, why do you call it pop? And so I now call it soda.
SPEAKER_02Do you want to call it pop?
SPEAKER_00No, I like soda better. Pop is kind of confusing. Like, are you talking about the soft drink or are you talking about something else?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And it wasn't like the original name, like soda pop?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So I guess soda one out.
SPEAKER_00It's also the character on the outsiders, soda pop.
SPEAKER_02I don't know what that is.
SPEAKER_00The outsiders? The the little street gang on the wrong side of the tracks.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, with Tom Cruise and Roblo and all those guys. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Alright. Today's episode is vintage slang.
SPEAKER_02I'll use it. I still use our slang.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. This is like way older. Well. Way older. Have you ever wanted your comebacks to be a bit sharper? Some of the wildest and most unusual slang from history. From the bold talk of the old west, these old phrases will help give you compliments and insults with flair.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, this is going way back.
SPEAKER_00The first one is Sard. S-A-R-D.
SPEAKER_02I won't be using that.
SPEAKER_00What do you think it means? I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Sorry, Baird.
SPEAKER_00Sard was once so scandalous that around the 10th century, a daring monk named Aldred included it in his old English Bible translation. Thou shalt not commit adultery became, and don't sard another man's wife.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I see.
SPEAKER_00By the 17th century, sard had softened into clever proverbs like Nottingham's playful, go teach your grandma to sard, which was the medieval way of saying, Don't try to school an expert.
SPEAKER_02What?
SPEAKER_00Whoa.
SPEAKER_02How?
SPEAKER_00Seven centuries can really uh change things.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And now it's not even used at all.
SPEAKER_02Unless your grandma's a woman of the night. An expert.
SPEAKER_00All right. Next one is some pumpkins. What do you think that means?
SPEAKER_02Some pumpkins? To count up pumpkins?
SPEAKER_00No. Imagine someone walking down the street, chest out, shouting, I'm some pumpkins. In the 1840s, this odd phrase was the best way to say you were a big deal or impressive, important or hard to ignore.
SPEAKER_02Because you're walking down the street shouting out some pumpkins?
SPEAKER_00I'm some pumpkins. I wonder if people actually did that. No. No way.
SPEAKER_02I've never heard this before. Although I've never heard Sard either.
SPEAKER_00You weren't around the 1840s.
SPEAKER_02I was not. I'm no Highlander. Do you know what a Highlander is?
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_02That's okay.
SPEAKER_00Next is Wake Snakes.
SPEAKER_02Wake snakes? Mm-hmm. It's kind of fun to say. Yeah. But like waking snakes up?
SPEAKER_00Kind of. No.
SPEAKER_02So if someone kind of way to build me up just to throw me down.
SPEAKER_00If someone said, Don't go waken the snakes, they were giving you a clever warning. It meant don't cause trouble or invite mischief unless you're ready to deal with the mess that comes after.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I get it.
SPEAKER_00It's a good one.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I'll try and use that. Don't go waking snakes. I'll use it at work sometime.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Can't use it on our kids. They don't listen. Cause mischief.
SPEAKER_02They don't listen anyway.
SPEAKER_00Or get in trouble.
SPEAKER_02They don't hear the words I say.
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah, but they don't get in trouble either. Next is give someone the mitten.
SPEAKER_02Because they're cold.
SPEAKER_00Nope.
SPEAKER_02They got cold fingies.
SPEAKER_00Not even close. This was in the 1930s a way to break up with someone in style.
SPEAKER_02Giving them the mitten?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. If Alex dreamed of a New York honeymoon, Mary ended things with a cold goodbye. She gave him the mitten, and he was left out in the cold. Sorry, Alex. Here's a mitten. That's why.
SPEAKER_02Oh, you can literally just give them a mitten. And now you're down to one mitten yourself. And now for the next person you break up with. It's like a best friend necklace. BFFs. BFF mittens. You thought you broke up. They thought you just basically proposed.
SPEAKER_00Alright, next one. Huckleberry above a persimmon.
SPEAKER_02Man, that's some old timey fruit. Where did we I had like a huckleberry shake or something like that? Where was that? Was it here?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I think so. Sure.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00No, I'm not sure. Yeah, I'm not sure. But uh, I think so.
SPEAKER_02I think it we were somewhere. Uh 'cause like they like I don't know what to call a patch that huckleberry like patch they had.
SPEAKER_00Um I don't remember having a patch, but when we went to Twin Falls, we got like Huckleberry Jam.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, maybe that was it. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Alright, so huckleberries are easy to pick while persimmons are rare and valuable. All horns and rattle.
SPEAKER_02That is a scary bull.
SPEAKER_00Imagine someone.
SPEAKER_02No, all I can imagine is a bull and a rattlesnake, somehow bred, and now you have like a rattle bull. It's got horns. Yeah, it does. His tail's got rattle, it's got horns, it's got fangs with poison.
SPEAKER_00How does he eat if it only has fangs? I don't know.
SPEAKER_02It this is even more scary now. Its jaw dislocates like a snake and it just swallows up. That's a meat-eating bull. Terrifying. I won't be able to sleep tonight.
SPEAKER_00Imagine someone is about to lose their temper. This phrase, popular in the late 1800s to the 1950s, describes the drama of someone with an explosive mood.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. See that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. There's a lot of angry ones in here. Shodiocracy.
SPEAKER_02Shoddyocracy. That's what we're living in right now. Just a shhoddy democracy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Late 1800s, this insult was aimed at the newly rich. Oh, sorry. This just kidding. That's a different one. It's like you got me.
SPEAKER_02Good one. You got me.
SPEAKER_00The political thing's on a different one. It was aimed at the newly rich who made their money selling cheap goods. If you wanted to tease a quick rising tycoon with bad taste, shoddyocracy was the word to use. Alright. Makes me think of like the what are they? The traveling salespeople.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, snake oil salesmen.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Next one is burning thunderwood.
SPEAKER_02Whoa, what is thunderwood?
SPEAKER_00I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Sounds like a place that I would be scared to go.
SPEAKER_00Thunderwood is another common name for poison sumac, a highly toxic woody shrub. It's widely considered one of the most toxic plants in the country.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Well.
SPEAKER_00Alright. So in Georgia during the late 1800s and early 1900s, this phrase described someone who was extremely angry. If you were burning thunderwood, people knew to stay away. I'm burning thunderwood.
SPEAKER_02It's kind of like boiling over.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. We're just saying I'm mad is a little bit faster.
SPEAKER_02But it's not as fun.
SPEAKER_00That's true. Alright, here's this one.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00To be Chicagoed.
SPEAKER_02Chicagoed?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So it's like to have to do with like Al Capone or something?
SPEAKER_00Uh no.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00So in the late 1800s, this slang had two meanings. It could mean you were a victim of political corruption.
SPEAKER_02Nice.
SPEAKER_00Or in baseball, that your team was completely shut out.
SPEAKER_02Huh. Chicagoed.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And do you say it like that, Chicagoed, or do you say it like with like a Chicago accent? Like Chicago.
SPEAKER_00Probably with a Chicago accent.
SPEAKER_02Chicago.
SPEAKER_00I wonder if it was mostly common in Chicago.
SPEAKER_02Chicago? Yeah, I don't know. I like a new girl when I don't remember his name now. It's been so long since we've seen it. But the guy that's from Chicago. When he slips into a Chicago accent. Yeah, Nick.
SPEAKER_00That's a good show.
SPEAKER_02Anyway.
SPEAKER_00Alright, next one is Raise Sand.
SPEAKER_02Seems like a fruitless endeavor trying to raise sand because it's just gonna all fall out. No, am I off?
SPEAKER_00Is that in the late 1800s? If you were were raising sand, you were causing a commotion, making noise, and showing everyone you were serious.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Alright then.
SPEAKER_00People are yelling, you should be like, Why are you raising sand? Alright. Next one is mad enough to swallow a horn toad backwards. Yeah, that's that's a lot.
SPEAKER_02That's a lot.
SPEAKER_00Alright, so this is an old West phrase to describe someone so angry they could do something impossible and probably foolish out of pure rage.
SPEAKER_02Yep. Because uh horned toads and then they're backwards.
SPEAKER_00Gonna rip up your throat?
SPEAKER_02I don't know. I guess the horns on the toad.
SPEAKER_00Can you actually swallow that?
SPEAKER_02I don't know.
SPEAKER_00I would say no. All right, next one.
SPEAKER_02What does a horned toad look like? I don't even actually know. Here comes the wind. It's that time of night again.
SPEAKER_00Cool how far room. He's an ugly guy. He's got like a horns, like a bowl kind of on the top of his head.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he's true to his name.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Alright, next one is tell a thumper.
SPEAKER_02Tell a thumper? Mm-hmm. Tell a thumper what?
SPEAKER_00In the 1800s, telling a thumper meant spinning a tall tail or a clever lie.
SPEAKER_02Oh, you're telling a thumper.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Next one is see the elephant.
SPEAKER_02Where? In the room? What do we gotta talk about?
SPEAKER_00If you traveled the Oregon Trail or searched for gold in California.
SPEAKER_02Only on the computer.
SPEAKER_00You had truly seen the elephant. This meant you had faced great hardship. The phrase showed the awe and toughness of the 19th century pioneers.
SPEAKER_02They were a tough bunch.
SPEAKER_00But I don't know what that has to do about seeing an elephant. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02That doesn't make any sense.
SPEAKER_00Nope, none.
SPEAKER_02No one going across the plains or going to California or Oregon ever had an elephant. There were no elephants. Although those probably could have helped out.
SPEAKER_00A lot moving stuff. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like, oh, you have two oxen? I have an elephant.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_00Can pull all these wagons, a train of wagons.
SPEAKER_02And it's got big long tusks. You can grab water and give us a shower. What are your oxen doing?
SPEAKER_00We definitely could use the shower.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00Alright, next one is barking at a knot. Barking at a knot. K-N-O-T.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like a knot on a rope. I don't know why why you would because it's not going to do anything. Like, doesn't matter. Like a knot still, even if you bark at it.
SPEAKER_00This phrase described times when you were wasting your time or trying to do something impossible.
SPEAKER_02Hmm.
SPEAKER_00So that's a good one.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Doesn't use up all his kindlin to make a fire.
SPEAKER_02Kinlin. Kin how are you saying that? This just doesn't sound right.
SPEAKER_00Kindlin.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I think you're supposed to say it faster.
SPEAKER_00Kinlin.
SPEAKER_02Like yeah. Like you're gonna say you're going to Leighton.
SPEAKER_00Doesn't use up all his Kinlin to make a fire.
unknownKinlin.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. No, no. Make it Chicago.
SPEAKER_00I don't do that.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Yeah, so someone who is like smart with their resources and resourceful and frugal? That's what I see.
SPEAKER_00Okay. If someone was quiet, people would say they didn't use up all his their kinlin to make a fire. It meant they saved their words for important moments.
SPEAKER_02Hmm. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Not a chatty one. Next one is could follow a wood tick on a solid rock. I do not know. This old West exaggeration meant you were an extremely sharp-eyed tracker, able to spot even the smallest clue.
SPEAKER_02Well, but it's a wood tick on a rock. So wouldn't you be able to see it pretty easily? Because isn't it camouflaged for the wood? And when it's on a rock, now you have a little tiny piece of wood moving. That's easy to spot.
SPEAKER_00Depends on how big the tick is, what color the rock is, and how big the rock is.
SPEAKER_02Whatever.
SPEAKER_00Next one is couldn't hit a bull's behind with a handful of banjos.
SPEAKER_02It's a big hand.
SPEAKER_00It doesn't say behind, by the way.
SPEAKER_02A bull's donkey.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02Someone who's terrible at shooting or fighting.
SPEAKER_00Yes, feet shooting. If you missed every shot, this old funny West saying was the best way to call out complete incompetence.
SPEAKER_02Do I have anything like the mid-show? Are we about the middle?
SPEAKER_00Yep, we can do that.
SPEAKER_02What do we got?
SPEAKER_00We're gonna do your first rebus. So it's a word puzzle. Okay. Okay, so I'm gonna show it when the TV comes on. Okay. It's just gonna be some words, and you gotta tell me what the word puzzle is.
SPEAKER_02And that is a rebus? Like that's what it's called?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
unknownNope.
SPEAKER_02That's not a wordle.
SPEAKER_00Isn't wordle like this one. So it says I fell five times. I fell, I fell. One on top of each other. Just in a column. I fell five times. So once you get I keep falling. No, once I tell you this, you'll understand the rebuses more from now on. With you. Maybe. Maybe I should have done a different one first.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I have no idea what a rebus is.
SPEAKER_00So let's let's do this one and we'll come back to this one after. So this one will be a little bit easier. What's this one? So this one says M-I-L, the number one, L-I-O-N.
SPEAKER_01So one million?
SPEAKER_00Close. One in a million.
SPEAKER_01One in a million.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So think about that I fell, because we'll come back to that one at the end. Does that make sense though?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Next one is more gurgling and guts. This described people who talked big but disappeared when it mattered, making lots of noise but lacking real courage. Alright. Alright. Next one is about smell fungus.
SPEAKER_02Just a stinky man out on the frontier.
SPEAKER_00Have you ever met someone who always finds something to complain about?
SPEAKER_02That's a smell fungus?
SPEAKER_00Yep. Constant complainers and grumpy travelers were called smell fungus. Alright. So skipping some boot liquor.
SPEAKER_02I've heard this used, but I don't know what it really means. Like a suck up.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Someone so eager to please the boss they would almost shine their shoes with their own tongue. How about jelly belly?
SPEAKER_02Just an overweight person? Someone who's soft.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, kind of. So this playful insult from the n 1830s was anyone with a soft round belly. Imagine a cheerful belly shaking with every laugh.
SPEAKER_02That guy brings presents.
SPEAKER_00You should call him jelly belly. Alright, so how about muck spout?
SPEAKER_02What's a m a muck? Mux spout.
SPEAKER_01No idea.
SPEAKER_00This word describes someone who cursed constantly.
SPEAKER_01Huh. Yeah, one of them muck spouts.
SPEAKER_00So these are the last two. Okay. First one is too high for his nut.
SPEAKER_02This is a family show, Ashley.
SPEAKER_00This old phrase describes someone whose ambitions were too high for their abilities. Like trying to climb a ladder with missing rungs. Last one.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_00Turn in your teeth.
SPEAKER_02Ooh.
SPEAKER_00Ashley.
SPEAKER_02This show has really turned since the beginning.
SPEAKER_00This will tell someone exactly what you think. Eat poop. With a dose of 19th century attitude.
SPEAKER_02Alright.
SPEAKER_00Alright. Next time you want a clever insult or a new word to use, just try one of these old expressions. Whether you're smiling at a joke or making a scene, you'll have some histories, best words ready to go.
SPEAKER_02Alright, back to Don't wake snakes. Yeah. Okay, that's the one I'm gonna try and use.
SPEAKER_00Back to the Rebus word puzzle.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so I fell stacked on top of I fell. I fell, and there's five of them. I f I fell five stacks. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Eiffel Tower.
SPEAKER_02Okay. There's a tower of Eiffel's Eiffel Tower. Okay. All right. These are called a Rebus? R-E-B-U-S.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I thought about like seeing if we could find like a book or something of them for the kids. I think they would like them. Yeah, yeah. Especially our youngest. Yeah. He loves little books of mazes and yeah, puzzles and problems.
SPEAKER_02Yep. All right. Is there like a word of the day or anything? There wasn't anything about me like giving me a word and I gotta work it into that next time or into the podcast and then I have a whole bunch of words.
SPEAKER_00I can do it on the next one. So I have like national days. So this week we have National Children's Day is actually the 14th of June. So Father's Day, Mother's Day, there is a children's day.
SPEAKER_02Don't tell the children.
SPEAKER_00I know. Megalodon Day is the 15th.
SPEAKER_01Megalodon?
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm. Alright. Anything else?
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Remember, even a small act of kindness can be someone's beacon in their darkest moment. Choose kindness every day. Reach out to someone today. You have the power to change a life. Be the signal of hope this world needs.