Trouble at Tiedtke's features a lot of phrases and slang from the 1920s. Here's a glossary in case you're curious!
Abe's Cabe: five-dollar bill
Ankle - to leave, to walk as in "let's ankle"
Applesauce- an exclamation much like "horsefeathers" as in "Ah applesauce!"
Baby vamp - a popular female
Banana oil - that's doubtful
Baloney - nonsense!
Bearcat - a fiery girl
Beat one's gums - idle chatter
Bee's Knees - An extraordinary person, thing, or idea.
Our character Betty "Bee's Knee's" Crawford uses dozens of "animal anatomy" variations. Listen for how many you hear in our play: cat's pajamas, elephant's eyebrows, gnat's whistle, eel's hips, monkey's eyebrows, elephant’s adenoids, cat’s meow, ant’s pants, tiger’s spots, bullfrog’s beard, elephant’s instep, caterpillar’s kimono, turtle’s neck, duck’s quack, gnat’s elbows, cat's whiskers, oyster’s earrings, snake’s hips, kipper’s knickers, elephant’s manicure, clam’s garter, eel’s ankle, leopard’s stripes, sardine’s whiskers, canary’s tusks, pig’s wings, cuckoo’s chin and butterfly’s book.
Beeswax - business as in "mind your beeswax."
Berries - that which is attractive or pleasing; similar to bee's knees, As in "It's the berries."
Bird - general term for a man or woman usually meaning "odd" as in "What a funny old bird!"
Bluenose - An excessively puritanical person, a prude
Bootleg - illegal liquor
Breezer - an convertible car
Bug-eyed Betty - an unattractive girl; student
Bunny - a term of endearment applied to the lost or confused
Carry a Torch - to have a crush on someone
Cast a kitten - to have a fit
Choice bit of calico - attractive female
Copacetic - wonderful, fine, all right
Dame - a female
Dapper - a Flapper's dad
Darb - an excellent thing as in "that's Darb"
Di Mi! - my goodness!
Doll - an attractive woman
Dolled up - dressed up
Don't take any wooden nickels - don't do anything stupid
Dough - money
Drugstore Cowboy - a guy with a lot of girlfriends
Dry up - be quiet and get lost!
Ducky - very good
Dumb Dora - a stupid female
Fakeloo artist - con man
Fire extinguisher - a chaperone
Flapper - A stylish, brash, hedonistic young woman with short skirts & shorter hair
Fly boy - a glamorous term for an aviator
Four-flusher - a person who feigns wealth while mooching off others
Get a wiggle on - get a move on, get going
Giggle Water - An intoxicating beverage; alcohol
Glad rags - "going out on the town" fancy clothes
Go chase yourself - get lost, scram.
Grummy - depressed
Heebie-Jeebies - the jitters
Hen coop - beauty shop
Hit on all sixes - to perform 100 per cent; as "hitting on all six cyclinders"
Hooch - Bootleg liquor
Horsefeathers - an exclamation; same usage as applesauce
Hot sketch - a card or cut-up
Hotsy-Totsy - Pleasing
Ish kabibble - a retort meaning "I should care" from the name of a musician in the Kay Kayser Orchestra
Jack - money
Jake - Okay, as in , "Everything is Jake."
Jane - any female
Java - coffee
Jeepers creepers - exclamation of surprise
Joe - coffee
Kale - money
Keen - Attractive or appealing
Kiss - cash
Kiss now or kiss later? - are you going to give me the money now or later?
Know one's onions - to know one's business or what one is talking about
Lalapazaza - a good sport
Lens Louise - the person who steamrolls the conversation
Let's blouse - let's get out of here!
Level with me - be honest
Live wire - a lively and possibly nervous person
Lollygagger - an idle person
Mazuma - money
Mind your potatoes - mind your own business
Mrs. Grundy - A prudish or extremely tight-laced person
Mustard Plaster - someone who isn’t wanted but won’t leave
Nerts! - That’s awesome!
Nifty - great, excellent
Now you're on the trolley! - Now you've got it, now you're right!
Nobody Home - Describes some one who is dumb
Off one's nut - crazy
On the lam - fleeing from police
On the level - legitimate, honest
On the up and up - on the level
Orchid - a very expensive item
Palooka - a social outsider, from the comic strip character Joe Palooka
Phonus balonus - nonsense
Piffle - baloney
Prom-trotter - a young girl who attends a lot of social functions
Pull a Daniel Boone - to vomit
Punch the bag - small talk
Pinch - To arrest
Pipe down - stop talking
Reuben - an unsophisticated country bumpkin; also, "rube"
Says you - a reaction of disbelief
Scratch - money
Screaming meemies - the shakes
Screwy - crazy
Sheba - A girlfriend, an appealing woman (from the move Queen of Sheba)
Sheik - A boyfriend, an appealing man (from the Valentino movies)
Skirt - attractive female
Sockdollager - an action having a great impact
Stuck On - Having a crush on
Swanky - swell or ritzy
Swell - Wonderful. Also: a rich man
Tell ti Sweeney - tell it to someone who'll believe it
Togged to the bricks - dressed to the nines
Tomato - a female
Torpedo - A hired gun
Trip for biscuits - wild goose chase
Vicey Versey - backward
Voot - money
Wet Blanket - a solemn person, a killjoy
What's eating you? - What's wrong
Wurp - a wet blanket or buzzkill
You slay me - that's funny
You're all wet - absolutely ridiculous as in "she's all wet."
Zozzled - drunk