Old Slang and its uses today
This post is for non-English natives and people who think they can throw in any random old American slang in a fanfic just because "technically it means this". So most of you probably have no reason to read this. Note: I grew up on the west coast and I'm young, so of course my views might be different from other people's.
This is all slang you quickly find if you google "1930's slang". Some are left out, but those are instantly understandable by a native speaker, or easily understandable in context.
A lot of these words you can't use today even if they still mean the same thing. Ex. the words about women, a lot of these older words today feel like "you're a sleezy guy who's treating me like a brainless bimbo", it's a bit hard to describe. Also I think almost all of these words for women would chiefly be used by guys today, even though some of them are used by woman towards men in old movies (ex. "doll" can be used for either but it sounds strange to me if a woman uses it on a man). Some of them are also derogatory just because nowadays a bad sort of people use them (Ex. rappers who treat women like shit) or they're only in use in an undesirable dialect (ex. hicks in the deep south). So maybe thirty years ago they were okay to use, but not now.
Some other words give the distinct feeling of "the speaker is a really sheltered papa's boy who is totally innocent", and also you get instantly struck with a feeling like "this person just stepped out of the 1940's-50's". Using these words also gives the feeling that you're really cheaply trying to throw in a sense of "we're in this certain past era" without giving it any real effort/research. You can't use these words without feeling like they're really, really out of place. (On the other hand, using obscure words will just alienate the reader, and that's why I added in a list of "everyone still uses these" so you can use more that are still common knowledge). Part of the sheltered feeling is because nowadays we use "stronger" words that are just more blatant than the words they used in public back then (ex. even though they also used the word "fuck" to mean sex, you wouldn't say that around anyone respectable or when in public, whereas now it's basically that you can say it in public all you want but it's still quite rude/vulgar).
xxx
Probably modernly sounds offensive to women, especially if it's a guy saying it: dame, doll (women also called men "dolls" but it seems less common), dollface, peach, muffin, kitten, broad, babe, baby, hot mama/sweet mama/sweet patootie ("hot woman"), filly (because you're comparing her with an animal),
Dumb and back in time or "sheltered kid who doesn't want to swear" feeling: swell, keen (meaning "cool"), crummy (bad, "that sucks"), making love (to mean sex - although in the past this actually meant "dating/whispering sweet nothings" at one point and not sex)
Parents might say this but a young person today probably wouldn't: doozy/doozie, buster, bud/buddy, kid/kiddo (as a nickname - also they'd only use it when talking to their own younger relatives, ex. an uncle talking to a nephew - but "kid" seems to be used a lot in movies set around the 1930's), honey (only when talking to their spouse, otherwise it gives the mental image of a fat, friendly Southern lady), buster (my dad uses this as a nickname for my younger brother), behind the grind (or "the grind" in general - meaning behind in your work), Dead hoofer/cement mixer (bad dancer), paws (hands), Gumming the works (mess up plans), Joe/the average Joe ("the average guy", you still see this in commercials sometimes but it sounds dumb), hip (to mean cool - this especially sounds like you're an older person trying to make friends with a younger person by using bad, old slang you remember from your youth)
Weird grandparents or crazy old people might say this: peach, honey, sweetheart, crackerjack, schnoz (nose), gams, peepers (eyes), giggle juice/hooch (alcohol), bumping gums/booshwash ("talking about nothing useful"), Cute as a bug's ear,
Sounds like someone's parent/teacher trying to be funny and utterly failing: "it's the cat's meow" (it's the greatest), Cute as a bug's ear (it's really cute),
Sounds like a black musician and thus is really-uncomfortable sounding because it strongly reminds you of racism: cool cats, cats/alligators (swing music fans/cool young people), hepcats
Sounds like a New York gangster/hoodlum (basically "the more odd slang you use, the more you sound like you're from New York"): Pearlies/pearly whites (teeth), gams, all wet (although in some contexts it doesn't give that feeling), dollface, convincer (gun), big house (prison), blinkers/shutters/peepers (eyes), goons (my dad uses "goon" as a teasing nickname for my brother when he's being dumb), canary (female singer), Chicago overcoat (coffin), City juice/dog soup (glass of water), Clip joint ("night-entertainment place where people get swindled"??), Copper (policeman - modernly you'd say "cop"), dick/gumshoe/flatfoot (detective), Dizzy with a dame/doll/dollface (in love with a girl), throwing lead/filling someone with daylight/giving someone lead poisoning, get away sticks (legs), grabbers/meat hooks (hands),
Sounds like a New York detective/policeman: buddy, pal, buster, Pearlies/pearly whites (teeth), gams, all wet, big house (prison), blinkers/shutters/peepers (eyes), City juice/dog soup (glass of water), Clip joint ("night-entertainment place where people get swindled"), Copper (policeman), dick/gumshoe/flatfoot (detective), get away sticks (legs), grabbers/meat hooks (hands),
Sounds like someone really undesirable/uneducated, ex. someone who dropped out of school at a young age, a drug/alcohol addict, a "dirty immigrant", etc: hot tamale (to mean "hot girl"), bean shooter (gun), hot mama/sweet mama/sweet patootie ("hot woman"), dig (to mean understand, as in "you dig?"), get away sticks (legs)
Everyone, possibly especially young people, still use: show (meaning movie), cool (great/interesting), no way Jose!, creep, jerk, cancer sticks (cigarettes, although this is more uncommon and typically used as a joke), bleed (as in "to bleed money/something from someone/something", to get money/something from), booze (alcohol, although it has a kind of "sleezy person" feeling to the word, ex. a fat college boy), Gold-digger (woman hunting after/dating/marrying men just because she wants their money), Low down (information, as in "what's the low-down" - what's the plan?", but it's used only in movies, particularly action movies), dough/green (money, but I think it also shows up only in movies)
You shouldn't use these as the average person wouldn't have any clue about the old-timey meaning:
Check/checker (as in money), Doss (sleep), egg harbour, Honey cooler, Pally, Pachuco, Sawbuck, flivver, fuss (girl), Gobble-pipe (saxaphone), Gunsel, Joed (tired), - they all sound like utter nonsense, you couldn't even begin to guess what it meant unless the context makes it extremely clear
Cadillac, egg, Eggs in coffee, Evil, face, Skin tickler, salad, rhino, Wheat, half portion - these only actually mean what they say, today. So again it would seem like you're speaking utter nonsense.
YOU REALLY SHOULDN'T USE THESE, no one would know/think of the old meanings and so you'd basically have people looking at you as if you're a complete idiot unless they just happen to know the old meanings (usually only the new meaning is listed):
Abercrombie - it's a store specifically catering to a sort of rich and snobby or airheaded youth ("preps/preppies"), or possibly gay men.
patootie - means "butt" and only a grandma would say it, as in "you bet your sweet patootie I'm right! - You're correct, I'm right!"
"all the way" - most often refers to having sex but also means doing something with a lot of effort, ex. "he wants to go all the way with her - he wants to have sex with her". Also means "I agree with you" as in "I'm with you all the way - I totally agree".
Beat - a policeman's route/turf when working as in "walking the beat", also means "tired" as in "I'm beat/tired" and is the name for the tune/undercurrent in music.
Brodie - this is a male name/nickname and conjures the image of a dumb yet tough sports-playing guy with a military haircut.
Bulge - "lump", and often refers to a penis or a lumpy object (ex. a phone) inside the person's pants/clothes, occasionally means something to do with war/military (ex. "The battle of the bulge").
Buzzer - a certain sort of annoying (usually apartment) doorbell or similar bell.
Chicago typewriter, chopper, gat - these would all seem like nonsense unless the context makes it clear. "chopper" now is used to mean "helicopter" and probably no one would realize that "gat" is short for "gatling (gun)".
Clam-bake - this is a sort of community gathering where you eat seafood.
house peeper - would sound like it means a stalker/eavesdropper and nothing else.
Dick - it means a penis or "a jerk" and has the same feeling as a curse word. It's true that sometimes it's still a male name, and most people know that it used to be slang for a detective, but you can't think of the word at all without thinking of a penis so I'd avoid it. You just can't take it seriously these days, it's uncomfortable/awkward.
Dog house - prison
Doggy - seems like it'd mean someone who follows someone around, not necessarily in secret but still in an unwanted way (also ex. "he's dogging/tailing him - he's following him", "dogging" implies being undercover/a detective while doing it).
Greaseball - (today I'd say "sleezeball" instead), means a sleezy and possibly unwashed person, also they're probably a scam artist too. Think of a guy who wears the same ripped jeans for two weeks straight, uses too much hair gel, desperately hits on any girl that passes by, and makes a living conning old ladies. If you watched the movie "Scarface" from 1932, the main character both looks and acts the complete part.
K balling - sounds like something to do with how you haven't been able to get any sex lately. That, or maybe you're on some kind of drug.
Kippy - nonsense that sounds like it'd be slang from a foreign dialect of English (ex. maybe they use it in England)
Murder - only means killing a human, also is the name for a flock of crows.
Pip - means a tiny fruit seed like from an orange/lemon.
Platter - food served at a restaurant on a large dish, typically some kind of sampler (meaning it has a few pieces of different sorts of food on it)
Scat - nowadays "scat" only means poop, and usually "poop when involved in a sexual act" at that. Even if someone happens to know it's a type of music (which is a little unlikely unless they're quite interested in music), because of this more common modern meaning it makes it a pretty uncomfortable word.
Scrub (noun) - a surgeon/dentist's assistant/etc wear a specific type of clothes called "scrubs", so if anything it brings that to mind. Otherwise you might guess it means some kind of insignificant person, but generally it just seems like nonsense as a noun.
Snipe - to shoot someone from afar (ex. "sniper"), to bid on an auction/buy something (ex. on Ebay) as close as possible to the ending time as you can, or to make a petty remark.
Sourdough - only a type of bread
Suds - the white foam/bubbles that soap makes ex. in the bathtub or when washing dishes
drift - today it means "to move without much/any effort" basically, like if you're floating in water and the current moves you, or you slowly move from place to place as you talk to someone, or you are going fast in a car and suddenly stop pressing on the gas. Also it means "idea" as in "you get the drift/idea?"
tin can (to mean car) - only means a really beat-up/crappy/piece of junk car.
rag - offensive slang for "nag" and also (offensively) sometimes for a woman on her period, ex "stop ragging me" and "she's on the rag" (except I think this is more British slang and they don't use it in American?). Invokes the image of a jerk guy talking to a woman he doesn't like.
Kibosh - means "to end", ex. "he put the kibosh on it - he said the final word on it/he ended it". Sounds like something you'd only see in a movie or really cheesy/bad fiction.
This is all slang you quickly find if you google "1930's slang". Some are left out, but those are instantly understandable by a native speaker, or easily understandable in context.
A lot of these words you can't use today even if they still mean the same thing. Ex. the words about women, a lot of these older words today feel like "you're a sleezy guy who's treating me like a brainless bimbo", it's a bit hard to describe. Also I think almost all of these words for women would chiefly be used by guys today, even though some of them are used by woman towards men in old movies (ex. "doll" can be used for either but it sounds strange to me if a woman uses it on a man). Some of them are also derogatory just because nowadays a bad sort of people use them (Ex. rappers who treat women like shit) or they're only in use in an undesirable dialect (ex. hicks in the deep south). So maybe thirty years ago they were okay to use, but not now.
Some other words give the distinct feeling of "the speaker is a really sheltered papa's boy who is totally innocent", and also you get instantly struck with a feeling like "this person just stepped out of the 1940's-50's". Using these words also gives the feeling that you're really cheaply trying to throw in a sense of "we're in this certain past era" without giving it any real effort/research. You can't use these words without feeling like they're really, really out of place. (On the other hand, using obscure words will just alienate the reader, and that's why I added in a list of "everyone still uses these" so you can use more that are still common knowledge). Part of the sheltered feeling is because nowadays we use "stronger" words that are just more blatant than the words they used in public back then (ex. even though they also used the word "fuck" to mean sex, you wouldn't say that around anyone respectable or when in public, whereas now it's basically that you can say it in public all you want but it's still quite rude/vulgar).
xxx
Probably modernly sounds offensive to women, especially if it's a guy saying it: dame, doll (women also called men "dolls" but it seems less common), dollface, peach, muffin, kitten, broad, babe, baby, hot mama/sweet mama/sweet patootie ("hot woman"), filly (because you're comparing her with an animal),
Dumb and back in time or "sheltered kid who doesn't want to swear" feeling: swell, keen (meaning "cool"), crummy (bad, "that sucks"), making love (to mean sex - although in the past this actually meant "dating/whispering sweet nothings" at one point and not sex)
Parents might say this but a young person today probably wouldn't: doozy/doozie, buster, bud/buddy, kid/kiddo (as a nickname - also they'd only use it when talking to their own younger relatives, ex. an uncle talking to a nephew - but "kid" seems to be used a lot in movies set around the 1930's), honey (only when talking to their spouse, otherwise it gives the mental image of a fat, friendly Southern lady), buster (my dad uses this as a nickname for my younger brother), behind the grind (or "the grind" in general - meaning behind in your work), Dead hoofer/cement mixer (bad dancer), paws (hands), Gumming the works (mess up plans), Joe/the average Joe ("the average guy", you still see this in commercials sometimes but it sounds dumb), hip (to mean cool - this especially sounds like you're an older person trying to make friends with a younger person by using bad, old slang you remember from your youth)
Weird grandparents or crazy old people might say this: peach, honey, sweetheart, crackerjack, schnoz (nose), gams, peepers (eyes), giggle juice/hooch (alcohol), bumping gums/booshwash ("talking about nothing useful"), Cute as a bug's ear,
Sounds like someone's parent/teacher trying to be funny and utterly failing: "it's the cat's meow" (it's the greatest), Cute as a bug's ear (it's really cute),
Sounds like a black musician and thus is really-uncomfortable sounding because it strongly reminds you of racism: cool cats, cats/alligators (swing music fans/cool young people), hepcats
Sounds like a New York gangster/hoodlum (basically "the more odd slang you use, the more you sound like you're from New York"): Pearlies/pearly whites (teeth), gams, all wet (although in some contexts it doesn't give that feeling), dollface, convincer (gun), big house (prison), blinkers/shutters/peepers (eyes), goons (my dad uses "goon" as a teasing nickname for my brother when he's being dumb), canary (female singer), Chicago overcoat (coffin), City juice/dog soup (glass of water), Clip joint ("night-entertainment place where people get swindled"??), Copper (policeman - modernly you'd say "cop"), dick/gumshoe/flatfoot (detective), Dizzy with a dame/doll/dollface (in love with a girl), throwing lead/filling someone with daylight/giving someone lead poisoning, get away sticks (legs), grabbers/meat hooks (hands),
Sounds like a New York detective/policeman: buddy, pal, buster, Pearlies/pearly whites (teeth), gams, all wet, big house (prison), blinkers/shutters/peepers (eyes), City juice/dog soup (glass of water), Clip joint ("night-entertainment place where people get swindled"), Copper (policeman), dick/gumshoe/flatfoot (detective), get away sticks (legs), grabbers/meat hooks (hands),
Sounds like someone really undesirable/uneducated, ex. someone who dropped out of school at a young age, a drug/alcohol addict, a "dirty immigrant", etc: hot tamale (to mean "hot girl"), bean shooter (gun), hot mama/sweet mama/sweet patootie ("hot woman"), dig (to mean understand, as in "you dig?"), get away sticks (legs)
Everyone, possibly especially young people, still use: show (meaning movie), cool (great/interesting), no way Jose!, creep, jerk, cancer sticks (cigarettes, although this is more uncommon and typically used as a joke), bleed (as in "to bleed money/something from someone/something", to get money/something from), booze (alcohol, although it has a kind of "sleezy person" feeling to the word, ex. a fat college boy), Gold-digger (woman hunting after/dating/marrying men just because she wants their money), Low down (information, as in "what's the low-down" - what's the plan?", but it's used only in movies, particularly action movies), dough/green (money, but I think it also shows up only in movies)
You shouldn't use these as the average person wouldn't have any clue about the old-timey meaning:
Check/checker (as in money), Doss (sleep), egg harbour, Honey cooler, Pally, Pachuco, Sawbuck, flivver, fuss (girl), Gobble-pipe (saxaphone), Gunsel, Joed (tired), - they all sound like utter nonsense, you couldn't even begin to guess what it meant unless the context makes it extremely clear
Cadillac, egg, Eggs in coffee, Evil, face, Skin tickler, salad, rhino, Wheat, half portion - these only actually mean what they say, today. So again it would seem like you're speaking utter nonsense.
YOU REALLY SHOULDN'T USE THESE, no one would know/think of the old meanings and so you'd basically have people looking at you as if you're a complete idiot unless they just happen to know the old meanings (usually only the new meaning is listed):
Abercrombie - it's a store specifically catering to a sort of rich and snobby or airheaded youth ("preps/preppies"), or possibly gay men.
patootie - means "butt" and only a grandma would say it, as in "you bet your sweet patootie I'm right! - You're correct, I'm right!"
"all the way" - most often refers to having sex but also means doing something with a lot of effort, ex. "he wants to go all the way with her - he wants to have sex with her". Also means "I agree with you" as in "I'm with you all the way - I totally agree".
Beat - a policeman's route/turf when working as in "walking the beat", also means "tired" as in "I'm beat/tired" and is the name for the tune/undercurrent in music.
Brodie - this is a male name/nickname and conjures the image of a dumb yet tough sports-playing guy with a military haircut.
Bulge - "lump", and often refers to a penis or a lumpy object (ex. a phone) inside the person's pants/clothes, occasionally means something to do with war/military (ex. "The battle of the bulge").
Buzzer - a certain sort of annoying (usually apartment) doorbell or similar bell.
Chicago typewriter, chopper, gat - these would all seem like nonsense unless the context makes it clear. "chopper" now is used to mean "helicopter" and probably no one would realize that "gat" is short for "gatling (gun)".
Clam-bake - this is a sort of community gathering where you eat seafood.
house peeper - would sound like it means a stalker/eavesdropper and nothing else.
Dick - it means a penis or "a jerk" and has the same feeling as a curse word. It's true that sometimes it's still a male name, and most people know that it used to be slang for a detective, but you can't think of the word at all without thinking of a penis so I'd avoid it. You just can't take it seriously these days, it's uncomfortable/awkward.
Dog house - prison
Doggy - seems like it'd mean someone who follows someone around, not necessarily in secret but still in an unwanted way (also ex. "he's dogging/tailing him - he's following him", "dogging" implies being undercover/a detective while doing it).
Greaseball - (today I'd say "sleezeball" instead), means a sleezy and possibly unwashed person, also they're probably a scam artist too. Think of a guy who wears the same ripped jeans for two weeks straight, uses too much hair gel, desperately hits on any girl that passes by, and makes a living conning old ladies. If you watched the movie "Scarface" from 1932, the main character both looks and acts the complete part.
K balling - sounds like something to do with how you haven't been able to get any sex lately. That, or maybe you're on some kind of drug.
Kippy - nonsense that sounds like it'd be slang from a foreign dialect of English (ex. maybe they use it in England)
Murder - only means killing a human, also is the name for a flock of crows.
Pip - means a tiny fruit seed like from an orange/lemon.
Platter - food served at a restaurant on a large dish, typically some kind of sampler (meaning it has a few pieces of different sorts of food on it)
Scat - nowadays "scat" only means poop, and usually "poop when involved in a sexual act" at that. Even if someone happens to know it's a type of music (which is a little unlikely unless they're quite interested in music), because of this more common modern meaning it makes it a pretty uncomfortable word.
Scrub (noun) - a surgeon/dentist's assistant/etc wear a specific type of clothes called "scrubs", so if anything it brings that to mind. Otherwise you might guess it means some kind of insignificant person, but generally it just seems like nonsense as a noun.
Snipe - to shoot someone from afar (ex. "sniper"), to bid on an auction/buy something (ex. on Ebay) as close as possible to the ending time as you can, or to make a petty remark.
Sourdough - only a type of bread
Suds - the white foam/bubbles that soap makes ex. in the bathtub or when washing dishes
drift - today it means "to move without much/any effort" basically, like if you're floating in water and the current moves you, or you slowly move from place to place as you talk to someone, or you are going fast in a car and suddenly stop pressing on the gas. Also it means "idea" as in "you get the drift/idea?"
tin can (to mean car) - only means a really beat-up/crappy/piece of junk car.
rag - offensive slang for "nag" and also (offensively) sometimes for a woman on her period, ex "stop ragging me" and "she's on the rag" (except I think this is more British slang and they don't use it in American?). Invokes the image of a jerk guy talking to a woman he doesn't like.
Kibosh - means "to end", ex. "he put the kibosh on it - he said the final word on it/he ended it". Sounds like something you'd only see in a movie or really cheesy/bad fiction.