If you missed yesterday’s post which included the prologue from Lancaster House, click here.
Slang from the nineteen-twenties is so much fun! It’s so colorful and crazy. It truly made the Lancaster House series fun to write. A few of my favorites are:
Breezer: a convertible
Goofy: in love
Cheaters: glasses
Bank’s closed: no kissing or making out
Giggle water: alcohol
Dewdropper: young man who sleeps all day and doesn’t have a job
And of course, my two all time favorites are: ‘ironing your shoelaces’ and ‘the middle aisle.’ But, you have to read The Middle Aisle to find out what they mean! (No fair, don’t google them! It’ll be worth the wait, I promise!)
The challenge I faced in writing Lancaster House and The Middle Aisle was in making my main character NOT sound like the Humphrey Bogart type: “Here’s looking at you, kid!” OR “Awww, what’s eating you?” I tried to avoid the well-known slang or famous lines associated with the 1920s. My other challenge was to not overuse the nineteen-twenties’ slang. I felt that if I used it too much, it would come across as cheesy and annoying.
But, ahhhh, only in the 1920s can you flip on your cheaters and go for a ride in a breezer with a handsome cake-eater. (a lady’s man) I have a new appreciation for slang!
Coming next: A ‘nineteen-twenties’ slang’ excerpt from The Middle Aisle. (Just click and follow!)
Goofy: in love
Cheaters: glasses
Bank’s closed: no kissing or making out
Giggle water: alcohol
Dewdropper: young man who sleeps all day and doesn’t have a job
And of course, my two all time favorites are: ‘ironing your shoelaces’ and ‘the middle aisle.’ But, you have to read The Middle Aisle to find out what they mean! (No fair, don’t google them! It’ll be worth the wait, I promise!)
The challenge I faced in writing Lancaster House and The Middle Aisle was in making my main character NOT sound like the Humphrey Bogart type: “Here’s looking at you, kid!” OR “Awww, what’s eating you?” I tried to avoid the well-known slang or famous lines associated with the 1920s. My other challenge was to not overuse the nineteen-twenties’ slang. I felt that if I used it too much, it would come across as cheesy and annoying.
But, ahhhh, only in the 1920s can you flip on your cheaters and go for a ride in a breezer with a handsome cake-eater. (a lady’s man) I have a new appreciation for slang!
Coming next: A ‘nineteen-twenties’ slang’ excerpt from The Middle Aisle. (Just click and follow!)
This was originally posted as part of a book tour at A Buckeye Girl Reads.
No comments:
Post a Comment