Our Ancestors' Slang of the 1940s

The early 1940s were the world war years, fighting for the homefront. There would be many different and unusual slang phrases developed. After the end of the war, a new era, of families settling down and the beginning of ‘baby boomers’. Here are some of those 1940s slang words, ones that your parents and grandparent surely knew and used.

With fighting between European nations and the nation of Germany, there were many months of flashbombing, the term ‘Blitz‘ was used to express a terror time.

Many men and women hooked up dating. There was a slang word for an attractive man, it was ‘Dreamboat‘. This popular slang first started with popular 1920s movies.

Another popular slang about an attractive person in the 1940s is ‘Hubba-Hubba‘ applying to males or females.

Popular talk between friends was known as jive. But a short slang term was also ‘Natch.’

A funny slang term was ‘chrome dome‘ which referred to a bald man.

Dancing was very popular in the 1940s, great social entertainment. So if a person was a bad dancer they were called ‘dead hoofer’.

An ‘eager beaver‘ referred to an enthusiastic helper or someone very excited about something.

If a person was doing or saying something thought to be false or even cheesy, the slang word for that behavor was ‘Gimmicky.’

When someone did something properly, just right with good progress that was a slang phrase of ‘cooking with gas.’

If something was the very best and just amazing, the slang phrase was ‘killer diller.’

Anyone that was very bad at something or someone and then lost their temper or control of the situtation, it was termed ‘flip your wig.’

If you wanted someone to leave the room, the slang word was ‘take a powder.’

A really new slang term came in the late 1940s. It was ‘Jet-Set‘ referring to wealth and famous people who traveled by planes across the globe.

Wouldn’t it be great to add some of these slang words from the 1940s to your family history?

Photo: ‘Eager Beaver’ slang

Related FamilyTree.com Blogs:

American Slang to Add to Your Family Stories

Slang Used During the Roaring Twenties

Slang Phrases Used by Your Grandparents

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