"talkie" slang lists (1929)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

While researching "bloop(er)", I noticed two extensive lists of neologisms
from the burgeoning "talking picture" industry in late 1929.  The first,
compiled by Frank J. Wilstach, appeared in the New York Times in two parts
on Oct 13 and Oct 20, 1929 ("Sound Studio Slang").  Not to be outdone, the
Los Angeles Times published their own list on Nov 24, 1929, compiled by
Philip K. Scheuer ("Talkies Give New Tongue").  The two lists have
surprisingly little overlap.

The lists should provide some antedatings for OED3, e.g., "blimp" ('camera
hood', OED2 1936), "gobo" ('portable soundproof wall', OED2 1930), "wax"
('a record', OED2 1932), etc.  Many more no doubt faded from use almost
immediately -- one that I'm particularly fond of is "Larynx Lizzie",
defined by Wilstach as a "female talker".  I include the entries for both
lists below (see Proquest for the definitions).


New York Times, Oct 13, 1929, p. X8:

A.C. pick-up
all bottom
all top
amplifier
apples
are we phased?
B.A.
blimp (camera hat, spark plug's blanket)
bloop
blue light
boomy
bottles
broad (or broadside)
brilliance
bullfrog
bumps
bungalows
burned
C.T.A.
camera booth
camera buckle
camera ready
candle
cans
cat walk
channel
clean channel
click your horn
color
cooked
coops
cut in two
cut over
cutter
cutter jumped
dead pair
dialect doctor
dog house
dog leg
drop the horn
drop the mike
dubbing
dynamite
ear muffs
emission noise
false start
fast feed
first phase
flood 'em (or hit 'em)
floor light
flutter
fogged
footage eater
frame line noise
freak
frequency
frying sound
fuzzy sound
fuzzy track
galloping ribbons
green light
groove jumping
ground noise
growler
haywire
hold the hammers
hot lead
hot leg
hot one
how's your pole face?
how's your system?
I lost the horn
I lost the V.I.
inkies
in sink
kill the blowers
kill the exhaust
knob twisters
Larynx Lizzie
lift your cutter
lights out
load 'em
lock 'em up
lost the loop
lung lifter

New York Times, Oct 20, 1929, p. X8:

mask the sound track
meet you on the order wire
mike
mike blanket
mixer
monitor man
motor boating
movieola
no bottom
no top
off the line
O.K. on the blops
O.K. on the clicks
on the line
one bell
order wire
out o' sink
overdone
patter blender
phased
pitch
play away from the mike
playback
raise the mike
raspy
rheostat voice
riding off the sprockets
rifle
runaway
scoring
scratch the mike
shorts
show the track
sing
sizzler
slice the mike
soak the batteries
sound goboes
sound-proof
sound ready
sound track
sound with whiskers
soup
speaker rattle
splice bumps
sprocket him
synchrony
tack
tag
talky toad
tank
thin print
three bells
tormentor
tubby
tube hiss
tube ring
turn the system over
under-modulated
V.I.
valve
valve rustle
where is the fader?
where is the V.I.?
whistle box
white light
wild shots
wow-wows

Los Angeles Times, Nov 24, 1929, p. B13:

apple
audit
audipin
baff (baffle)
big moment
binny
blind
blimp
bloop
boll (fry, fuzz, gimp, zoop)
box
break
buckle
bullfrog
canaries
cans
cello
chromo
chromo man
Coops
cricket
damp
decibles
dinge
detonating celluloid
down the chute!
dub
dupe
ear
fader
flash
flats
flutter
footage-eater
forte
freak
gain
gain-run
G.E.'s
give 'em A.C.
gobo
gow
groan box
ground noise
hot house
inkle
in sink, in sync
in the box
lily
line-biter
lock 'em up!
mag
mike
mike boom
mike stew
mixer
mixing mike
natural period
oscar
pec
pipe it down!
playback
plug 'em in!
polly
prescore
shreds
sprock
squeal
stick
string
system
take it big
three and chow
tonsil doctor
tonsil test
tripe
T.U.
turn 'em over!
V.I.
wax
wax stew
wheels
yodeler



--Ben Zimmer