Dan Antion

Man Made Items (like slang) – CFFC

These are my copies

Once again, I am going to stretch the topic of Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge and go beyond the photos in the gallery.

“This week our topic is celebrating Man-made items. Have fun.”

I know that as an adjective, ‘man made’ isn’t gender specific, but I want to spend a few minutes talking about, perhaps introducing you to, two items that were decidedly created by a woman. The woman is Teagan R. Geneviene and the items are two works of non-fiction she has written. Non-fiction? Teagan? Yes, that’s what I said, and you better Adam and Eve it.

“Speak Flapper – Slang of the 1920s” is a compendium of slang from the period known as The Roaring Twenties, and also The Jazz Age. Teagan introduced us to many of these terms in a definition from context manner, in several of her novels and serial stories, including “Three Things Serial Story.”

One of the things I quickly discovered when I began following Teagan’s blog, is that she has a passion for research. You don’t think of research accompanying fiction, but for fiction to be believable – even when you’re writing about characters and settings you made up – the fictional world has to make sense. You can’t write a story set in the 1920s and put your character on a jet plane to Hawaii. Well, unless your story involves time travel, which Teagan has been known to introduce. My point is, research is critical, and one of the most critical areas where what you write has to fit the era, is language. Teagan is also passionate about language.

So, we know why Teagan gathered the information in the book, and we can easily extrapolate that to figure out why she published her research as a book. Why should we read it?

Because it’s fun!

It’s fun and informative. One of the ideas I have for a writing project is a book that is set in the 1920s. I can easily imagine flipping through Speak Flapper to help one of my characters get a wiggle on before he gets left holding the bag. Even if I wasn’t planning to write a story that takes place in this period, the book was so much fun to read. I read through these definitions, and I picture my parents using these words and phrases. I also recall, when Slade Bender visits, Captain Picard (when he’s pretending to be the private-eye Dixon Hill), as saying “you want to play stupid? That’s jake with me.”

And then there’s…

“Speak Chuckaboo – Slang of the Victorian & Steam Eras” is Teagan’s latest offering, and it is every bit as informative and delightful as Speak Flapper. Some of these expressions survived long enough for me to have heard them in use by my parents and their friends during the 1950s, including, get it in the neck, kick the bucket, and rambunctious (which I was often told to stop being).

Teagan explains, and by doing so helped me avoid a mistake in this post that she would have been compelled to correct in a comment, that “slang of the steam era” does not imply “steampunk slang.” I would have guessed that it did, because Teagan has written some delightful steampunk serials and books. If you’re curious about the difference, well, you’ll have to buy the book – that is the purpose of this post, to get you to buy the book(s). And one thing is certain. If you buy the books you will enjoy reading the books.

Now, onto the gallery of man-made items. Well, after I tell you how to buy those books. PS, I didn’t make the bunny, but I made the steps, and River likes seeing the bunny.

Speak Chuckaboo, Slang of the Victorian and Steam Eras

Kindle:  relinks.me/B0B9W38LDJ
Paperback:  relinks.me/B0B9T8MP1K

Speak Flapper – Slang of the 1920s

Kindle:  relinks.me/B083HNK3BB
Paperback:  relinks.me/1656168553

the coffee table has found its new home.
This is the coffee table I recently gave away.
MiMi is checking out the coffee table I made. All those holes were made by bugs, but American bugs – so organic too.
My favorite truss bridge
Ore boat completing its journey under the Duluth lift bridge
The Roberto Clemente ridge is one of three identical bridges – “The Sisters”
Crossing over the Windsor Locks Canal.
A cross section photograph of the Holyoke Dam during the third and present structures construction in the late 1890s, showing the combined inner masonry and outer granite cap. The tower in the background is one of two belonging to once the largest cableway in the world, used for transporting some materials along the height of the structure, in tandem with the narrow gauge rail (seen left) and several cranes. circa 1898 Source Canal Park Committee Records, South Hadley Public Library – Creative Commons license.
The canals run north to south for about a mile.
There were a number of these benches along the canal side of the path.
The boardwalk is quite sturdy
Taking flight. These look larger than they were. They are 6 or7oz glasses.
I put the plywood down in sections so I could stop at almost any point and still have functional steps.
These steps have 2″ more rise, and about 5″ more run per stair. We think this will improve the feel.
This bunny was also eating near the steps.
Those are two separate units, but I like the science fictiony appearance of the one on top.


If you like magical realism with suspense, action and a bit of family sarcasm, you will enjoy these books:

Knuckleheads
The Evil You Choose
When Evil Chooses You

Series page on Amazon

My profile page (and books) on Lulu

All available on Kindle Unlimited!

121 comments

  1. Gorgeous coffee tables. I’ve seen similar ones at woodworking exhibits (San Diego County Fair, to be precise). And speaking of tables, the drop leaf table to the right in your last photo–is it on display somewhere as in a shop? Just love that style of writing desk. I have a lap type mini-desk that my father-in-law made. It’s basically a box with a hinged lid that’s angled down with a pencil trough at the front edge. As always, I enjoy your photos! Thanks for sharing…

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  3. That photo of the truss bridge through the bare trees sure looks cold, especially right now, but it’s still one of my favorites. The theme of “man made” certainly leads logically to language, and what great ideas for books! (Yes, I too remember “rambunctious,” which was never very complimentary.)

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  4. Hi Dan – interesting about Teagan’s book and what a good idea to write a book around her research. Man-made – so many things … I’ve always appreciated your woodworking skills … while those benches are engaging … fun to see them. Cheers Hilary

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  5. You certainly epitomize what “man-made” means when it comes to your craftsmanship Dan. That you can turn a bug infested hunk of tree trunk into a handsome coffee table is magic. Even MiMi is flabbergasted at your woodworking skills!

    The other photos are a great reminder of the man-made structures around us that we just take for granted. We so easily forget the time and effort that it took to build anything, especially years ago with the tools that were available.

    Wishing you and the Editor and Faith a happy, relaxing Labor Day watching the rain fall and the grass grow!
    Ginger

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    • Thanks Ginger. Everything around us, even the ugly bare concrete warehouses going up not far from our house, took uncounted hours of labor to build. This is a good day to recognize those efforts. Authors work hard, too. Teagan’s efforts are no less impressive, in my mind.

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  8. I’ve heard of “rambunctious” and “kick the bucket,” Dan, but “get it in the neck?” Nope. I know in the south they say, “I want to hug your neck,” but that’s as close as my comparison gets.

    Anyhow, nice job with the prompt and the photos. I love bridges and water, so you’ve hit both marks here. And made River happy.

    Have a wonderful Monday and week!

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    • Hi, Dale. It really is fascinating. About a decade ago, I learned that Project Gutenberg has a ton of Victorian Era novels available for free. In reading them and even older classics, I was intrigued by the way the English language has changed since then.
      Also in reading nonfiction from the 1940s and 50s from authors like Neville Goddard and Napoleon Hill, I was fascinated by the subtle change of the way we use words that have not changed, the phrasing, the cadence. Thanks for visiting, my chuckaboo!

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      • It really is. And it’s funny how some expressions last through the decades whereas others not so much.
        I love feeling immersed in the time period through the language, too. :)

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  13. Egad! What a wonderful surprise, Dan. It knocked me into a cocked hat that you featured the books from my “Author’s Tool Chest” in this post. I had the morbs but this really puts a smile on my face. I hope to make lots of new chuckaboos today.
    Okay, okay… I’ll lay off the Victorian slang. :)
    Maybe a few conversations will start. I was interested that you honed in on my remark about Steampunk slang being a different topic. Steampunk stories do use slang from the Steam Era, but there is also a limited amount of slang that is fictional and used in some (but not all) steampunk stories. For Speak Chuckaboo, I gave those terms the mitten.

    I pos-i-lutely love what you said about the books we author being man-made. That’s even more true considering that now there are websites that can generate computer-written stories. (So I assume computers exist that can write entire novels.)
    That coffee table is unforgettable — a great choice for this post. You really are gifted with your woodworking skills. I used to sew all my own clothes, draperies, and some furniture covers, but I never had that level of expertise. Having done that gives me a great appreciation for craftmanship.

    Thank you for featuring my slang dictionaries. You’re absolutely rum-ti-tum with the chill off!

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    • Haha – your comment made me smile, Teagan. I love flipping through these books, and I always smile when I remember someone who used these words in casual conversation. I hope you get conversations and sales.

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  18. Ha ha ha! I love that you included Faith. Research in nonfiction separates the good from the not-so. And of course language is man-made and it evolves constantly. Or devolves, depends on your perspective.

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    • Ha! It definitely devolves, Pam! That’s one reason why I enjoy Victorian and 1920s slang so much. I find it so much better to call a group of girlfriends lotties and totties than my “b!tches”, all-fired or brick or rum instead of “dope,” and getting zozzled or splificated is much more fun than getting sh!#-faced.
      Thanks for reading and commenting, my chuckaboo!

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  22. Teagan’s use of period language is one of many things that I love about her books. And her research is exhaustive. Thanks for giving your take on her fun books, Dan. Huge congrats to Teagan on the latest one. I know it’s going to be a wonderful resource. :-)

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  23. I’m a fan of Teagan’s blog and her books, and I couldn’t agree more with your post. I recommend everything she has written, and writers or anybody else with a love for history and language will have fun with these two books. And thanks for the images as well, Dan. I love the whole post. ♥

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