4 ms·

I'm totally there for you on "sedan" and other throwback words. I'm 48, so I read the Hardy Boys books mostly in the mid to late 70s. That whole era seemed to

I'm totally there for you on "sedan" and other throwback words. I'm 48, so I read the Hardy Boys books mostly in the mid to late 70s. That whole era seemed to be stuck in time; lots of pop culture sort of pushed as "current" was clearly from at least 10 to 20 years before, but even as a kid it was pretty clear there was a disconnect. The Hardys never watched TV, for example. They used terms like "jalopy" and "sedan". Etc. I assume the mismatch was partly because of the rapid societal changes that took root starting in the 60s, plus a sort of refusal to acknowledge those by the generation just ahead of the boomers that were really still in fundamental control through the 80s.

lowercased 8y ago
> They used terms like "jalopy" and "sedan". Etc. And Chet was rarely fat, but often 'portly', 'heavy-set', 'chunky' or 'stout'. :)
- barking 8y ago
  I was thinking of chuck but you're right it was chet!
  - lb1lf 8y ago
    ...or Chester, as his aunt (I believe) insisted on calling him - probably the only person to use his given name! In retrospect (I read 75-80 Hardy Boys books as a kid, many of them over and over), it is amazing how formula-based the story trajectories were and how one-dimensional all the characters were. I bet with some practice, an author could churn out a book in the time it took me to read one.
- ubermonkey 8y ago
  That part always bothered me, since their portly chum and I share a name.
greggyb 8y ago
Is "sedan" really a throwback? This seemsa part of current vernacular to me, and I have lived in several different regions of the US.
- mixmastamyk 8y ago
  Maybe because everyone drives “SUVs” these days.
parliament32 8y ago
I didn't really think "sedan" was a throwback word... might be a local dialect thing but we use it often to differentiate between passenger cars: a 4-door is a "sedan" while a 2-door is a "coupe".
- ubermonkey 8y ago
  It's just really formal. Teens wouldn't use it, generally.

lowercased 8y ago

> They used terms like "jalopy" and "sedan". Etc. And Chet was rarely fat, but often 'portly', 'heavy-set', 'chunky' or 'stout'. :)

barking 8y ago
I was thinking of chuck but you're right it was chet!
- lb1lf 8y ago
  ...or Chester, as his aunt (I believe) insisted on calling him - probably the only person to use his given name! In retrospect (I read 75-80 Hardy Boys books as a kid, many of them over and over), it is amazing how formula-based the story trajectories were and how one-dimensional all the characters were. I bet with some practice, an author could churn out a book in the time it took me to read one.
ubermonkey 8y ago
That part always bothered me, since their portly chum and I share a name.

greggyb 8y ago

Is "sedan" really a throwback? This seemsa part of current vernacular to me, and I have lived in several different regions of the US.

mixmastamyk 8y ago
Maybe because everyone drives “SUVs” these days.

parliament32 8y ago

I didn't really think "sedan" was a throwback word... might be a local dialect thing but we use it often to differentiate between passenger cars: a 4-door is a "sedan" while a 2-door is a "coupe".

ubermonkey 8y ago
It's just really formal. Teens wouldn't use it, generally.