Talk Like a Happy Hollister
Impress your friends with these dandy new words, bits of classic 1950s lingo that you may not have heard in a long time . . . if ever! These words were really swell in 1953; impress your parents, grandparents, maybe even your great-grandparents, by making their old slang new again! (Page numbers in parentheses refer to the The Happy Hollisters (volume 1) paperback edition, unless noted otherwise.)
Bossy (page 146) When Farmer Hill offers Pete and Pam a glass of warm milk that he “just got from Bossy,” he doesn’t mean he got it from his overbearing wife. “Bossy” was a generic cow nickname back in the day when owning livestock was more common, just like “Fido” is sometimes used for dogs today. Cats were called “Tabby,” and “Dobbin” was a horse. And in case you’re wondering, Farmer Hill wasn’t offering to heat that milk up in the microwave – it was already warm because it came straight out of Bossy. Yum!
Calliope (page 84) Old-fashioned merry-go-rounds didn’t use recorded music like they do today. Instead, the music came from a band organ or calliope, a musical instrument with a keyboard that controlled about 30 steam whistles. A calliope has a very distinctive (and loud) sound, most commonly associated with circus music. The word means “beautiful voice” and can be pronounced kə-LYE-ə-pee or KAL-ee-ohp. Here is a website with some nice sample music, if you’d like to hear what a calliope sounds like: http://music.carouselstores.com/
Cellar (page 28) You’d think the Hollisters, living in quaint, suburban Shoreham, would have had a finished basement with carpeting, swag lights and a pool table, but Pete says they have a cellar, and he knows best. But a cellar is typically an underground storage area with dirt walls used to store fruit and vegetables, and it isn’t always directly beneath a house. The cellar is where Dorothy was headed in The Wizard of Oz, when she’s trying to pull open those big, heavy doors in the ground to escape the cyclone.
Crickets (page 61) Pete uses this as an exclamation of distressed surprise. Everyone thinks Pete is such a polite, clean-cut kid, but it turns out “crickets!” is actually pretty darn close to swearing! (Say it ain’t so, Pete!) “Crickets!” may be a shortened and cleaned-up form of “Jiminy Crickets!” a minced oath or euphemism for a two-word curse with the same initial letters letters. Jerry West was clearly up on his contemporary pop culture: the character “Jiminy Cricket” is familiar from Disney’s Pinocchio, and the phrase is also used by Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, when she is startled by the thunder and lightning inside the wizard’s chamber. It also was used in the 1930 film, Anna Christie, starring Greta Garbo. Her character’s Swedish father (see where I’m going with this?) uses the same exclamation several times. Maybe Jerry West, aka Andrew Svenson, heard the expression from his Swedish father, Sven Andrew Svenson, or from his even more Swedish grandfather, Carl Edward Svenson.
“Jiminy Crickets! I thought I told you kids to keep off my lawn!” (Carl Edward Svenson, 1850-1900)
Dandy (page 72) One of those squeaky-clean adjectives meaning “mighty fine” that the Hollisters are so fond of! See also keen and swell.
Drum majorette (page 70) This is a person who leads a marching band, usually carrying a baton. Just like a drum major, except a drum majorette is a girl.
Dungarees (page 82) In 1953, girls wore dresses or skirts most of the time, but a nice little girl would not clamber onto a merry-go-round wearing a dress. For special occasions, like a picnic in the State Park, she might be allowed to wear dungarees – heavy blue fabric fashioned into pants or overalls. You probably own a pair of blue jeans; pretty much the same thing.
Flapjacks (page 32) You might call them pancakes, griddlecakes, or hotcakes. Many of the Hollisters/Svensons actually prefer waffles.
Flashbulb camera (page 110) Not so very long ago, before digital cameras with automatic flashes, there were instant film cameras, also known as Polaroids, and they were the cat’s pajamas. (See dandy, keen and swell.) Since Mr. Hollister was an inventor, he probably enjoyed having all the latest high-tech gadgets. These fancy cameras had special photo paper inside that developed right inside the actual camera, without darkroom processing, negatives, printing and all that. The flashbulb was single-use and looked just like a very small light bulb.
Frankfurters (page 91) A frankfurter is a sausage made of beef or pork, originally made in the city of Frankfurt, Germany. You could say it’s the same thing as a hotdog, but Mrs. Hollister did not simply pick up a package of hotdogs at the grocery store. She would have made a special trip to the butcher. There she would have purchased a “string” of linked frankfurters which she would separate with a knife or scissors. You really don’t want to know what that “string” is made of. Trust me.
Gay (page 34) It means happy.
Giant Steps (page 93) This is a game similar to “Simon Says” or “Mother May I?” One child stands at the finish line and acts as “it.” The remaining children line up at the starting line and advance toward the finish line by asking permission to move a certain number of steps. The child acting as “it” may allow or deny the movement, and if movement is made without permission the offending child moves back to the starting line. This may explain why the Hollister children were so well-behaved, since games of this type may have been created originally to reinforce proper manners.
Golly (page 77, Volume 3, Sea Gull Beach) A simple little interjection? Not really – it’s a euphemism for “God” dating back to the late 1700s. It was very popular in the 50s and 60s – remember Gomer Pyle?
Jeepers (page 99) Another exclamation of shock or surprise, and probably one of those handy minced oath euphemisms (see crickets). “Jeepers Creepers, Where’d You Get Those Peepers?” Thanks Harry Warren, Johnny Mercer, and Louis Armstrong!
Jiffy, in a (page 82) Really fast.
Keen (page 107) Another good old-fashioned adjective in the dandy and swell group, another way to say something is really great or interesting.
Knolls (page 90) People just don’t use poetic words anymore; this one means small hills, but it sounds much prettier.
Lapland, Lapp children (page 95) Lapland is a region of northern Europe including parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula. The Lapps are the nomadic reindeer herders of the area, who now prefer to be called the Sami people. Andrew Svenson loved to travel, especially to exotic locations like Lapland, and often worked his destinations into stories to make them more educational.
Laundress (page 46) Donna Martin’s family had a laundress, a woman hired to wash and iron the family clothing and linens. Elaine Hollister was a stay-at-home mom extraordinaire who managed her time well enough to do her own cooking, cleaning, and laundering, with time left over for occasional mystery solving.
Midget auto racers (page 85) These are gas-powered carts operated on a track, usually seen in amusement parks. Andrew Svenson loved auto racing, and developed the plots and outlines for The Wynn and Lonny Racing Series by Eric Speed. His sons Andy, Jr., and Eric Svenson (Pete and Ricky) are remembered fondly by their families for their love of cars, especially fast ones. Even today the Svenson boys (and some of the girls) are into fast cars, motorcycles and racing. Andrew Svenson would be thrilled to know that two of his grandsons are currently active in the auto racing business.
Monkey’s uncle, I’ll be a (page 111) This is an idiom used to express surprise that something unexpected has occurred or turned out to be true. The State of Tennessee v. Scopes (the Scopes Monkey Trial, 1925) was still fairly fresh in people’s minds in the 1950s, so this phrase was much more common then than now.
Nifty (page 99, Volume 3, Sea Gull Beach) Once upon a time “nifty” meant stylish or clever, but in the Happy Hollisters it could probably be substituted for “swell.” It may have started out as a shortened form of “magnificent.” It’s still a pretty nifty little word.
Peddler (page 134) A door-to-door salesman. Back in the 1950s there were a lot of people who went around neighborhoods selling things: books, vacuum cleaners, brushes, even food. Today’s young readers may be surprised at the ease with which Holly talks to a stranger at their doorstep, and how Mrs. Hollister buys strawberries from him without any hesitation. People were much more trusting back then!
Pell mell (page 92) Pam runs pell mell, trying to catch the dog that has run off with her string of frankfurters. That is to say, she runs frantically after him. Such action is generally ill-advised, but it’s better than the dog running pell mell after her. That doesn’t happen until the next page.
Phonograph, record, needle (page 117) A phonograph is an electrical device that produces sound by means of a needle being rotated against a flat vinyl disk. This disk or “record” is 10-12” in diameter, embossed with grooves in which the needle tracks from the outside to the center, producing the recorded sound. This may be hard to imagine if the only music you have ever heard has come from an iPod.
Poke bonnet (page 113) If you’ve watched Little House on the Prairie or visited Colonial Williamsburg, you’ve seen ladies wearing one of these – a hat with a protruding brim in front, designed to shade a lady’s face from the sun or perhaps from the unwanted gaze of a man. It was also large enough in the back so that all the hair could be “poked” inside, and usually had a cloth strip or ribbon to tie underneath the chin – which would be helpful if you expect a cat to walk in a parade wearing a hat.
Prowl car (page 176) This is just another name for a police or squad car, but calling it a prowl car makes it sound so much more furtive and mysterious!
Queer (page 89) Something that is queer is very odd or unusual, and may come from the German word quer, which means slanting or oblique. At last, a chance to use my German degree!
Roly-poly (page 33, Volume 2, River Trip) Sue Hollister’s little friend Stevie is roly-poly, which sounds a little pudgy, but “roly-poly” is much more fun to say!
Shinny (page 84) This word is often confused with “shimmy.” Ricky climbed the merry-go-round pole by shinnying, which means he gripped the pole with his hands and legs and pulled himself up. If Ricky was “shimmying” he would have been doing a 1920s dance move characterized by rapid shaking. And his merry-go-round ride really would have been quite a sight to see!
Station wagon (page 12) and tailboard (page 18) If you look closely at the illustrations, it appears that the Hollister family drove a wood-paneled station wagon, sometimes called a “woodie.” In 1953 that was a mighty keen car, one that every large suburban family would have coveted. The station wagon was the forerunner of the SUV: a car with a third seat or a large storage area in the back. The rear door, also called the tailboard or tailgate, folded down – why do you think it’s called a “tailgate” party at a sporting event?
Swell (page 80) If one adjective is most often associated with the Hollisters, it would be “swell,” a most excellent, wonderful, and wholesomely awesome word.
Texas Ranger (page 83) When Mr. Hollister “flung himself up onto his steed as if he were a Texas Ranger,” you may have pictured a baseball player jumping on a horse and didn’t think that made much sense. And it doesn’t really: the baseball team didn’t even exist until 1972 (although I’m sure there are some baseball players that are also fine horsemen). The reference makes a lot more sense if you know about the Texas Rangers, the oldest group of law enforcement officers in the United States. Picture mounted police with cowboy hats and spurs. There were Rangers even before Texas became Texas, and if you picture Mr. Hollister as one of those, you could probably imagine a very distinguished horseman, even on a carousel horse. http://www.texasrangers.org/The%20Rangers.asp
Tourist camp (page 13) Travelers these days are familiar with hotels and motels: a hotel usually has a lobby and interior rooms; at a motel you drive right up and park in front of your room’s door. A tourist camp is much more quaint version of a motel, usually in the middle of nowhere, and each guest/family has their own little house or cottage.
Tutti-frutti (page 65) At a good old-fashioned ice cream parlor, this would be ice cream flavored with chopped nuts and candied fruits – fruitcake without the cake. And it makes a perfect name for a cat with mixed colors – but if Tutti-frutti was a calico, why didn’t they just name it Callie, a beautiful name (see calliope) which incidentally was also Frank Hardy’s girlfriend’s name.
Wild goose chase (page 78, Volume 2, River Trip) The Happy Hollisters go on a lot of wild goose chases throughout the series – pursuing clues that lead nowhere or simply don’t pan out. The historical origin of this phrase is very interesting: “Englishmen in the late 16th century invented a new kind of horse race called the wild-goose chase in which the lead horse could go off in any direction and the succeeding horses had to follow accurately the course of the leader at precise intervals, like wild geese following the leader in formation. At first the phrase ‘wild-goose chase’ figuratively meant an erratic course taken by one person and followed by another; Shakespeare used it in this sense. But later the common term’s origins were forgotten and a ‘wild-goose chase’ came to mean ‘a pursuit of anything as unlikely to be caught as a wild goose,’ any foolish, fruitless, or hopeless quest.” From the “Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins” by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).
Yikes (page 91) An all-purpose exclamation of surprise or excitement, and a favorite expression of all the Hollisters.
Zowie (page 113) Those Hollisters sure were an excitable bunch! This is another exclamation similar to “wow!” used to show surprise or delight.
Gee whiz, I’ve been talking like a Hollister all my life! I wonder why!
Pam Hollister (Laura Svenson Schnell)
Kind of funny. I had a major crush on you, (Pam) when I was a kid! I started collecting the books as an adult so I could retreat to a simpler time every now and then, but just discovered this web site! So cool to know you are a real, swell person! Crickets!! (Can’t wait to tell my wife!)
Crickets! What a swell idea. On May 8th – everyone else will be talking like me! I think that’s just dandy!!!!!!
Yikes, this reminds me how old I am since I remember too many of these! Just remembered my sister Paula sent me a very fashionable, Yardley yellow poke bonnet from Saks Fifth Avenue years ago–bet they don’t carry those any more, eh? Dungarees were also pretty cool because Nancy Drew & Trixie Belden wore them on their many adventures. Now we have skinny jeans instead (OK by me)!
Zounds! I’d forgotten all about that swell gift I sent you… as I recall now, you looked quite fetching in that poke bonnet! Having grown up on Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew, it’s a delight to have a family connection to Jerry West. I still love a good mystery, thanks to Jerry.
I think it’s really swell that May 8 will be a day that encourages everyone to talk like a Hollister. When I got the email I hurried pell-mell to my webpage to post that information. What a dandy idea!
Zowie! What a perfect date to honor Jerry West, a.k.a., Andrew Svenson. Gosh, that’s really a grand idea. I’ll toast to that – with an Egg Cream!
Thanks for helping us spread the word, MamaRuth! It was a fun celebration of simpler times, and we’re already looking forward to Talk Like a Happy Hollister Day for 2012!
I’m sorry I missed the special day, but I talk like that all the time anyway. I’ve been a fan of the Happy Hollisters since the sixties.
Thanks for giving my love of reading such a swell start.
Carolyn, thanks for joining us! We’ll celebrate Talk Like a Happy Hollister Day again next year, and hopefully have a lot more people using all those keen phrases and expressions by then. It’s wonderful to hear that you talk like that all the time! Thanks for being a long-time fan!
I always thought the word “keen” was wonderful! Especially when Pete said it, as he was my favorite character in the books!
That would make the real-life Pete (Andrew Svenson, Jr.) very happy. He was very keen himself!
There is something to be said for some of these outdated words and expressions. As a high school teacher I would much prefer that the students say “crickets” instead of some of the more “colorful” vocabulary that they use in the hallways!
I love the manners of the Hollister children! This too seems to be a lost art in today’s society. I do hope that these books once again reach the popularity that they had in the 50′s & 60″s. There are some great things to be learned and shared in the Happy Hollisters series.
Bless you & your family for bringing them back!
Thanks Jim! We wish everyone talked the way we do!
I was 7 when I was given Sea Gull Beach, and in those days I read the books I owned over and over again. (Wasn’t it clam pie that they were served? Very exotic to a kid in suburban Chicago.) The word I remember best is “vehemently,” which was used to describe how Pete and his buddy Dave Mead often spoke. (I misread it as “vehemenently,” so that 50+ years later I have to check myself on it.)
In the mid 60′s I wrote to “Jerry West” to suggest that the characters be allowed to age and that there be references to current events. (I recall mentioning the singer Rita Pavone–now, that was a brief blip on the pop culture radar.) “Mr. West” responded with a typed, full-page letter explaining why the Hollisters were unchanging. It was personalized stationery, postmarked New Jersey but witout a return address (I don’t think.) Not until I found your website did I know his real identity. A decades-old mystery solved!
I’m grateful for the hours of good reading that the Hollisters’ adventures provided.
I loved these books as a kid. I read a lot of them but have no idea if I read them all or not. The word I picked up from this series and used all my life was Yikes.. I was born in 1974 so I didn’t read therm new but I did read at least many of them. I never had a complete list of books as a kid to know if I had read them all or not. So I would just have to read them as I found them.
Timothy, thanks for writing! We think “yikes” is a terrific word and still use it frequently at our house!
We plan to reissue all 33 volumes in paperback and eBook, a few each year, so maybe you will get a chance to re-read them all in order now that you know where to find the list of titles!
Thanks for sharing your memories with us!
Elaine
I was a “member” of the book club, Doubleday I think, that sent out four books a year – I remember being so excited when a new book would show up and read them over and over! Cleaning out my parents’ house, I found them again – I kept one or two (Missle Town Mystery!) and passed the rest on the local church that collects books for charity. I’m excited that they’re being re-released in eBook format – I bought the first one today for my iPad! Along with my mother’s copies of Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins and Cherry Ames, these books DEFINITELY fostered my life-long love (addiction, actually!!!) of books!
Best,
Nanette
Gloucester, MA
I’m just wondering… Andrew Svenson’s pseudonym of “Jerry West” was assigned before the basketball player of that name achieved any notoriety. Was there ever any confusion arising from the use of the pseudonym? Did the basketball player ever meet Mr. Svenson? Are there any known connections?
Hi David,
Those are interesting questions, particularly since Jerry West the basketball player has a new book out this year:
http://www.amazon.com/West-My-Charmed-Tormented-Life/dp/031605349X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322784819&sr=8-1
As far as we know there was no confusion between the two. The basketball player would have been 15 when the first book came out, so he was a bit older than the target audience. We don’t think they ever met, but that sure would have been keen!
Thanks for writing,
Elaine
Growing up in a low-income housing project on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, I simply loved The Happy Hollisters series as a kid. It projected a wholesome world which I knew was out there, but beyond my reach.
That’s one of the best things about books — they can transport you to different worlds, and show you new possibilities! I’m glad your memories of the Happy Hollisters have stayed with you over the years!
Same for me, Mark. I just recently realized, after nearly 38 years of marriage, that I wed a “Hollister” — Jim’s dad owned a hardware store, he has 4 sibs, they went on camping trips and traveled a lot, and his parents love each other and were good to their kids. The books set the stage for a family life that I didn’t know in reality, but gave me something to reach for. Thank you, Andrew Svenson!
I LOVE The Happy Hollisters Series!!! My mother got the books as a kid and passed them on to me to read. Even now, some 15 yrs later, I still say keen and crickets whenever I get the chance:)
That’s swell to hear, Bonnie! Did you know that we have proclaimed May 8 “Talk Like a Happy Hollister Day” in honor of author Andrew Svenson’s birthday? So you can talk like that all day long with good reason!
I loved The Happy Hollisters series when I was a kid. Thank you so much for bringing them back! Sorrry I missed May 8th, but I talk like Hollister pretty much all the time anyway!
There’s nothing wrong with having “Talk Like a Happy Hollister Day” every day!
I think I was in sixth grade, in the early 1970′s, when I bought my first two Happy Hollisters – the first one, and Monster Mountain – at a flea market on the military base at Landstuhl, Germany. I still have them (as well as the rest of the series, most with dust jackets, she said proudly).
I’m a school librarian, and now that I know the books are being reprinted I’ll be buying them for my school library. Coincidentally, when I did a survey of our teachers asking what their favorite books had been when they were little, one replied “The Happy Hollisters.” I just sent her a link to this site.
(And *my* students know what a record player is because I have one in the library and play it, just so they’ll know what it is!)
: )
Thank you, thank you, thank you! for sharing The Happy Hollisters with your students (and sharing our website with the teachers you know)! Word is spreading that The Happy Hollisters are back, thanks to fans like you.
That’s interesting that your first two Happy Hollisters were purchased in Germany — did you know they were also published in German, as Die Froehlichen Falkenbergs?
Thanks for sharing your story with us!
Elaine
I said it before, on the “Guestbook” page, but I might as well say it again; “crickets” is NOT, as far as I know, a Swedish swear-word. And I’m Swedish, I ought to know ! There are many strange expressions in our beautiful language, but I’ve never heard that one before.
Zowie! I have seven or eight Happy Hollister books from my parents when they were growing up (in the ’60s) – I still read them, and I’m 18 now! I remember reading the afterword of another of my favorite childhood stories (Edith Pattou’s ‘East’), and discovering that one of the inspirations for it was the Hollister stories. I was shocked and elated to find out that I was not the only person in the whole wide world who not only read about, but adored, the Hollisters. The Hollisters and the Bradys are part of the reason why I think it would be just swell to have a big family
Lots of love,
Sophie
That’s great, Sophie! It’s very nice to hear that The Happy Hollisters appeal even to an 18-year old! You’re definitely not alone — if you’re on Facebook, be sure to check out our page (facebook.com/TheHappyHollisters) where we often post photos of the Svenson family that inspired these books.
Thanks for writing.
I have all the Happy Hollisters books; loved them as a child. It showed me a family where the parents loved each other and everyone was emotionally healthy. In my 30s, I got to go to Denmark on a business trip and I took my “Little Mermaid” Hollister book with me, visited many of the places in the book — Tivoli Gardens, Grundtvig’s Kirche, etc. But the best part was pulling up in the tourbus to the statue of the Little Mermaid in the harbor — like on the book jacket. “Oh, look!” I exclaimed excitedly to my husband. “The Hollisters were here! Oh, wait ….” When we got back, I wrote to “Jerry West” at Doubleday. They forwarded my letter to his widow, who forwarded it to “Holly.” As it happened, we corresponded, and a few years later (1994) I got to bring my kids to visit her in Scituate, where I learned that the family really WAS that adventurous and loving. I’ve since lost touch … I hope she’s okay ….. the books were a huge blessing in my life and gave me something to aim for when I started my own family.
Michele,
Thank you so much for sharing your memories with us! “Holly” and her family are still as adventurous and loving as you remember, and we’ll pass on your greetings to them!
We’re delighted that you’ve found our website and reconnected once again!
Jerry West was the only author who got a fan letter from me when I was a kid. He wrote me back too! I loved the series and I’m so glad to see them coming back. Hope they all eventually come back as nook ebooks so I can escape back to happier times when I need to. I talk like a Hollister all the time; get teased about it too!
Susan,
Thanks for sharing that memory of Jerry West! Andrew Svenson loved getting fan mail, and was adamant that each child receive a personal reply. At one point he sent a letter to Doubleday, politely reminding them to forward his fan letters promptly so that children were not left waiting too long for an answer!
Do you by any chance remember what year you wrote your letter? We don’t have all the correspondence he received, but we do have a large stack of original letters he received over a period of several years — maybe we can locate yours! If you’d like me to look, please feel free to send me an email, with as many details as you can recall, to HollisterFamily@aol.com.
At any rate, we’re glad to hear that the books provide you with happy memories!
The first letter I ever wrote was to my grandmother. I was five years old, and it was a thank you note for a gift she had given me. The gift was 4 Happy Hollister books, and the letter said ” crickets! Those were good books! Thank you very much”.
It’s a wonderful feeling to see my children’s faces light up at the adventures of our favorite detective family. Even my two year old will bring me whichever book we are reading and ask for more ” Hoppister Hollisters”
These books were very important to me. The characters were very much my second family. Can you tell me which of the Hollister kids are still living? Thank you for publishing the books again. Even though I have them all I like knowing you are making them available !!!
I am a 7th grade English teacher. I have a lifelong love of reading and it all started with the Happy Hollisters! I loved these books, and I believe I read every one.
We’re so happy you found us, Randy, and it’s wonderful to hear that your love of reading started with these books!
What a boffo page! I’ve blogged a link to it. I use almost all of these–the exception being “poke bonnet”–pretty often, really. I wanted to note that the Disney “Snow White” has “Jiminy Crickets” in it, and the same expression is in the movie of The Wizard of Oz; I believe it is not in the book, since Baum’s book was earlier than that usage.
Zowie! The mother lode here… how fun to relive some of these memories; I was lent many of these (the original red-bound hardcovers) in the early seventies by an older woman than my mom whose kids had grown but she wanted to keep them for her grandkids. I had permission to visit her attic with wonderful old boxes of books and pick out a couple every so often. The Happy Hollisters was one of the first series I remember reading on my own, probably around age 6 or so – my mom had borrowed a few to read to me, and started the first one… and came back the next day to find I couldn’t wait for the next chapter and had finished it. Flash forward to my now 5 year old daughter, and I went looking for them online only to find your great reference page. Being sentimental I may try to find the original red-backs used – but I suspect I may have to get the kindle versions as well! Thanks for re-releasing them – I’d never actually seen any around, unlike the ubiquitous Hardy Boy and Nancy Drews until I thought to google for them. Glad to hear they aren’t “lost”… now I’m going to have to go look up Danny Dunn and Tom Swift and Trixie Belden too