View Full Version : Flip and Ape


Scrabjan1
02-11-2014, 12:58 PM
I got the biggest kick out of June telling Wally not to use words like "flip" and "ape." Imagine if he used other words that started with an F and an A.

Same with some of the names they call each other. I thought it was really a riot in the one when Eddie Stays The Night when Wally goes to his house to tell him to come back and stay at their house. Eddie calls Wally a "miserable rat." Imagine what he would call him in 2014. I know you couldn't say that on TV back in 1963. Too bad you can say so much stuff now. I also liked Smelly Old Ape and Creepy Smelly Rat. I guess smelly was something you didn't want to be.
Rat Rat Rat.

MickeyMac
02-12-2014, 03:04 PM
The language was cleaner back then, sometimes for the better too.

Zinc2
02-15-2014, 02:14 AM
I like flip and ape too. Larry was the dumb ape pre-Pythias and sweet Linda Dennison was the cutest Smelly Old Ape I ever saw. Those words really fit the show. Through the years they have endured and probably are two of the many endearing trademarks of LITB.

Another ever-present clever word in the show was "squeal", along with it's variants "squealer" and "squealing". Even as a kid watching the show, I recall it's importance to the storyline.

As far as non-verbal trademarks for the show go, Wally's thin belts buckled to the side, Beaver's baseball hat, the chinoiserie print chair in the living room, and the three pairs of mounted antlers in the den come to mind. There are many, many more great ones---major and minor. Sure everybody has their favorites.

Cincy Guy
02-16-2014, 01:21 PM
One term used on the show in multiple episodes was "croaked" such as "they croaked a guy". Although that is easily understood to mean killed, I never heard that used in the late 1950's or early 1960's (the time frame of LITB) or in any years. I have heard the term "he croaked" meaning he died, but it was always "they killed a guy". I guess someone could croak on their own, but if another person was involved in the death, it was killed.

Scrabjan1
02-16-2014, 03:20 PM
I just heard Beaver use croak the other day. Beaver mentions in one episode how he likes Saturday night for TV cuz they have more killing on Saturday night than any other. They also used the expression conked out in Beaver's Pigeons. I think Wally uses conked out many times. I like when they use "things" on their face instead of pimples in an early episode. However Beaver does mention how he and Larry picked up some pimple creme for his sister.

Wally says the word "clop" when Beaver comes down with powder and cream on his face to hide his freckles. I always thought that was funny.