Things you should know by now, but only just discovered

vypre wrote:

I have worked in a technical field for almost 25 years and consider myself a computer power user, but I just accidentally discovered that Internet Explorer and other browsers can open more than one default page when you launch the browser.

...WHAT?!

(I mean, it makes sense, but it was never something I had considered before.)

I didn't know IE could, because I usually only used it to download Firefox and/or Chrome, but I knew that about the others.
Very handy. Now I wish tab session recovery was more standard.

I hardly ever close my browsers because every time I do I have to re-log into my password manager and it is annoying.

Firefox’s homepage has the quick links which I use all the time.

LeapingGnome wrote:

I hardly ever close my browsers because every time I do I have to re-log into my password manager and it is annoying.

Firefox’s homepage has the quick links which I use all the time.

Oh, I never do unless I need to restart for updates. I have tabs that I don't want to close in case I need them like potions in a video game.

I turned my PS4 slim upside down and discovered that not only does it have little stubby "legs," but that they are square-, triangle-, circle-, and x-shaped. I was delighted. It's only taken me about three and a half years to notice them.

Googling around, the consensus I found is that the phrase "rustle my jimmies" is only ten years old.

That doesn't seem right to me. Surely a phrase that sounds that old-timey has been around longer than ten years, right?

I think the point of it is that it *sounds* old-fashioned and harmless. But I can say I never, ever heard that growing up.

Well I'd think that jimmies could be derived from jimbrowski or jimmy hat which is slang from way back when (2005?) in rap for a penis and condom respectively. I surmise jimmies are probably testicles if we follow that reference.

Jimmies is a New England term for the kind of multicolored sprinkles you get on ice cream, doughnuts, cup cakes, etc. It goes back much farther than 2005. Sadly, in verifying that, I found that there's some controversy about whether the name arose out of a racist slur:

The Age-Old Question Of Whether Jimmies Are Racist

Evan E wrote:

Jimmies is a New England term for the kind of multicolored sprinkles you get on ice cream, doughnuts, cup cakes, etc. It goes back much farther than 2005. Sadly, in verifying that, I found that there's some controversy about whether the name arose out of a racist slur:

The Age-Old Question Of Whether Jimmies Are Racist

It only ever meant chocolate sprinkles when I was a kid, anybody who claims it includes colored sprinkles is a.) probably not from New England and b.) wrong. As far as whether or not it has racist connotation, I think it probably doesn't, but since other people view it as racist, I just say chocolate sprinkles now.

Clumber wrote:
Evan E wrote:

Jimmies is a New England term for the kind of multicolored sprinkles you get on ice cream, doughnuts, cup cakes, etc. It goes back much farther than 2005. Sadly, in verifying that, I found that there's some controversy about whether the name arose out of a racist slur:

The Age-Old Question Of Whether Jimmies Are Racist

It only ever meant chocolate sprinkles when I was a kid, anybody who claims it includes colored sprinkles is a.) probably not from New England and b.) wrong. As far as whether or not it has racist connotation, I think it probably doesn't, but since other people view it as racist, I just say chocolate sprinkles now.

I'm from NJ, and we definitely called sprinkles "jimmies". I honestly don't remember that being limited to only the chocolate ones, but I wouldn't swear to it.

My mother is from Ocean Grove, NJ, and called any color sprinkles "Jimmies". I heard that use all the time in Massachusetts in the 80's too.

BadKen wrote:

Googling around, the consensus I found is that the phrase "rustle my jimmies" is only ten years old.

That doesn't seem right to me. Surely a phrase that sounds that old-timey has been around longer than ten years, right?

It's a Tiffany Problem.

Let's say you're watching a movie set in the Middle Ages. The heroine is a beautiful, whip smart peasant woman. Which do you expect her name to be: Fiona, or Tiffany?

Probably Fiona! That's what I'd expect. Fiona conjures to mind any number of medieval stories, while Tiffany makes me think of Valley girls popping bubble gum in the '80s.

But I'd be wrong. The name Fiona didn't even exist in the medieval era. It wasn't invented until the 1760s. But Tiffany? That was a common medieval English name, typically given to girls born on Epiphany. It's hundreds of years older.

Anachronism goes both ways. Things that sound old timey are often modern creations that are simply meant to sound old.

As an amateur part-time etymologist (emeritus), word origins that pass around via word-of-mouth tend to do so because they're interesting, not because they're true, and this looks like no exception. C.f. "picnic", etc.

From poking around it seems that there are a bunch of theories for where "jimmies" comes from, but basically no evidence for any of them (which tends to be the case in ). But the "Jim Crow" thing seems bizarre even for a folk etymology...

I thought jimmies was slang for pajamas. As in Jimmie jams.

I’ve heard jammies, never heard jimmies.

I once knew an Irish lady who called me “Jimmy” because she couldn’t remember my name. She told me that it’s a custom in Ireland to use Jimmy when you didn’t know a blokes name. That’s the only time I‘d ever heard that though.

Hrdina wrote:

I'm from NJ, and we definitely called sprinkles "jimmies". I honestly don't remember that being limited to only the chocolate ones, but I wouldn't swear to it.

Also from Jersey and "Jimmies" referred to any of the sprinkles, not limited to just brown ones.

And "Boost" is The Best Drink Evah and not this:
IMAGE(https://www.boost.com/sites/g/files/lpfasj446/files/styles/289_x_289/public/2020-05/boost-products-menu.png?itok=_-xvfvWF)

However, if you say "Jimmies" here in Oklahoma, you will get blank stares.

-BEP

My (UK) family confirmes jimmies means pyjamas. Don't get your jimmies rustled is like saying Don't get your knickers in a twist.

strangederby wrote:

My (UK) family confirmes jimmies means pyjamas. Don't get your jimmies rustled is like saying Don't get your knickers in a twist.

Huh. I've heard the phrase, but always assumed jimmies meant testicles in it

strangederby wrote:

My (UK) family confirmes jimmies means pyjamas. Don't get your jimmies rustled is like saying Don't get your knickers in a twist.

Interesting. This leads me to believe that it actually is older than 2010.

BTW, Dictionary.com has an entry for Central Scot slang "jimmy" meaning "an informal term of address to a male stranger."

Anecdote: in So I Married An Axe Murderer, Mike Meyers' playing his character's father in the movie, an older Scottish man, uses the phrase "Sonny Jim" to refer to someone. Meyers has Scottish ancestors, though I'm not sure how far removed they are.

In many pages of searching, I haven't been able to find another reference for "jimmies" being British slang for pyjamas. I've found jammies of course, and jim-jams, but not jimmies.*

We may never know unless someone somewhere has done some research on usage in print...

* except on this UK student's forum, where a couple of responses say jimmies are pyjamas. A couple of responses also say they are condoms, but condoms don't really rustle, do they.

RawkGWJ wrote:

I once knew an Irish lady who called me “Jimmy” because she couldn’t remember my name. She told me that it’s a custom in Ireland to use Jimmy when you didn’t know a blokes name. That’s the only time I‘d ever heard that though.

BadKen wrote:

BTW, Dictionary.com has an entry for Central Scot slang "jimmy" meaning "an informal term of address to a male stranger."

Oh yeah. I bet she was Scottish. That happened like 30 years ago. Long term memory being what it is...

More evidence! Google Books result from Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, originally published in 1998, has this:

IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/dfh3PjZ/google-books-Cassell-s-Dictionary-of-Slang.jpg)

Several other slang dictionaries I found don't have that entry, though. And there's no mention of rustling.

Mike Myers parents were from Liverpool.

So we are all correct?

Everyone gets a prize!

bepnewt wrote:
Hrdina wrote:

I'm from NJ, and we definitely called sprinkles "jimmies". I honestly don't remember that being limited to only the chocolate ones, but I wouldn't swear to it.

Also from Jersey and "Jimmies" referred to any of the sprinkles, not limited to just brown ones.

And "Boost" is The Best Drink Evah

If you know what Boost (aka Drink-Atoast, aka Tak-Aboost) is, you're from the good part of NJ. We used to always have one of the big glass gallon bottles of syrup around the house.

My dad grew up in Riverside, home of Boost. I grew up 3 towns away. The inventor (Ben Faunce) is supposed to be a cousin of mine, although I don't actually have proof of that.

bepnewt wrote:

And "Boost" is The Best Drink Evah
-BEP

Is it similar to Moxie?

IMAGE(https://i.postimg.cc/65KTmf1F/838-DE223-5-DCE-4631-8744-8-FED9-BF89514.jpg)

Nah, Moxie is not a mix. It's a soda. Tastes weird, too.

If by "weird" you mean "horrible", then yes.

Robear wrote:

Nah, Moxie is not a mix. It's a soda. Tastes weird, too.

For those who don't venture up to the North Woods, think carbonated Robitussin (ROE-bee-tus-in).