Old Expressions

I was watching an old movie, The Strawberry Blonde from 1940, starring James Cagney, Rita Hayworth and Olivia de Haviland, Alan Hale and Jack Carson. Set in the early 1900's, it had some expressions that I had never heard before and some that I had forgotten.

At a bar a man was telling a tall tale. Another guy told him, "Leave that bull tied outside."  That was a new one for me. What a great way to tell someone he's "full of it."

At another place, Cagney was telling his father he was a wimp but he used the word, pussy. That one surprised me - used in 1940.

Imagining a blind date, Cagney said she's probably "a crow." I had never heard that term used to indicate an unattractive person.

The one I had heard before but not for a long time was, "I love my wife, but oh you kid!" And of course, "Twenty-three skidoo."

One of my parents friends used to tell me, a nosy kid who often asked him where he was going, "I've got to see a man about a dog."

My mom saw young boy riding a bicycle and said, "He certainly is a tow-head." In my mind it was "Toe head" and I tried to see if his head was shaped like a toe.

"Hold the phone" was another common exclamation I heard a lot.  Then my dad used to say our small bathroom was "Not big enough to cuss a cat in." I thought cuss was a bad word so when I told my cousin I said catch. When you think about it, that doesn't make any sense at all; well either version, actually.

Is this what you call a stream of consciousness?