What is a short

we are having a conversation on another board. about what the word short means when talking about a car. someone heard it in a beach boys song. is it another name for hotrod? or what?

 

Ya, what does "wrapped up like a douche" mean? Deep thoughts....

 

The lyrics to Blinded by the Light (Manfred Mann) are actually "revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night."

 

Hmmm....I always thought it was "revved up like a deuce"....

sorry for getting off track..this has nothing to do with the original question.

Damn....someone beat me to it......

 

Your "short" was your ride....

 

My understanding from ancient times (and I'm pretty ancient, myself) a 'short' was a slang term for a car and interchangeable with 'kemp'.

 

When I was a kid it was a lowrider's car. As in:
"Charp Chort"- think Cheech & Chong...

 

Back in the 50'sit meant a nice looking, well built car. "Nice short man"

 

what he said! nice short man

 

It's like "Slow motion Walter, the fire engine guy"

 

of course what else could it say? especially to us HAMB"rs


oh, a short? thats where the smoke comes out.

 

Yeh, beach boys said it a few times.

It was a hip thing to say at the time, for something lookin' nice.

There are all kinds of crazzy words you don't hear now.

 

"Short" - applied to a car - got transferred from streetcar slang in the late 1800's when a streetcar was called a "short" because it was a short ride compared to taking a train. 15 minutes later cars came on the scene and they got called "shorts" too.

That's the official version. I always thought it was "short"er than walking.

"Car" of course, is an abbreviation of carriage.

 

My O.G homeboy ( right out of Pelican Bay) neighbor would always ask me to drive him to the store. "little homie.. could you drive me to the store?, We can take my short." His "short" was a sweet slammed '64 Rivi sitting on supremes.

 

Lol

 

.
"My short runs better, when it's clean"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8q2ejKAsHg


Lyrics to Upholstery : by Paul Williams
From the soundtrack of Phantom of the Paradise


Carburetors man, that's what life is all about
That's what life is all about, that's what life is all about
That's what life is all about, that's what life is all about


I was not myself last night lost a fight, my woody barely running
By a dude I should have beat, and on the street a blow like that is stunning

I finally lost control and tore my tuck-n-roll upholstery
Where my baby sits up close to me
That's supposed to be what our life is all about
Upholstery where my baby sits up close to me
That's supposed to be what our life is all about

Of all life's mysteries the greatest one I've seen
My short runs better when it's clean

I was not myself last night ran a light without my registration
Where the cops were bound to see and you know me already on probation
I wound up on parole I tore my tuck-n-roll upholstery
Where my baby sits up close to me
That's supposed to be what our life is all about
Upholstery where my baby sits up close to me
That's supposed to be what life is all about


repeat Chorus



.

 

Gosh ,I love to hear that word again "Short"!!!! Tom ( Tired Old Man)

 

I think it was california slang from at least the 60's.

My pops and uncle came to visit my great uncle in east LA in about 1963 from abq. NM. He was recently telling me thats when he first heard the term "short" to describe a lowered custom car etc..

 

Me too! Haven't heard that since the sixties in SoCal... Ya hep?

 

"Short"............back from the sixty's when first heard the word

 

If you guys don't just plain UNDERSTAND what a short is you probably don't know what "push water" is either....

 

"And little early pearly gave my **** curly wurly and asked me if I needed a ride"...?

 

Are you SURE of that? Sure doesn't sound like it in the song.

 

Short - just another way to say "shorty". Used in a sentence: Yo, bro i's have to slide by my Mama's crib and peek on my shorty before my baby's mama calls the 5 O and gets me jammed up for back child support!

Damn I need to move away from the hood!

 

wrong decade......

 

karakoe but it is wrapped up like a duce not revved up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w97UI4noFHE&feature=related

wrapped up like a duce http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcWVL4B-4pI&feature=related

 

Here are the lyrics to the song, it IS a Springsteen song, Manfred Mann actually changed the lyrics to "revved up" when he covered it, it is "cut loose like a deuce another runner in the night"

http://www.brucespringsteen.net/songs/BlindedByTheLight.html

 

maybe he's really talking about dropping a short deuce

 

A short? Thats what artillery do.

Doc.
(Its never fun)

 

Since songs are part of this topic, apparently...I'm sure you remember the song "I'm In Love With My Car" from Queen in 1977...this song doesn't have a damn thing to do with "short", but the video has great vintage racing footage from all kinds of different venues in it, plus it's a great song, too! Video at the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyiNh7NFlXM