In response to Sue McNaught: I'll knock on wood before I say this: I told my doctor last week that I was the only person I knew who hadn't had a cold or the flu in the last year. "Knock, Knock." Just today, I found a website that contained "Slang in the 1860s". 1. "That's a new dodge." - meant using clever or tricky means for your own gain. 2. "He's a bit of a swell," suggested the man was a showy, dashing, boastful person. 3. "I didn't give a straw what he thought." 4. "He's one of the big bugs." (big shots). 5. "It's all the rage." 6. "They had to rough it." 7. "I'm dead beat from working." 8. "Absquatulate", (I have no idea what that means!!) 9. "Go it while you are young, for when you are old, you can't." There are lots of expressions in an article entitled "By the Jumping Moses!" on a website called "The Curiosity Shop." Pat O'Neal