1800s slang is as awesome as you think it'd be.

The 1800s were a crazy time. Crazy because we are now so far removed from it that even looking at a street with no cars makes you wonder how they ever got anywhere. Maybe a trip back in time would be best, but would you be able to understand them if you did? In case you ever get the opportunity, here’s a list of 1800s slang that you could use to fit in. Or if you’re a hipster, you can use these words to try and order a fair trade organic coffee.

1) Too high for his nut — beyond someone’s reach. “That clay-bank hog wants the same pay as a Senator; he’s getting too high for his nut,” according to a grammar-corrected version of the Oakland, Calif., Tribune on Jan. 12, 1885.

2) Bottom fact — an undisputed fact. “Notwithstanding all the calculations of the political economists, the great bottom fact is that one man’s honest, steady work, rightly applied, especially if aided by machinery and improved modes of conveyance and distribution, suffices to supply the actual needs of a dozen burdensome loafers,” according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of Jan. 31, 1871.

3) To be Chicagoed — to be beaten soundly, as in a baseball shutout. “Political corruption … if the clergy only keep to that topic, Lincoln will be Chicagoed!” from the Plymouth, Ind., Weekly Democrat of June 7, 1860.

4) See the elephant — to see all the sights of a town, especially the edgier aspects. “A young Sioux Indian from Haskell Institute … said he was going to Chicago to hunt buffalo. He was told there was no game of that kind there, but that if he wanted to see the elephant he was on the right track,” the Lawrence, Kan., Daily Journal reported on Sept. 2, 1891. Also sometimes used by members of the military to describe going to war.

5) How came you so — inebriated. Describing an illustration, a reporter in the Gettysburg, Pa., People’s Press of May 22, 1835, wrote: “A gentleman a little ‘how came you so’ with his hat on the back of his head, is staggering about in the presence of Miss Fanny, who appears to be quite shocked.”

6) Lally-cooler — a real success. “That north show window of Shute & Haskell’s is a ‘lally-cooler,’ ” the Jan. 4, 1890, Salina, Kan., Republican noted.

7) Shinning around — moving about quickly. “It is shinning around corners to avoid meeting creditors that is sapping the energies of this generation,” opined the Dallas, Texas, Daily Herald on Oct. 31, 1877.

8) Shoddyocracy — people who get rich selling shoddy merchandise or services. “A lady of the shoddyocracy of Des Moines found, on returning from a walk, some call cards on her table,” observed the Harrisburg, Pa., Telegraph of June 30, 1870.

9) Some pumpkins — a big deal. “If there was any kind of trading,” noted the Grant County Herald in Wisconsin on July 17, 1847, “in which Simon B. … flattered himself he was decidedly ‘some pumpkins,’ it was a horse-trade.”

10) Like Thompson’s colt — doing something unnecessarily, like jumping a fence when the rails have been removed. “Thompson’s colt,” a reporter in the Saint Paul, Minn., Globe of Nov. 20, 1882, wrote, “was such an infernal idiot, that he swam across the river to get a drink.”

11) Tell a thumper — construct a clever lie. “When anyone told a thumper more palpably outrageous than usual, it was sufficiently understood …” Reminiscences of the Turf by William Day, 1891.

12) Wake snakes — get into mischief. “So I went on a regular wake snakes sort of a spree, and I went here and there turnin’, twistin’ and doublin’ about until I didn’t know where or who I was,” a man testified in court as to why he was intoxicated, according to the New Orleans, La., Times Picayune of Aug. 15, 1842.

(Source: 12 Lost American Slangisms)