40 Wild West Slang Terms We Should Absolutely Bring Back

Piroot, honefuggle, skedaddle, prairie coal. Nope, we’re not talking gobbledygook. Back in the day, cowboys, gunslingers, and pioneers would’ve regularly thrown around this colorful Wild West slang. And wouldn’t it be a great idea to revive some of those terms? But before we do, it’s probably best we know what they mean. We don’t want to be looking stupid, now, do we?

Highfalutin

For someone out West, a wealthy dandy from the east with silvered pistols and a diamond tie-pin might well be seen as highfalutin. In other words, it was someone who was just a bit too fancy for their own good. And they likely had a rather high opinion of themselves as well. Probably just the sort of dude that a rough-tough cowboy would enjoy taking down a peg or two!

Airin’ the lungs

No, “airin’ the lungs” wasn’t referring to some kind of 19th-century aerobic workout. It actually meant turning the air blue with coarse and profane language. Definitely not something to be done in polite company! The term had a secondary sexist meaning, too, and was sometimes used to describe the prattling gossip allegedly indulged in by women. We prefer the cussing definition.

Pirooting

What on Earth was someone doing in the Old West when they were pirooting? Well, they were perhaps ambling around with no purpose and no particular place to go. Or they may have been sticking their nose in somewhere it wasn’t wanted. The Lexico website thinks that “pirooting” derived from “pirouetting” sometime in the 19th century.

Blatherskite

A blatherskite is someone who blabs far too much and talks a load of nonsense. It may have been a popular word in the 19th-century Wild West days, but its origins lie much further back in time. According to Merriam-Webster, the first recorded use of blatherskite dates back to around 1650.