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Flip side

Posted by Bob on November 19, 2003

In Reply to: Flip side posted by R. Berg on November 19, 2003

: : : What is the meaning and origin of "flip side"? Thanks.

: : It comes, I believe, from those old-fashioned things (pre-CD, pre-tape, pre-reel-to-reel, and pre-8-track tape) called records -- used to be played on record players. The disks have two sides -- on a 45 RPM disk, sides A & B. The song that the record company wanted to promote most heavily would go on the A side. So when a DJ played that side, he'd (they were always "he" back then) sometimes say, "And now on the flip side...", and play side B, the lesser known track.

: Oh, Lord, I'm getting old.

Me, too. Oy. There is another use of flip side, derived from the gone-and-best-forgotten CB radio fad of the '70s, (Do they still exist?) Long-distance truckers, and trucker wannabes, speaking from truck-to-truck. "Catch you on the flip side" was CB slang for "I'll contact you on the return trip" ... the metaphor of a record turning being applied to you trip from Point B back to A.

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