+Postage Due+Disney-comics digest #132.

[Mattias Hallin]

"Barks' comic book language was not American 1950's slang and
idioms. It was the slang of the 1920's, Barks' formative years -- this
is the main reason his dialogue had such a unique feel to our 1950's
eyes. It was the talk of the "23 skiddoo", "O, you kid", "So's yer ol'
man" days -- the stuff that Barks and his buddies would speak around the
CALGARY EYEOPENER offices." says Don Rosa...

... who ought to know since he READ Barks already in the fifties; but I'd like
to add, anyway, that I don't think it's quite as simple as that: Barks ALSO
used more or less contemporary slang and expressions, like f'rinstance the
bereted and bearded person who says to Gyro "Man, man, Gyro! How come you dig
that weird jazz?" (or someting like that - it's a bother not to have one's
references handy here at work). However, I think Don's right in the sense that
when Barks wrote "natural" or "plain" dialogue - in a word, when he wrote what
felt natural to him - then it was twenties slang if anything. I also feel that
his attempts to move with the times, slang-wise, never gets the same smooth,
natural feel to it as his use of his "own" language does. But that's just my
opinion, folks...

Mattias Hallin