Etymology of old-fashioned phrases: 'old hat'

[chicken]

The other day at work, I referred to some programming practice as being "old hat" and my co-worker didn't know what this meant.

I have frequently been caught using old-fashioned phrases that make me sound like someone's grandma. This is because my parents were born during/before the Depression, and had me when they were in their late 30's/early 40's. So they use(d) phrases and vocabulary that were popular during the Depression and during WWII (and well before, because they speak they way THEIR parents spoke, turn of the century).

However, I just don't feel that "old hat" is really so "old"-fashioned. It seems very ordinary to me. However, I have no frame of reference, because I grew up hearing things that sound normal to me, and weird to other people my age.

Do other people have a familiarity with this phrase?

Is it truly old-fashioned?

Comments

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

You're just like my father -- he arrived in the US from China in 1938 when he was nine years old. Although some of his teachers in the elementary school in Canton also taught him some English, he likes to joke that he learned English mostly from movies (that's why sometimes it seems like he sounds a lot like Gary Cooper).