Words going out of use

[Haitch]

Oh, and while we're on this topic: the increased use of "they" and "their" to refer to individuals. Yes, I know, English lacks a third-person gender-neutral singular pronoun, but even so...

Chaucer did that, and Shakespeare and that beardy bloke who dictated the Bible. Arrivistes the lot of them.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Oh, and while we're on this topic: the increased use of "they" and "their" to refer to individuals. Yes, I know, English lacks a third-person gender-neutral singular pronoun, but even so...

We could have gone down the route of using 'one' or 'ones' like the German 'man' and the French 'on' but it's too late now. One's missed the boat.

 

[rich p]

Bugbear, you say!

What a great site!!!
BTW, 'laptop' first appeared in 1980 when my girlfriend sat on it.

 

[Chromatic]

I received a compliment recently for referring to someone as 'an amiable looking cove'. I like using archaic expressions, particularly insults. I quite often call chaps binders, cads, and even rotters (tho' seldom 'absolute stinkers' - one has to draw the line somewhere).

Expressions for chaps which were common in my childhood - blokes, fellers and the like - all seem to be sliding into the abyss, leaving 'guys' as the one-size-fits-all, in much the same way our two-fingered salute has pretty much been replaced by the 'spin-on-this' finger. Damn country's going to the dogs, harrumph. And there's another you don't see a lot of nowadays. (Do people still say 'nowadays'?)

Bounder, surely?

 

[youngoldbloke]

I received a compliment recently for referring to someone as 'an amiable looking cove'. I like using archaic expressions, particularly insults. I quite often call chaps binders, cads, and even rotters (tho' seldom 'absolute stinkers' - one has to draw the line somewhere).

Expressions for chaps which were common in my childhood - blokes, fellers and the like - all seem to be sliding into the abyss, leaving 'guys' as the one-size-fits-all, in much the same way our two-fingered salute has pretty much been replaced by the 'spin-on-this' finger. Damn country's going to the dogs, harrumph. And there's another you don't see a lot of nowadays. (Do people still say 'nowadays'?)

Nowadays = 'at this moment in time'

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Crossbar. I always hear it called a top tube now.

GC

 

[rich p]

I received a compliment recently for referring to someone as 'an amiable looking cove'. I like using archaic expressions, particularly insults. I quite often call chaps binders, cads, and even rotters (tho' seldom 'absolute stinkers' - one has to draw the line somewhere).

Expressions for chaps which were common in my childhood - blokes, fellers and the like - all seem to be sliding into the abyss, leaving 'guys' as the one-size-fits-all, in much the same way our two-fingered salute has pretty much been replaced by the 'spin-on-this' finger. Damn country's going to the dogs, harrumph. And there's another you don't see a lot of nowadays. (Do people still say 'nowadays'?)

Going like the clappers is a nice old phrase I like to throw in oftentimes.

 

[User482]

'Problem' - replaced by 'issue'. 'About' replaced by 'around' As in: 'issue around' instead of 'problem about'.

Problems are just the pregnant mothers of solutions.

 

[swee'pea99]

Bounder, surely?

Not if you pronince it correctly...

 

[Chromatic]

Not if you pronince it correctly...

You wag! (Wag is another word rarely used these days)

 

[swee'pea99]

You wag! (Wag is another word rarely used these days)

I like to compliment my daughters by saying things like: 'Oh, you are a brick!' Stops 'em in their tracks. Until they come back with some equally deft response, such as: (eyes rolling) 'You're an idiot'.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Don't often hear 'chum' nowadays, or 'spiffing', or 'jolly', or 'husband' or 'wife', replaced by 'partner'. 'pupil' replaced by 'student'. Then there is overuse of words like 'environment', as in 'educational environment' (school), and 'engage' .........

 

[Ganymede]

Don't often hear 'chum' nowadays, or 'spiffing', or 'jolly', or 'husband' or 'wife', replaced by 'partner'. 'pupil' replaced by 'student'. Then there is overuse of words like 'environment', as in 'educational environment' (school), and 'engage' .........

I'm a great user of "chum", "spiffing" and "jolly". But I like some neologisms too, I'm not a verbal luddite.

My husband and I were discussing the word "soz" the other day - txtspk for "sorry" - and decided it was a really useful word which could be extensively freighted with meaning. "Soz" is like a slightly cheekier form of sorry, when used out loud, and we use it as shorthand for "sorry I did that thing that I probably shouldn't have done but which isn't that serious and which I know you will forgive me for". Usually accompanied by fond/roguish look. Suggested usage:

Me: where's the last choc? You ate it!
Him: soz! (subtext: you kinda knew I would and it's not the end of the world, I now understand that I am making the next cup of tea)

Inappropriate use:

1st person: you ran over my dog and killed it!
2nd person: soz
*wince*

 

[glasgowcyclist]

'Ingredients' seems to be falling by the wayside in favour of produce. Same goes for things grown or reared by farmers etc, they're not vegetables, crops or cattle but produce.

GC

 

[Fnaar]

'Ingredients' seems to be falling by the wayside in favour of produce.

And you now have to 'source' them, not just get them from Lidl, as I do when I'm cooking a posh meal.