Obsolete words that shouldn't be

pickarooney wrote: »

It's also still used occasionally to describe something of questionable quality as "tuppeny-ha'penny". I love the sound of that.

That brings to mind a put-down I heard years ago: tuppence ha'penny looking down on tuppence.

Irish Stones wrote: »

Sennight could be a contraction of seven night to say a week.
In Italian "week" is "settimana", where it's easy to see two different words, "sette" (seven) and "mana" an old form for "day" (mane), so when we say "settimana" we know it's a seven-day time even if we don't think of its origin.
I hope I made myself clear

Sennight is from Middle English [senight, contraction of seveniht, from Old English seofon nihta, seven nights : seofon, seven.

tac, itself another contraction

Yakuza wrote: »

Here's another old measurement - the ell : it's about 45 inches (used to measure textiles). I came across it some 30-odd years ago when studying Romeo and Juliet for the Inter.

http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/romeo/T24.html (look for " ell")

League (3 miles) has all but gone out of usage in the context of distance too.

Here's another one that is still with us - fathom.

A fathom (abbreviation: ftm) = 6 ffet/1.8288 metres, is a unit of length in the imperial and the US customary systems, used especially for measuring the depth of water.

There are two yards (6 feet) in an imperial or U.S. fathom. Originally based on the distance between a man's outstretched arms, the size of a fathom has varied slightly depending on whether it was defined as a thousandth of an (Admiralty nautical mile - 5280 feet) or as a multiple of the imperial yard. Formerly, the term was used for any of several units of length varying around 5–5+1⁄2 feet (1.5–1.7 m).

The name derives from the Old English word fæðm, corresponding to the Old Frisian word "fadem" meaning embracing arms or a pair of outstretched arms. In Middle English it was fathme. A cable length, based on the length of a ship's cable, has been variously reckoned as equal to 100 or 120 fathoms. At one time, a quarter meant one-fourth of a fathom.
Abbreviations: f, fath, fm, fth, fthm.

tac

endacl wrote: »

My favourite definition of 'dram', as it relates to the Scottish variety of a certain fiery beverage is 'a measure that pleases both guest, and host'. I've no idea who coined this one though.

A measure that increases as the evening progresses, until the host realises the bottle is near empty.

My word for this thread is "yonks", as in an undetermined yet lengthy period of time. I haven't heard anybody say it in yonks.

What about the word 'kerfuffle'?

I tend to use it but don't hear it half as often as I used to.

Also, as an expression of exasperation I never hear the word 'Drat!' anywhere, even in England where I would have expected to. Same can be said for 'Golly!' as an expression of surprise, or it's close companion 'Gosh!'.

Also, there's a lamentable loss of diversity to describe personalities or characteristics of people.

I personally love but never hear:

scoundrel
rascal
ragamuffin

Instead, people use 'chancer', 'wideboy', or abusive words such as 'w*nker', 'd*ckhead', 'a*sehole' etc.

P. Breathnach wrote: »

It's interesting to note that all the words you list have negative connotations.

We also have wonderful positive words like "amazing" and "awesome" and ... and ... (well, there must be something else if only I could think of it).

The point I suppose I was trying to make was that these words, while negative, were not necessarily abusive but have have been replaced with far more rude and abusive terminology.

Another example which is not necessarily negative is 'scamp', as in 'mischievous scamp' which has generally disappeared and instead of being replaced by another word, the word appears now to be implied by using 'mischievous' in certain circumstances

A positive example of a positive word that is becoming obsolete is 'magnanimous' which is generally being replaced by 'generous'

pickarooney wrote: »

Definitely not obsolete. My mother thinks it's from the Irish 'bacach' but I'm not sure if there's anything to support that.

Support for her: http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/bockety.

Given that we all are familiar with these words and know their meaning, are they really obsolete or is it just that more common synonyms are deployed in their stead?

slowburner wrote: »

'The grape was fronent of the gripe'.
Heard 25 odd years ago near Dundalk.
Meaning, the pitch fork was next to the ditch/drain (I think).
...

Fair translation.

Very often people who use local or regional words do not know that they are not universal English. I told a group of people in the border region that graip was a local word and they did not believe me. I called a Tipperary man into the company and asked him if he knew what a graip was as an agricultural tool. He had no idea. One of the local lads described it for him and his response was "Oh! You mean a shprong."

slowburner wrote: »

A shprong, in my experience, was a customised fork, complete with barbs and sharpened tines.
It was exclusively used for the capture of salmon.
This illicit custom occurred around the end of November when the salmon were well inland on the spawning beds, and at their most vulnerable.
Whilst a horrendous act, in terms of conservation, those manly folk away from the coast seem to have felt (feel?) a duty to have a go at the landlord's fish.

Something like Neptune's trident, by the sound of it.

That's a word (or a particular use of a word) that we would like to see obsolete.

pickarooney wrote: »

I never realized until now that a sprong (no H) was not standard English. For me it's a 4 pronged fork with thin, curved tines for pitching (spronging) hay.

Oh! You mean a graip.

tac foley wrote: »

Ah! You mean, after the style of 'shoop shpoon'?

tac

Shtyle!

chickenbutt wrote: »

I've always used 'yea' in that context. It's very handy for measuring things in the air with your hands.

I rarely hear anyone say fortnight.

Nor will you, Sir. Most 'mercans have never heard the term.

tac

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

I can't say I've heard anyone my age using it (20s). People usually just say something like 'I dunno'.

You would only really use flummoxed or nonplussed when the solution to some problem has eluded your after a long pursuit, something really surprising happens which you can't explain or some other similarly extreme situation. They're superlatives so you wouldn't have cause to use them as often as "I dunno".

Yakuza wrote: »

Gustatory is still around as a fairly formal term for things related to the sense of taste.

As is gusto, from the same latin root.

I don't think Des was unaware of the meaning of the word. His response to Pat was the radio equivalent of a raised eyebrow.

I'd share Des's reaction. Spry was an odd choice of word in that context. Herself, whose interest in rugby is limited, remarked to me that she would never think of a rugby team (before, during, or after a match) as spry. Some individual players, Peter Stringer being the example who came to mind, might be so described.