Underused but delightful, descriptive words

J52 my Gamp has been used most days just recently. ☔

Brolly.

West country use of the word “maid” meaning young girl/woman

I often find myself in a fankle...

In the dim and distant past I would often be seen Haring down road, late for school.
Now I'm more of a potterer

Oh goodness. I grew up in a house with a pantry and scullery ( no fridge). Father wore a bow tie, galoshes in the wet weather. I had an eiderdown on the bed and a bolster,very lumpy .
The word I do dislike is egregious which I think some journalists have only just come across. Often found twice in the same paper.

Thanks ‘Wheniwasyourage’ you are right. I was an avid reader of Jennings books as a child., I still have a hardback copy in my bookcase. I will continue uttering Fossilised Fish-hooks!

Some of these now rarely used words are a delight to the tongue. Modern speech and literature contain a greatly diminished vocabulary. I rarely read Dickens these days but did for a book group choice recently and some of our younger members found they were flummoxed ( another rarely used one!) having to look up many words unfamiliar to them. I suppose there are as many new additions to the Oxford Dictionary as our language evolves and changes.

Slummock.

"Stop slummocking on my sofa.
If you're tired, go to bed!'.

Oh Gin Fossilised Fish-Hook brings back memories of me sitting by our huge radio listening to Jennings.

Yes, fossilised fishhooks def Jennings and Darbishire, as were frantic hooha and four miles a fortnight.

But has this thread gone astray somehow. Most of us use most of these words, or did in our youth (e.,g petticoat)

Halfslip.

Glorianny discombobulated is one of my favourites, along with the expletive "Oh Dam and fishladder" which I took from a directional sign in Pitlochry when we used to drive through there a lot before the A9 bypassed it.
Marydoll I had a friend whose house was called Serendipity. It was a happy find apparently.
What an interesting thread.

Chemise
Corset
Pensive
Lolling
Courting

Walking out.

My parents used to enjoy a sprot, I think it came from Gloucestershire, going out with no particular purpose.
I do enjoy a jaunt.

Witzend

Flappergirl you see plenty of brawn in France, either fresh or in jars. It’s called ‘fromage de tete’ (‘cheese’ of head). I’ve often brought some back for a dd who loves it.

I remember seeing halves of pigs’ heads in butchers’ shops windows back in the Dark Ages.
I dare say that nowadays all that goes into dog food.

Hi Witzend. Glad to hear I'm not the only one who loves brawn! I also like chitterlings, liver, kidneys and proper faggots with the cawl (sp?) casing. I was brought up on "peasant food" but so many people in the UK find it disgusting. The continentals still value it though.

petticoat
casement
candlewick
globes! (lightbulbs)
eiderdown
counterpane
stretch covers
antimacassers
percolator
spills

I have used six of these this week, SORES.
Re windborn - I have always assumed it was windborn*e* as in borne by the wind.

Also, coincidentally. today my daughter picked up her bolster (also from Dunelm) which she chose a few years ago (along with a fancy cover).

Flit.

Another word for ‘moving house’, don’t hear it much now.

“The neighbours are flitting tomorrow”.

And of course, a ‘moonlight flit’ was a quick getaway, probably owing rent.

Whimsical.

At a French speaking group I was trying to describe what the word meant and the native French speakers couldn't find a word in their language that translated, and they remained baffled.

I like capricious too, and funnily enough capricieux is how my French dictionary translates whimsical. They're not quite the same though. Pedant, moi? 😁

Lovely thread, thanks!

The weather lately,I need my mackintosh and my headscarf,my nylons were soaked and my girdle was uncomfortable as I was pushing my perambulator.

Did anyone else have a cubby hole?

Still have Allsorts, it's full of important stuff(junk)!

We had an under stairs. But my gran’s under stairs was called ‘the cwtch’.

slattern is the only word here that I don't think I've ever used - other than the bacon words (Roded, rhoded? and flitch) bacon...

Many of them I do still use. I was looking at an old chair yesterday with a view to recovering it and discussed antimacassers with my husband.

My daughter just built an extension and went to great lengths to try to include a pantry - though I know people who in my youth referred to ours as a larder. I think a larder is the colder one actually with a more stable temperature so really she should have built one of those I think.

We had a pantry in the house my parents built in 1950 which I grew up in. I have had them in three of our homes and in one farmhouse - which even had a "pump room" with a working pump. I don't think I've used the phrase "it's in the pump room" or similar since we moved out in 1977/78

Allsorts

Did anyone else have a cubby hole?

We had a glory hole, but it's meaning has changed since then!