Underused but delightful, descriptive words

I expect, M0nica that some places may call the tines "prongs" but to me it sounds clunky.

If you are designing or working with forks you will call the very tip of the tines "points" and where they join onto the fork, "roots" - there are lots of parts to a fork I seem to remember - but like you, I haven't heard the tines (or points) called "prongs" so expect its localised.

I think the indents between the tines are called "slots" by the way - not a very nice description in my opinion, and too rigid.

We have long discussions about the 'tines' of forks in our household.

DD has a phobia about eating with a fork unless the tines run in an absolute straight line. Everywhere she eats, at home of away, the fork will be picked up and examined to see if the tines are absolutely straight. The fork will be rejected if they are not - and discussion ensues.

It would never occur to me to describe the 'tines' as prongs, those are something entirely different.

tines, of a fork.
a neighbour, with a catering background !, refused to believe this word existed, and rang her son to ask him.
she said they were prongs. i said that was the sharp end. the tine was the whole limb, as it were.
her son trained foreign business people in english usage.
he confirmed the word and its meaning.
she was a bit miffed.

Comely.

Fiddlesticks
Flummoxed
Furbelows
Fustian

Teeming (rain)

Bus conductor

Wireless, gramophone, railway station, eiderdown, mangle, telephone, locomotive, beat bobby, press stud.

peloothered ? would that be 'polluted' in a Dublin accent?

Exactly that, MissA! Silly and giggly!

Squiffy is a delightful word.
Inebriated in a silly way .

silverlining It’s a word that my Aunt used to describe her drunken in-laws! Ironically, despite Squiffy being my ‘name’, I don’t drink!

It's 'mortal" up here. I like it.

JamesandJon33

I like James Joyce’s peloothered for being drunk. Not that I ever use it

I’m a fan of ‘scuttered’ myself.

I like James Joyce’s peloothered for being drunk. Not that I ever use it

Squiffy, we used that to describe having had a bit too much to drink ….🍷

Squiffy 'tiresome' was a word I heard a lot as a child - as much for girls as boys - but I attended mainly girls-only schools.

MissAdventure

Stout.
My nan would say "You remember her; stout girl, used to work on the buses"

Oh yes, I remember different words being used for "fat"or "overweight" in my family, depending on the age and gender of the person under discussion.

Babies and small children were chubby.
Girls and very young women were bonny.
Boys and very young men were tubby or lardy.
Women over about 25 years were stout or matronly.
Men of more than about 25 years were stout, portly or, in extreme cases, fat.

Dunce
(Me with figures…)

Indisposed
This is what I am today. 😮‍💨

Tiresome. Often used by our headmistress about boys messing around! Never needed to use it for girls, of course! 😇😇😇

MissAdventure

Stout.
My nan would say "You remember her; stout girl, used to work on the buses"

A GM of mine used to say stout.
She was also occasionally vexed!

I’ve read ‘stout’ recently in The Forsyte Saga - one of the old sisters saying to a brother, ‘My dear boy, how stout you’re getting!’ 😂
(He wasn’t very happy!)

Oh take that horrid soup away!

That's the one.

It was The Story Of Augustus Who Would Not Have Any Soup (from Struwwelpeter I think??)

Bonny is a lovely word.

Stout reminds me of a children's poem about a stout boy and his soup, (I think!)
Augustus someoneorother?