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Words we don't use any more

(394 Posts)
Magenta8 Sun 10-May-26 16:52:51

I was thinking about words that my parents used that are not in common usage anymore.

The ones that spring to mind are; slacks (trousers), wind cheater (anorak), wireless (radio) and drawers (knickers).

I am sure there are many more and probably some interesting regional words that have fallen into disuse.

MissAdventure Mon 11-May-26 22:53:27

Carter Patterson. I've no idea what it was relating to, but it was definitely mentioned by my mum.
"Standing there like Carter Patterson...." or sonething

Oreo Mon 11-May-26 23:04:49

Never heard that one, have you tried googling Carter Patterson?

MissAdventure Mon 11-May-26 23:18:01

Its a road haulage firm .
I just googled it.
I think its when we asked mum to take us, or some stuff somewhere.

Casdon Tue 12-May-26 06:48:26

‘She looks like the back end of a bus’.
We were also told off for being chopsy if we answered back when an adult spoke to us.

JackyB Tue 12-May-26 09:36:38

I'm still working my way through the 9(!) pages of this thread but was surprised to see "shenanigans" and " pantry" listed as obsolete as I still hear them used plenty, by younger generations as much as anyone. Most American houses seem to have a pantry and they call it that. In the house I grew up in we had one but we called it a larder. Now that's a word no one uses much any more.

My grandmother used the word "stout" too, but it was something to drink!

The word that seems to really have gone out of fashion is "railway station" . It grates on me every time I hear it.

OK - back to reading the rest of the thread.....

Witzend Tue 12-May-26 09:42:53

Oreo

Batchelor and confirmed Batchelor ( sp?)
Antimacassar
Doily
In the buff
Up the duff

Some years ago my teen American niece (having heard it in a Yorkshire accent from a cousin) thought ‘up the duff’ the most hilarious expression ever, and vowed that she was going to popularise it across the pond.

JackyB Tue 12-May-26 09:49:24

So much to add!

My mother always used to say "five and twenty past* or * five and twenty to*. Of course, now I live in Germany, we talk like that anyway, but it was old-fashioned even in the sixties. We still sang "four and twenty blackbirds" though!

As for our grandchildren not knowing some of these old words, my grandson (11) amazed me when we were in a museum together by pointing out an anvil. I asked him how on earth he knew that word (especially as English isn't even his first language). The answer: "Minecraft"!!!

The word frock was frowned upon in our house when I was growing up. Our Dad was in the rag trade and I'm not sure if it was a trade tradition or if he personally just didn't like it. I find it an ugly word anyway, sounds like "frog".

Doodledog Tue 12-May-26 09:53:05

My husband referred to a ‘continental quilt’, and my children thought it was hilarious. The term has well and truly been replaced by ‘duvet’.

NotSpaghetti Tue 12-May-26 10:05:44

I still use "blowsy" with family - a blousey greetings card is the sort of Hallmark wordy sentimental sort and a blowsy woman is, in my mind fluffy-minded and superficial. Some too-frothy clothes may be blowsy too.
Men are not blowsy - but they could be dressed in a blowsy way. I'd probably say they were shallow - or superficial.

I do think that it was originally a different meaning - a female beggar.

Nanny27 Tue 12-May-26 10:30:07

Gumboots for wellies

Nanny27 Tue 12-May-26 10:43:43

My mum always wore a pinny when cooking

GoldenAge Tue 12-May-26 11:18:04

Magenta8 - you must be from Lancashire! All of those words were used by my grandmother and mother (born 1896 and 1926 respectively), and I still use wind cheater because that's what the jacket is supposed to do.

What's on the other side?
What station is it on?
Bloomers (knickers)
Bun in the oven (pregnant)
I've got my auntie (on a period)
I've got the painters in (on a period)
Spuds (potatoes)

skate Tue 12-May-26 11:28:12

"Oh my giddy aunt" said by my Dad in consternation about anything. I actually find myself sometimes saying it too.

Magenta8 Tue 12-May-26 11:28:54

Almost spot on GoldenAge. Although I was born and brought up in London. My grandmother born 1885 and my mother born 1920 both lived in Oldham until the whole family moved to London some time before WWII.

JamesandJon33 Tue 12-May-26 11:49:37

‘Well, I’ll go to thre foot of our stairs ‘ .
.’ To express amazement at something,

Cardamom Tue 12-May-26 12:01:23

"Put wood in'th 'ole" was regularly used in our house for shutting the door behind you.

Grammaretto Tue 12-May-26 12:11:32

I still call a duvet a puffin due to the fact that the first ones we had back in the early to mid 1960s were trademarked Puffin

Magenta8 Tue 12-May-26 12:53:39

Does anyone still have high tea? If I remember rightly it was a sort of lunch/supper, eaten late afternoon or early evening. A bit like brunch only at the other end of the day.

Nanny27 Tue 12-May-26 14:55:09

Magenta8

Does anyone still have high tea? If I remember rightly it was a sort of lunch/supper, eaten late afternoon or early evening. A bit like brunch only at the other end of the day.

Often served for children too young to stay up for dinner. My mum always called it 'nursery tea'

watermeadow Tue 12-May-26 17:58:14

We moved a lot when I was a child and things had different names in each new place. I wore sand shoes which became plimsolls then daps then pumps then tennis shoes and eventually trainers.
I wore home made frocks and so did my little girls in the 70s and 80s.

Rocketstop2 Tue 12-May-26 18:01:25

What about a 'Counterpane' on the bed ?!!

MissAdventure Tue 12-May-26 18:05:48

And a bolster.

indispensableme Tue 12-May-26 18:08:16

Standing there like one of Lockharts, meaning doing nothing useful.
Don't know who Lockhart was or even if that's how to spell it. This was in the North West.

indispensableme Tue 12-May-26 18:10:19

Magenta8

Does anyone still have high tea? If I remember rightly it was a sort of lunch/supper, eaten late afternoon or early evening. A bit like brunch only at the other end of the day.

Afternoon tea can morph into High Tea with the addition of a sausage roll and a piece of quiche.

MissAdventure Tue 12-May-26 18:10:39

A tit in a trance was one of my mum's oft used phrases.

Or "silly girl got none"