What odd or old-fashioned words..

[iggbees]

bed clothes (linens/blankets)

i actually say this all the time and the first time i did my boyfriend was like "WHAT the heck are those??" i'm only 26, but i think i picked up the phrase from my grandparents.

 

[caytlyn]

To go and do the "marketing" and my grandmother would always sit down to watch her "stories" meaning the soaps. lol

 

[Liberty Belle]

My granny used to say hassock instead of foot stool or ottoman, davenport for couch or sofa, computer instead of calculator, bedclothes for sheets/blankets (I still say it and it bugs my husband), oleo for margarine...I'll have to keep trying to think of others.

 

[ms.yt]

This may be more common than I realize, but I've always thought it was odd that a few older people I work with use the word "made" when referring to a person's profession. Example: "Did you hear that Sally Smith's daughter made a doctor?" or "I didn't know that he made a teacher."

 

[Liberty Belle]

This may be more common than I realize, but I've always thought it was odd that a few older people I work with use the word "made" when referring to a person's profession. Example: "Did you hear that Sally Smith's daughter made a doctor?" or "I didn't know that he made a teacher."

I've never heard that before.

 

[emma'smom]

Tardy for late
Take the paper (instead of get the paper for delivery...ie. "We take the New York Times, but we don't take the local paper."
The World Wide Web
Circular (for weekly ads in the paper)
John for bathroom

 

[NJFabFour]

bellyaching (complaining)
parson (pastor)
the show (movies) i.e. "Let's all go to the show on Saturday"

HaHa! If I had a dime for every time I was told to "quit your bellyaching!" Oh, takes me back!

My DH still says billfold for wallet!
"Honey, go get my billfold and take what you want!"

Yep, Dad still calls his a billfold! Too funny!

My great-grandmother used to say "Oh, sugar!" when upset.

Dad used to tell us to use "sugar" too or "Oh, noodle!"
QUOTE]

filling station instead of gas station

DH has used this for as long as I've known him (and he's only 40!) . . . I keep telling him that no one says it anymore but I guess some habits are too hard to break!

How about a "hankie" that Dad used to keep in his back pocket . . . oh Lord, how did I ever survive in that house?!

I can think of all kinds of regional differences (having moved East from the Midwest) but no other "oldies" come to mind! Great thread though!

 

[Becky2005]

i actually say this all the time and the first time i did my boyfriend was like "WHAT the heck are those??" i'm only 26, but i think i picked up the phrase from my grandparents.

I did that to my DH when we were first married. He told me once "I washed the bed clothes" -- I just looked at him like he was an alien & had no CLUE what he was talking about. It was quite the humorous event as he couldn't understand why I had no clue what he was talking about. He thought it was pretty obvious.

Then again, although I don't think he's *that* old but he likes older language & enjoys reading things written in Old English style he calls it, so he will throw things in like that to mess with my mind.

Of course, he also jokingly called me "in the family way" when pregnant. I hadn't heard that one before either. He usually ends up doing a lot of explaining at times & then just goes "if it happened before 1980 you have no clue".

 

[Mrs.Milo]

I remember my Mom saying "across the water" meaning Europe.
And "pull the door together" instead of close the door. She grew up in southerm WVA.

 

[IDoDis]

"Tablet" for notebook.

This word (tablet) was used in a question on the standardized test last spring for my 4th grade students. The kids asked me what it meant, but I couldn't tell them. Needless to say, they all got the answer wrong because the term "tablet" was used in the question instead of "notebook." If the question had used the word "notebook" then the kids would have understood the question and most of them would have gotten it correct. I figured an older person had written that question.

I think that question should have been thrown out.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

hankering - craving
reckon - remember
Critters - animals
Your a pill - "different"
peachy keen and ducky
juvenile delinquent
Put up your dukes - fighting words
In a funk - a little off
For Pete's Sake - for goodness sake
Mercy Maude - for goodness sake
Hullabaloo - chaos
Shindig - big tadoo
In a pickle - trouble

 

[NHdisneylover]

I am abslolutely stunned by how many things I say (and my kids say) that are popping up on this list Maybe Becky2005 is on to something--DD and I read a LOT of things from a bygone era and maybe we are picking things up unconciously.

My grandmother used to call her purse a "pocketbook"

I use both terms. A pocketbook is like a lagre, more decoratvie wallet. It fold out with a balce for bills, credit cars, etc, and generally has a coin purse section. It can be carried on its own (as a clutch or some also have a strap for the wrist or over the shoulder) OR placed inside a larger purse. A purse is a bag like item into which you could blace a wallet or pocketbook as well as other lose items (lipstick, brush, whatever). No idea where I got this from. Does ANYone else have these definitions

"You look like a ragamuffin," as in you looked sloppy or unkempt.

I JUST said that to my son not more than 5 minutes ago. Told him to go run a brush through his hair becuase I am not taking him to the pool looking like a little ragimuffin.

what about beau for boyfriend? My grandmother used to talk about her old beaus

 

[C.Ann]

These are great! I'm going to have to share them with my DGD.. I'm sure she'll be rolling on the floor laughing when she hears some of them..

 

[Liberty Belle]

Growing up, our town didn't have a "five and dime," but it did have a dime store. I think it was called "Murphy's," but no one ever called it that.

My granny also used to say "Och!" a lot. Oh, and "brick-a-brack" or is that still used a lot?

 

[Liberty Belle]

Thought of more!

Granny always used to say "my foot" and "Goodnight." As in, "You didn't take a cookie from the jar, my foot" and "Goodnight! How many cookies are you going to take?!"

 

[Conkozan]

Corpse House (funeral home)
Beer Garden (Bar)
Rotogravure (Social section of the newspaper with the pictures)
Tavern (Bar that also served food)
10cent store

 

[MarkerMouse]

Also, sometimes I come up with phrases that get me laughed at...especially when exasperated..... Fiddlesticks!

Hey!!! I use "Fiddlesticks" all the time.

Ok, y'all are making me feel old or something. There are a lot of references to words as odd or old that seem like normal vocabulary. Many that still seem somewhat common, and I even use some.

Hullabaloo - chaos
Shindig - big tadoo - Ok, I remember when "Hullabaloo" and "Shindig" were TV shows.

"gay in the "happy" sense of the word" - I long for the days when we could all "don our gay apparel" at Christmas time, and the Flintsones could have "a gay old time", and a reference to the "gay 90's" only had one meaning.

And when did we stop using the word "john" for bathroom?

Now, there is one that I always wondered about, even when I heard it as a young child. My dad always threatened to "box my ears". I was never really sure what that was, but I was pretty confident I didn't want it done.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Hey!!! I use "Fiddlesticks" all the time.

Ok, y'all are making me feel old or something. There are a lot of references to words as odd or old that seem like normal vocabulary. Many that still seem somewhat common, and I even use some.

Hullabaloo - chaos
Shindig - big tadoo - Ok, I remember when "Hullabaloo" and "Shindig" were TV shows.

"gay in the "happy" sense of the word" - I long for the days when we could all "don our gay apparel" at Christmas time, and the Flintsones could have "a gay old time", and a reference to the "gay 90's" only had one meaning.

And when did we stop using the word "john" for bathroom?

Now, there is one that I always wondered about, even when I heard it as a young child. My dad always threatened to "box my ears". I was never really sure what that was, but I was pretty confident I didn't want it done.

I think that's when you clap your hands hard against each side of the head (against the ears) at the same time. I could be wrong, though.

I always heard "I'm gonna stand you on your head." Or, "I'll smack up one side and down the other."

 

[MarkerMouse]

Or, "I'll smack up one side and down the other."

Hey, I got that one too. I also got "I'll knock you into tomorrow". I think he did that a few times, not pleasant but lesson learned.

 

[PollyannaMom]

"Tablet" for notebook....

I think that one's regional. I just checked with my going-into-third-grader and his friend, and they said they've definitely heard it, even though they usually use notebook. So they would have been OK with it.

I feel for you, though! I have no problem making students come up with an answer on their own, but I hate having to keep quiet when I know they don't understand the question.

...I JUST said that to my son not more than 5 minutes ago. Told him to go run a brush through his hair becuase I am not taking him to the pool looking like a little ragimuffin....

I use ragamuffin all the time to my DS, too!