What odd or old-fashioned words..

[daisyyy]

pop = soda (do you remember having to go to the beverage store?) or having soda delivered by the case in glass bottles, (same with milk).. they left if on the back stoop.

this one may be regional from NE PA.... " hayna? " not exactly sure what it translates to, but I remember everybody saying it. I think it's just basically asking a question, your opinion)

 

[hanutedmansionmomma]

how about:

tinfoil vs aluminum foil

my grandma used to ask for a "piece of tissue", seems like everyone just says "kleenex" now.

my mom told me that I "irked" her once. Irked???? hard to punish a kid with that word in the sentence

 

[caytlyn]

I ask "Can you grab me a box of Kleenex? I need a tissue.." I just assumed Kleenex was the brand name of tissues.. lol

 

[rie'smom]

And C.Ann, I hate to say it, but linoleum is pretty much an antiquated word now. Floors are made of vinyl now...

Actually, this is not correct. Linoleum, the old fashioned flooring has made a huge comeback. It is considered a "green" material. My friend is an interior designer and used it in her house. We are also going to use it in our lake house.

One of my grandmothers would ask if we needed to "use the basement" instead of the bathroom. The funny thing is she lived in south Louisiana where no one had a basement because the water table is so high.

My other grandmother would say oleo for margarine.

 

[iggbees]

this one may be regional from NE PA.... " hayna? " not exactly sure what it translates to, but I remember everybody saying it. I think it's just basically asking a question, your opinion)

yeah, this is definitely just one specific town in NE PA. i'll never forget the first time i ever heard someone say it in an actual sentence. luckily my family had talked about it prior to me hearing it and i remembered and answered. it basically just means something like: "you went to the store heyna?" or "you went to the store, yes?". the way i always was told was that it's heyna or no (yes or no).

someone actually made a video about it although they pronounce heyna wrong (i've only ever heard it called henna):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sMI2jb16eo
that video is absolutely hilarious!

my grandpa definitely says "couple two tree" and "ta da store" and "youse". i was at a family get together where someone asked me if i had fillim in my camera. haha.

 

[Liberty Belle]

ach du liebe .. it's german, the original phrase is 'ach du lieber himmel' and means 'oh for the love of heaven' my great grandma used to say it all the time.

My granny used to sing a song that sounded like "Do Do leetzer imherson". No idea how to spell it or the rest of the words, though it ended with "der bin."

 

[tonilea]

"make" - constipated It may be used other places, but I had never heard it before. I worked in a vet clinic and an elderly lady called and said, "My dachshund can't make?" "Excuse me?" I had no idea what she was talking about! Eventually she was speaking very slowly and loudly. LOL Finally, I said, "I don't understand. Your dog can't make WHAT?" My boss thought it was quite funny - he had heard the usage before!

Here cellar is used quite a bit, but it is completely different from a basement. Some people do call them "root cellars". Basements are under homes. Cellars are more storm shelters.

 

[phamton]

Interesting. Those tests are supposed to be screened for regional words so that the questions are fair. No one out here calls writing pads "tablets" unless they are over the age of 75.

I'm definitely not 75 years old but I have used the word "tablets." First graders for many years had to buy "Big Chief tablets" for school. I grew up in Texas and also taught school there. Now notebook is used but tablet like chalkboard is still said occasionally by the teachers there.

She also said "dreckly", which meant "shortly, or a short amount of time". For example, when we were expecting company, she would say, "Aunt Sis will be here dreckly."

It does sound like dreckly but the word is actually directly. See: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/directly It's still used by many older people and means immediately, without delay .

 

[cristit14]

my grandma also used Oleo. I had a hard time with a recipe until I asked her what it was.

She used directly too. Also how about "puny" as in how do you feel? you look a little puny.

I use that one with my kids too.

 

[ms.yt]

I've heard older people say they are "all stove up" when they are sore or stiff when they stand up.

 

[MariDisney]

pop = soda (do you remember having to go to the beverage store?) or having soda delivered by the case in glass bottles, (same with milk).. they left if on the back stoop.

this one may be regional from NE PA.... " hayna? " not exactly sure what it translates to, but I remember everybody saying it. I think it's just basically asking a question, your opinion)

You could go up the Eynon and get a sangwich, hayna or no?

I think its best translation would be "ain't it?"

Being originally from Scranton in NE Pennsylvania, we also:
went to a corpse house to pay respects to the family while the body was laid out
took our lunch to school in lunch pails to eat in between writing in our tablets
went to the market to make an order (grocery shopping)
ate oleo
surely, you'd be wearing your dungarees if you went to visit someone down the line (a few towns over) or go climbing on the culm dumps
if gramma was cleaning the linoleum or passing the vacuum you better not run in like a bunch of banshees or ragamuffins, or she might try to sell you to the gypsies

 

[MariDisney]

yeah, this is definitely just one specific town in NE PA. i'll never forget the first time i ever heard someone say it in an actual sentence. luckily my family had talked about it prior to me hearing it and i remembered and answered. it basically just means something like: "you went to the store heyna?" or "you went to the store, yes?". the way i always was told was that it's heyna or no (yes or no).

someone actually made a video about it although they pronounce heyna wrong (i've only ever heard it called henna):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sMI2jb16eo
that video is absolutely hilarious!

my grandpa definitely says "couple two tree" and "ta da store" and "youse". i was at a family get together where someone asked me if i had fillim in my camera. haha.

As a Scranton girl myself, I can assure you that he is prounouncing hayna correctly. It is HAY-na.

Now, dyaeatyet? Case I is goin ta da store and I coul git a couple to tree sangwiches if yer hungry. Hayna or no?

 

[pogo791]

What odd or old-fashioned words do you remember hearing your parents or grandparents say? DGD and I were talking about words - and how they can be used last night (absolute vs. relative) - and somehow we wandered off into the "odd" words direction.. These are some of the ones that I remembered:

[ . . . ]
five and dime (department store) - still have one over in town
[ . . . ]

Wonderful thread - I've run across most of the expressions mentioned so far.

But "five and dime" being equated with a department store? No way! As far as I know, West Coast, East Coast and in between, a "five and dime" during the 1950s was a store like Woolworths, a place that sold basic necessities that, more often than not, cost five or ten cents (plus tax). Usually, the store had one or at most two floors, and there really was no clear separation between the sections.

A department store, on the other hand, was a gussied-up Woolworths: a Macy's, a Nordstroms, a Sears, a JC Penneys or, if you really wanted to go upscale, Saks Fifth Avenue or Nieman Marcus.

And while we're on the topic, we've lost some great department stores - Capwell's (East Bay, California), I. Magnin (SF), Gimbels (New York) and (sob) Marshall Field and Company in Chicago.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Wonderful thread - I've run across most of the expressions mentioned so far.

But "five and dime" being equated with a department store? No way! As far as I know, West Coast, East Coast and in between, a "five and dime" during the 1950s was a store like Woolworths, a place that sold basic necessities that, more often than not, cost five or ten cents (plus tax). Usually, the store had one or at most two floors, and there really was no clear separation between the sections.

A department store, on the other hand, was a gussied-up Woolworths: a Macy's, a Nordstroms, a Sears, a JC Penneys or, if you really wanted to go upscale, Saks Fifth Avenue or Nieman Marcus.

And while we're on the topic, we've lost some great department stores - Capwell's (East Bay, California), I. Magnin (SF), Gimbels (New York) and (sob) Marshall Field and Company in Chicago.

Our dime store was "Murphy's" (I'm pretty sure) and had aisles of goods like Woolworths. Instead of shelves like we have in Walmart, etc, today, there were shorter shelves and flat table things that had dividers set in them. Oh, and there were bathrooms in the back, but you had to pay to use them! I think it cost a penny.

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

Our five and dimes were the Ben Franklin and Fairway.

My grandmother always used to say "well, I swan!". It was kind of like "I swear!".

Have you ever "cut a shine"? That is like pitching a fit.

Unruly kids were called "heatherns" instead of heathens.

 

[JVL1018]

how about:

tinfoil vs aluminum foil

my grandma used to ask for a "piece of tissue", seems like everyone just says "kleenex" now.

my mom told me that I "irked" her once. Irked???? hard to punish a kid with that word in the sentence

I use irked all the time, and also say tin foil for aluminum foil sometimes. My husband's family called it silver foil and he still does sometimes.

I just call tissues-tissues, I don;t call them Kleenex.

Chop meat I say too-I know it's really chopped meat(ground beef) but I say chop meat.

 

[tonilea]

I used to say britches all the time... until DS was learning to talk. He said "britches", but dropped the "r"! LOL

 

[Dixie Luvr 98]

Our dime store was "Murphy's" (I'm pretty sure) and had aisles of goods like Woolworths. Instead of shelves like we have in Walmart, etc, today, there were shorter shelves and flat table things that had dividers set in them. Oh, and there were bathrooms in the back, but you had to pay to use them! I think it cost a penny.

We called ours a "five & ten" and it was a McCrory's. A neighboring town had a G.C. Murphy (later Murphy Mart then Ames).

 

[Liberty Belle]

We called ours a "five & ten" and it was a McCrory's. A neighboring town had a G.C. Murphy (later Murphy Mart then Ames).

Oh yes! I think it was officially called Murphy Mart!

 

[paintnolish]

Oh, yeah...my parents and gparents said they were going to sell us to the gypsies. I'm still waiting...