What Old-Fashioned Words do you Rarely Hear Anymore?

[Becky2005]

About the high ball, some said it was the type of glass used. Not according to my mother. She and Dad used to go out dancing almost every Saturday night for a few years while I was growing up and she always drank wine high balls.

I don't drink but had heard the term so, just because I'm curious, I googled it to see if it was the glass or a type of drink.

The first thing I found was there is an energy drink called a HiBall (sp?) -- so can you imagine kids not familiar with the alcoholic version expecting an energy drink and get alcohol instead once they are old enough to drink. I could just imagine some quizzical looks with that one.

Anyway, it appears it is a type of drink as there seems to be different versions.

 

[The Moonk's Mom]

Okay...I'm feeling really old or I grew up around old people...I still use so many of the terms you guys have come up with.

Floods...that is funny...my DH is from Ohio and that is what he calls them...I grew up calling them "high waters"...he thinks I'm weird!

My Granny had a davenport and I do remember the kelvenator...it was the real thing too!

But the thing that always gets my DH laughing is when I say I'm going to give somebody "what for"...he really hasn't figured that one out.

We still use tin foil and I still wear nylons (rarely...but when forced!), and I carry a pocketbook until my kids give me the look then I carry a purse.

 

[Liberty Belle]

This isn't really the same thing, but my grandmother used to drive me crazy calling french fries, "potatoes," hamburgers, "sandwiches," and calculator, "computer."

 

[The Moonk's Mom]

Many people here refer to the elementary schools as grammar schools, where we hold teacher appreciation luncheons and spring musicales. My parents have a living room, family room, and a palor.

We also called them primary schools...my DH had never heard that either.

 

[KimR]

My grandmother used to say 'front room' instead of 'living room'. Also, as mentioned in previous posts: davenport, icebox, and oleo.

I hadn't heard the word hobo in years until my kids started talking about seeing a real hobo walking down the street. I think it was the fact that the guy was carrying an actual hobo stick that made the word somehow seem more apt than 'homeless person'.

 

[KristaTX]

I am the only person I think under 90 in my community that calls a pocketbook a purse. I must have picked that up when I was in college and I get made fun of it all the time.

I've always called it a purse. It took me forever to figure out what a pocketbook was when I heard someone use it once because "pocketbook" in the past had also been referred to wallets (i.e. you put your pocketbook in your purse)....so I was picturing them just carrying their wallets around.

I also thought a pocketbook was a wallet (a book that goes in your pocket?) until I made some DIS friends from Massachusetts. I actually did a poll on here a while back about what people call those bags. Purse seems to be the most common. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1753338

I think hangbag may make a comeback, though. All the fashion shows (What Not To Wear, Project Runway, etc.) seem to call them handbags. To me that sounds so old-fashioned, but I guess to some purse sounds old-fashioned.

 

[korzmom]

this is a fun thread. since halloween is right around the corner i thought of the pranks we used to play as youngsters(youngsters does anyone say that) and we used to throw corn at peoples homes and called it racking(my dh called it ticktacking) i dont think thats a good idea to do nowadays-people are way more crazy and it could be dangerous but those are the words i thought of.

 

[robinb]

About the high ball, some said it was the type of glass used. Not according to my mother. She and Dad used to go out dancing almost every Saturday night for a few years while I was growing up and she always drank wine high balls.

I consider a "highball" a mixed drink (alcohol & a mixer like soda water, ginger ale, coke, etc) served in a short "highball" glass. Your mom's wine highballs would be like what we call a wine spritzer today. A rum and coke or a scotch and soda are both highballs. A highball is stirred or maybe just allowed to mix with the addition of the mixer.

A cocktail is something that is shaken like a martini or a cosmo and always has "hard" liquor in it. Of course, a "cocktail" is also a generic term for any alcohol drink . Cheers!

I'm still stumped on old fashioned words to add to the thread, but I love the word "davenport". My grandma used to use it.

OK ... I just remembered one!

Cunning - meaning cute. My other grandma used to use it. She lived in the Plymouth, MA area.

 

[sunnyday123]

Balderdash. My co-worker feels the need to yell it out all day long.


My Grandmother used to say dungarees, icebox, and told us if we didn't wash our hands we'd get hydraphobiaofthebunghole. We thought it was some sort of exotic disease from Egypt.

 

[MIGrandma]

My Grandmother used to say dungarees, icebox, and told us if we didn't wash our hands we'd get hydraphobiaofthebunghole. We thought it was some sort of exotic disease from Egypt.

 

[Darsa]

My gram and my mom both called margarine "oleo". I've never heard anyone else call it that, and haven't heard either term in a long time! My mom used to write it on her shopping lists, tho, 'til the very end.

 

[tigercat]

I own a credenza. Not sure how to spell it but it is a cupboard that is long and low. It was a left over from my parents. The saying "shake of a lambs tail" I use that one.
tigercat

 

[Becky2005]

If we are going to add old fashioned sayings then those I have...it usually gets me looks from the kids as if I should be committed or something.

"Possum run over your grave" -- it's when you get that chill down the back of your spine and you shiver -- hopefully you all know what I'm talking about or you might think I need to be committed too.

There was a saying I used all the time and my 13 year old asked me "what's a ___?" that was part of the saying and I had NO IDEA, it was just a saying we used & I can not think of it now...I'm going to have to rack my brain.

My mom always adds "Good Lord willing and the creeks don't rise" when saying something in the future...for example, "we will be going to Disney next year Good Lord willing and the creeks don't rise."

 

[indimom]

If we are going to add old fashioned sayings then those I have...it usually gets me looks from the kids as if I should be committed or something.

"Possum run over your grave" -- it's when you get that chill down the back of your spine and you shiver -- hopefully you all know what I'm talking about or you might think I need to be committed too.

There was a saying I used all the time and my 13 year old asked me "what's a ___?" that was part of the saying and I had NO IDEA, it was just a saying we used & I can not think of it now...I'm going to have to rack my brain.

My mom always adds "Good Lord willing and the creeks don't rise" when saying something in the future...for example, "we will be going to Disney next year Good Lord willing and the creeks don't rise."

Gotta love those old phrases. My mom used to threaten to "commit hari kari" if we didn't start behaving. I was in high school before I knew what she was talking about. Pretty dramatic solution to dealing with four bickering daughters, I think.

 

[jen0610]

My gram and my mom both called margarine "oleo". I've never heard anyone else call it that, and haven't heard either term in a long time! My mom used to write it on her shopping lists, tho, 'til the very end.

My neice and I have been putting everything in my MIL receipe box into a word document. The first time she got to oleo, she had to call an ask what that was. She also hates the ones that call for a pinch, a smidge, or a dash of something. The notes marked 1/2 t or 1/2 T threw her at first. When I told her what it ment, she made the remark that someone sure didn't know how to abbrevate correctly. My thoughts are it sure is easier to write that then tsp or Tbls.

Growing up, my borthers were always told to put on clean BVD's, it was never called underwear.

 

[cybrkitn]

Every woman I know calls their bag a pocketbook (these are women on Long Island).

Every human in the NY metro area calls pizza a "pie". However, when I moved to NC and called our local place to order "one large pie" the lady on the other end of the line was confused and indignant and started ranting about how they don't serve pie.

Yes, I still call mine a "pocketbook".

I'm sure there are old fashion words that I know and haven't heard in awhile. But I can't think of anything off the top of my head right now.

 

[tink1969]

Chesterfield
calling someone a 'square'
penny loafers
geewhiz


and whatever happened to 'please, thank-you and excuse me'? LOL

 

[minniebeth]

My friends make fun of me that I call my purse a pocketbook~

My DH still calls when I get my hair done, I'm going to the "Beauty Parlor"

My girls wear a uniform to school, so they still call all their shirts blouses.

When my kids fight, they fight like "Cain and Abel" because that's what my DH's mom said.

When my kids are two peas in a pod with their friends, we call them the Bobbsey Twins which cracks me up becuase even I don't really know who the Bobbsey Twins really are, we just say it because we grew up with it!

 

[Debbie7452]

Dungarees for jeans.

Icebox for refrigerator

Billfold for wallet

We still use icebox and billfold in our house! We are in our 40's, but apparantly really out of touch (just ask our teens!!).

My DH used to make fun of me for calling the "icebox" a "fridge". He thought it was a yankee term taught to me by my Mom from NY...

 

[krcit]

Yes, I still call mine a "pocketbook".

I'm sure there are old fashion words that I know and haven't heard in awhile. But I can't think of anything off the top of my head right now.

I sit on my stoop holding my pocketbook while I wait for my pie to be delivered