Words that have dropped out of use

[ryeseagull]

chinny reckon or itchy chin or variations thereof, accompanied by an exaggerated stroking of an imaginary beard, deployed to express a degree of disbelief at a classmate's story.

Seconded.

Or the simple: "beard" while stroking one's chin.

I think "sad" is also out of vogue.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Seconded.

Or the simple: "beard" while stroking one's chin.

I think "sad" is also out of vogue.

Unless you're Alan Partridge.

May I volunteer "lashings" used in the context of describing a large quantity of something.

As in "lashings and lashings of ginger pop, Aunt Fanny", popularised by straight laced yet adventurous children in Enid Blyton novels.

 

[Juan Albion]

We used to use "gaylord" a lot at school, back in the 80s.

Naively, I asked someone quite recently what exactly, a gaylord is. To which the somewhat obvious answer was: the LORD of the gays. Not just gay, but the absolute RULER of each and every gay in the universe. Of all playground insults that could be aimed towards a schoolboy, it was surely the most dreaded.

So you'd feel sorry for anyone attending school in Gaylord, Michigan, then - especially those on sports teams?!

 

[getreal1]

bender

 

[fatbadger]

Betwixt.

It has a far better ring to it than 'between', especially in the shortened variant twixt.

 

[getreal1]

junglebunny

 

[fatbadger]

Naff?

One of my favourite etymologies. It originated in Polari (early/mid 20th-century gay slang) to mean a straight man (from Not Available For f***ing). The sense of naff as having shite taste derives from a view of straight men in contrast to fashionable, tasteful queers.

 

[getreal1]

discoteque

 

[medicine man]

I like to use 'twixt'.
I try to pepper my vocab with old words- 'toodle pip' in stead of 'bye', for example.
'Stain' is a good insult, I find.
I still say 'smeg' when not referring to Refrigerators, sometimes 'smegma'.
Something I do miss, loads, is chanting 'Mushy, Mushy!'

 

[severnside gull]

perfidious.....as in "perfidious Albion"

 

[Poyetry In Motion]

scrumping...not the word but the practice of. Do kids still "go scrumping" or is it just plain old trespassing these days?
i used to go scrumping for apples ( usually cooking apples ) in the 70's..ahh the halcyon days

 

[medicine man]

discoteque

Saw Julian Cope in the early 90's at The Event, and as he came on he said 'ooh, I've never played a Discotheque before', class.

 

[element]

Benny was another playground word used for homo in days gone by

I remember the Benny insult from my school days and was later aware it meant homosexual, but thought it derived from the Benny character in Crossroads, who wasn't to my recollection homosexual!?

Any ideas on the derivation?

PS Disconflibulation is rarely used these days more's the pity

 

[medicine man]

I was telling my workmates about the whole Benny on the loose thing yesterday.
My understanding was, it was to do with Benny from Crossroads too, as I'm sure the existence of gays wasn't really an issue when this was the schoolyard norm, it was to do with not being quite the ticket. Although I could be wrong.

 

[element]

So you'd feel sorry for anyone attending school in Gaylord, Michigan, then - especially those on sports teams?!

Is Gaylord, Michigan the only college basketball team that play their home games on a court set at 27 degrees from horizontal?

 

[getreal1]

I remember the Benny insult from my school days and was later aware it meant homosexual, but thought it derived from the Benny character in Crossroads, who wasn't to my recollection homosexual!?

Any ideas on the derivation?

PS Disconflibulation is rarely used these days more's the pity

Always assumed it to be a shortening of bender. I think you're right and that it wasn't the Crossroads character as I seem to remember he spent his life thinking about playing hide the sausage with (Miss) Diane.

 

[medicine man]

Always assumed it to be a shortening of bender. I think you're right and that it wasn't the Crossroads character as I seem to remember he spent his life thinking about playing hide the sausage with (Miss) Diane.

So it was to do with his intelligence, rather than sexual orientation.

 

[Twinkle Toes]

Ruffian & ne'er do well.

 

[Race]

phainites or whatever it was when you crossed your fingers and didn't want to get tagged in 'had'

 

[glasfryn]

bumptious, golly, blockhead, dimwit, willock, wazz, dogs bollocks, whimsicle, wuss, pegleg, lummocks,and finally dipstick