# 10 Old English Words We Should Be Using **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 29, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-old-english-words-we-should-be-using/723785 "2015-06-29T15:19:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![knitcrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2acd7d/32.png) [@knitcrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/knitcrew)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-old-english-words-we-should-be-using/723785/21 "2015-06-30T23:32:44Z")
I haven’t even heard of those words. XD ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-old-english-words-we-should-be-using/723785/22 "2015-07-01T00:31:05Z")
> [@Marion\_Wormer](#): > > I thought ‘grubbing’ involved getting your hands dirty. “Grubbing around in the garden.” First definition (and sometimes only) definition, I agree. But I think you can use grubbing as a synonym for rummaging. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-old-english-words-we-should-be-using/723785/23 "2015-07-01T02:25:47Z")
I just stopped by to see if jiggery-pokery was on the list. I thought not. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-old-english-words-we-should-be-using/723785/24 "2015-07-02T02:11:12Z")
Oh, that’s common as dirt, all of a sudden. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-old-english-words-we-should-be-using/723785/25 "2015-07-02T06:33:10Z")
My favourite (only slightly) archaic word is _nextly_ - for use in short/indeterminate lists, usually lists of actions, i.e. Firstly, do this… nextly, do that… finally, clear up your mess… It’s a perfectly valid English word and appears in larger dictionaries, but is not generally found in concise editions, so people have tried to correct me, including English teachers who picked up my kids’ use of the word (I especially enjoyed that conversation). ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-old-english-words-we-should-be-using/723785/26 "2015-07-02T14:01:25Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I just stopped by to see if jiggery-pokery was on the list. I thought not. On a drive to the city a few weeks ago we went by a pig pen on a farm by the highway and there was definitely piggery-pokery going on… ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-old-english-words-we-should-be-using/723785/27 "2015-07-02T14:32:18Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I was called **mugwump** as president of a high-school club in the late '70s, but they were using it incorrectly–I was always eager to start a fight or jump into the middle of one. The also called me “Once-ler,” but I’m not sure why. [Bit of a wrecker, were you? 😉](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lorax) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-old-english-words-we-should-be-using/723785/28 "2015-07-02T14:55:27Z")
There is a new book out, about local words for different aspects of the landscape and nature around us, and what perceptions might be lost if we lose them. Some of them are rather fun: [http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/27/robert-macfarlane-word-hoard-rewilding-landscape](http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/27/robert-macfarlane-word-hoard-rewilding-landscape) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-old-english-words-we-should-be-using/723785/29 "2015-07-02T15:56:34Z")
Pantofle (or rather, [pantoffel](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pantoffel)) is the Afrikaans word for slipper, so I’ve used it all my life. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-old-english-words-we-should-be-using/723785/30 "2015-07-03T15:31:12Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > There is a new book out, about local words for different aspects of the landscape and nature around us, and what perceptions might be lost if we lose them. Some of them are rather fun: > [http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/27/robert-macfarlane-word-hoard-rewilding-landscape](http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/27/robert-macfarlane-word-hoard-rewilding-landscape) You just made it easy for me to figure out what to get my Dad for his birthday; Thanks! It might just end up on my bookshelf as well. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-old-english-words-we-should-be-using/723785/31 "2015-07-03T21:15:57Z")
I like “yclept” (named). Don’t get to use it often, though. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-old-english-words-we-should-be-using/723785/32 "2015-07-03T22:43:47Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > You just made it easy for me to figure out what to get my Dad for his birthday; Thanks! It might just end up on my bookshelf as well. "The Meaning of Liff " by none other than Douglas Adams uses otherwise under utilised place names to describe situations which are in dire need of naming . E…g "Boinka " the sound behind the door that tells you someone else is having a better sex llife than you. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-old-english-words-we-should-be-using/723785/33 "2015-07-03T22:54:00Z")
> [@Damfino](#): > > "The Meaning of Liff " by none other than Douglas Adams uses otherwise under utilised place names to describe situations which are in dire need of naming . > > E…g "Boinka " the sound behind the door that tells you someone else is having a better sex llife than you. My favourite from that book was always “Symond’s Yat” - the little bit inside the lid of a recently opened boiled egg. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-old-english-words-we-should-be-using/723785/34 "2015-07-04T22:37:52Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > The word “vomitorium” (more often given in its English form, “vomitory,” or abbreviated as “vom”) is still used in certain theaters. In my local community theater where I do shows, we often have characters making entrances or exits through the “vom.” Which in our case is a curtained passageway into the audience from the side of the auditorium. For years, my seats at the Minnesota Theatre Company’s Guthrie Theatre were in the front row right next to the vomitorium. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-old-english-words-we-should-be-using/723785/35 "2015-07-05T19:02:02Z")
Fardles: an Elizabethian word meaning scrotum. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-old-english-words-we-should-be-using/723785/36 "2015-07-05T19:44:13Z")
[**Oose**](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/oose). The dirt under the bed in Scotland or if your grandmother emigrated from there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-old-english-words-we-should-be-using/723785.md?page=1)