10 Old English Words We Should Be Using

[knitcrew]

I haven’t even heard of those words. XD

[asterion]

@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.

[Boyo_Jim]

I just stopped by to see if jiggery-pokery was on the list. I thought not.

[dropzone]

Oh, that’s common as dirt, all of a sudden.

[Mangetout]

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).

[swampspruce]

@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…

[Aspidistra]

@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?

[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

[MrDibble]

Pantofle (or rather, pantoffel) is the Afrikaans word for slipper, so I’ve used it all my life.

[swampspruce]

@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

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.

[ralph124c]

I like “yclept” (named). Don’t get to use it often, though.

[Damfino]

@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.

[RobDog]

@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.

[Tim_T-Bonham.net]

@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.

[furryman]

Fardles: an Elizabethian word meaning scrotum.

[Kenm]

Oose. The dirt under the bed in Scotland or if your grandmother emigrated from there.