# Archaic phrases **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 30, 2004, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869 "2004-06-30T13:04:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/21 "2004-07-01T20:49:51Z")
I also can’t find any evidence for Wow being anything other than onomatopoetic. I like to keep the archaic phraises in use if I can. By golly ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/22 "2004-07-01T21:20:32Z")
By Jove. You gotta love a phrase that’s probably at least 1000 years old (Jove was, I believe, a Roman God.) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/23 "2004-07-01T21:51:10Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > I still have a rotary phone. Me too. It’s in the basement, but every now and then I look at it and think it’d be funny to put it back in service. Better yet, my mother has one of [these](http://www.darkfunk.com/barrot/images/exported/old-telephone.jpg) on the wall of the dining room. It’s currently unhooked, but for a while there it was completely functional, wired up by an electronics-whiz friend of my brother’s. To dial a number, you take the earpiece out of the cradle, and then tap the cradle and keep count. To dial 9-1-1, for example, you’d go tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap _pause_ tap _pause_ tap. Way cool. ---
**Author:** ![The\_world\_s\_most\_deadliest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@The\_world\_s\_most\_deadliest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_world_s_most_deadliest)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/24 "2004-07-01T23:55:15Z")
I still use **six of one, half-dozen of the other** , but usually have to explain it to anyone under 50. Thanks, Mom. I also say **criminetly** , **good gravy** and **hold your horses**. If something finds my favor, it is oft described as **neat-o** , **groovy** , **hip** or even **peachy-keen**. True awesomeness is described as **bitchin’** , and no one can convince me otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/25 "2004-07-02T01:30:19Z")
**There’s more than one way to skin a cat** makes me wonder who was skinning cats and when . . . and _why_, for crying out loud! ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/26 "2004-07-02T01:38:50Z")
Y’know, if the words and terms are still commonly used, then they’re not, by definition, archaic, are they? And some of us are still proud to use “Zounds!” (and “Ods bodkins!”) in casual conversation… hell, we made a movie based around those two terms… ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/27 "2004-07-02T06:35:40Z")
> [@SPOOFE](#): > > Y’know, if the words and terms are still commonly used, then they’re not, by definition, archaic, are they? > > And some of us are still proud to use “Zounds!” (and “Ods bodkins!”) in casual conversation… hell, we made a movie based around those two terms… Please forgive my ignorance, **SPOOFE** , but what movie? ---
**Author:** ![Gest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Gest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gest)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/28 "2004-07-02T06:43:42Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > “Aeroplane” is surely just a British (and Australian etc) vs American thing. Nobody says “airplane” over here, unless they’re talking about the disaster movie from the 1970s. Not even then. It was renamed _Flying High_ for Australia. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/29 "2004-07-02T06:46:31Z")
We still ‘type’, but never on a typewriter, or anything else actually involving physical type. Oh, and rotary phones have one useful function - it’s far easier to hear the ringer throughout the house. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/30 "2004-07-02T10:12:57Z")
Heck, my modem still has a light marked ‘OH’ for “Off the Hook”. My dad rents his telephone handset from the (formerly govt. monopoly) telco. As recently as the late 80s, he was given a rotary phone by them (even then it was dodgy. Must have been “fobbing the old stock off onto the old dude”). Ten years later, and the rotary phone was still going strong, but my dad rang up the telco to ask for a push button one… **DAD:** I’d like to have my dial telephone replaced with a touch tone one, please… **OPERATOR:** Is the rotary telephone broken? **DAD:** No, but I cannot use it to access any major business number that has a computerised menu…" **OPERATOR:** I’m sorry sir, but if the telephone is in working order, we cannot replace it. [ **DAD:** Aaaah… okaaaay. So what if I dropped it onto the floor a couple of times and it broke? **OPERATOR:** (with a laugh) Then we’d replace it, sir…" My dad got his push button phone. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/31 "2004-07-02T14:02:17Z")
> [@Ghanima](#): > > By Jove. You gotta love a phrase that’s probably at least 1000 years old (Jove was, I believe, a Roman God.) [Archaic, yes, but not as old as you assume](http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-byj1.htm). ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/32 "2004-07-02T15:00:50Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > Well, last time I was visiting my dad he asked me to get him a Coke out of the **icebox**. My grandma always used to say “icebox.” She also had a “davenport,” not a couch or sofa. She doesn’t say these much anymore … I mostly remember her using them in the '80s. ---
**Author:** ![ThatDuckIsEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@ThatDuckIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThatDuckIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/33 "2004-07-02T16:22:53Z")
I say \*\*“six of one, half a doz…etc.” \*\* and **“criminetly”** all the time. [and also **“posilutely”** and \*\*“absotively”, \*\* but I’m snarky that way.] My favorite phrase - **“they were Thick as Theives”** It’s just fun to say. And hear. Go on, try it. 😉 Not sure how it came about, but it sounds naughty. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/34 "2004-07-02T17:07:20Z")
The expression “ciao” is a Venetian alteration of “schiavo,” meaning “slave”. As in “I am your slave.” ---
**Author:** ![LVgeogeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b19c9b/32.png) [@LVgeogeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVgeogeek)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/35 "2004-07-02T17:29:22Z")
**Cervaise** ; my grandparents had one of those phones up until the 60’s :eek:. My dad remembers using it in highschool (he graduated in like 1967) Then they got a rotary phone, but had a _party line_ and did all the way thru the 80’s. At least they have advanced, they now have a cordless phone and the rotary. But then again, it is not suprising considering they didn’t get a TV until my dad was in highschool either. They also had a well pump kitchen sink and didnt have indoor toilets until the early 60’s. They lived and still live in rural Nebraska. ---
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/36 "2004-07-02T17:31:08Z")
> [@yellowval](#): > > My grandma always used to say “icebox.” She also had a “davenport,” not a couch or sofa. She doesn’t say these much anymore … I mostly remember her using them in the '80s. My mom still calls it a davenport. And she frequently refers to a “pocketbook,” rather than a purse or handbag. Other than that, almost all of the phrases mentioned before are still common where I grew up, in small-town central Indiana. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/37 "2004-07-03T05:40:28Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > I was, maybe, ten years old when a schoolteacher told us about **with bells on.** A horse-drawn wagon or sleigh, she said, would have bells on the horses’ gear. If something broke, and you had to get help with the repair, you’d give some, or all of the bells to the rescuer. So, if you were optimistic about a trip, you’d say, “We’ll be there with bells on!” Huh, I just always thought it had to do with the tradition of dressing the horses up for special occasions, like at Christmas time you’d add sleighbells to the harnesses to be all festive-like. Poking around on Google I see about five different theories for the origin, including yours, and mine, and something about jesters, and freight-hauling teams and such. Interesting! ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/38 "2004-07-03T06:38:31Z")
Of someone who is feigning innocense it is still often said “butter wouldn’t melt in his/her mouth.” Everyone knows what it means, but it never made sense to me. A brief google search just turns up lists of such sayings without giving their derivation. Anybody here know this one? ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/39 "2004-07-03T08:21:18Z")
> [@MissGypsy](#): > > Other than that, almost all of the phrases mentioned before are still common where I grew up, in small-town central Indiana. I can attest to that, too. I’ve either heard or used about 99% of the phrases in this thread. So I guess that means they’re not exactly archaic. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869/40 "2004-07-03T11:09:39Z")
“Well, that’s a different kettle of fish.” I use that all the time. Anyone know its origins? I know it means, “Well, that’s a different situation” or “That is different” but why “kettle of fish”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-phrases/252869.md?page=3)