# Do you actively use archaic words? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 28, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817 "2007-06-28T20:40:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/21 "2007-06-28T23:37:55Z")
Huzzah! There are other people who say “groovy”! Also - this isn’t quite archaic, but I try really hard to use “datum” for the singular, and “data” for the plural. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/22 "2007-06-28T23:46:09Z")
My wife and I regularly tell our children not to vex each other. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/23 "2007-06-28T23:47:57Z")
Egads! Of course not. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/24 "2007-06-28T23:48:43Z")
Indubitably. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/25 "2007-06-28T23:50:08Z")
[QUOTE=Pochacco] My wife and I regularly tell our children not to vex each other. [/QUOTE] dagnabit… now I am velclempt :dubious: tsfr…sorry LHOD but i’m another daniel ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/26 "2007-06-29T00:27:20Z")
[QUOTE=Amazon Floozy Goddess] I use at least one. Ever since I was a kid. My mom used to say it all the time: Priddiner. (It could also be spelled pridiner, pritiner or prittiner possibly…I have no idea) It basically means ‘almost’ or ‘just about’, like, “I priddiner tripped over that stick there”. Anytime I’ve ever said it in conversation outside my family, nobody seems to know what it means. So I’m guessing it’s an archaic word that a few people might still use. Is there anything you say that used to be commonplace, but isn’t anymore? [/QUOTE] = “Pretty near”. Doesn’t seem all that archaic to me. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/27 "2007-06-29T00:28:22Z")
[QUOTE=Sierra Indigo] Shan’t. There was a thread here in which someone used the word shan’t, and somebody else came back to say they need to work it into more everyday conversation. I use it as a matter of course. [/QUOTE] Don’t they still say shan’t in the UK? Or is it archaic there too? ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/28 "2007-06-29T00:30:32Z")
I sometimes have to chide my colleagues for their japery around the office. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/29 "2007-06-29T00:40:22Z")
[QUOTE=Ms. Pumpkin] I also use “whence”. And “whilst”, though I’m not sure if that’s archaic or just british… [/QUOTE] Prithee, don’t. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/30 "2007-06-29T00:44:35Z")
I say “con-flab it!” and “con-sarn it!” at work a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/31 "2007-06-29T00:53:11Z")
I use a lot of quaint words, although not intentionally. I think the only one I really mean as a deliberate archaism is “dagnabbit”, which entered my vocabulary some years ago and won’t leave. All the rest are the result of reading novels in my formative years. ---
**Author:** ![xanthous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/53a042/32.png) [@xanthous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xanthous)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/32 "2007-06-29T01:04:09Z")
Wax poetic. ---
**Author:** ![Charger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@Charger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charger)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/33 "2007-06-29T02:34:18Z")
Verily, I looked upon this thread to find others who use words I use and, lo, only a few were mentioned. My dad also used a conjuction of “pretty near” that came out as “purdner.” I told my brother about it, and he didn’t believe me. One time, right after my dad said it, I turned to my brother and said, “See?” He still didn’t believe me. I also say “ye” among those to whom I am close. I find myself saying, on a nightly basis, “I bid ‘sweet dreams’ unto thee.” I almost always refer to my sweetie as “Sweet Little Ye.” I’m a dork. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/34 "2007-06-29T06:00:49Z")
Yeah, I figured it was some conjunction of “pretty near”, but it wasn’t just those words said fast - I saw it a couple times in writing from my mom. She spelled it “Priddiner”, so I’m guessing at some point that was a spelling of it that most people would recognize, but now not so much. I’m not very good at trying to explain stuff. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/35 "2007-06-29T06:45:50Z")
[QUOTE=Amazon Floozy Goddess] Yeah, I figured it was some conjunction of “pretty near”, but it wasn’t just those words said fast - I saw it a couple times in writing from my mom. She spelled it “Priddiner”, so I’m guessing at some point that was a spelling of it that most people would recognize, but now not so much. I’m not very good at trying to explain stuff. 😉 [/QUOTE] OK… but your source is still your mom. Couldn’t you have just acknowledged your folly gracefully? (Go ahead and show me another, legitimate source of this “word” and I’ll be shocked - Google doesn’t even turn up a single instance, anywhere) ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/36 "2007-06-29T06:57:10Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Ouch, forsooth. [/QUOTE] [Snagglepuss voice]Forsooth, fivesooth, even![/Snagglepuss] ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/37 "2007-06-29T12:20:09Z")
I’ll not gainsay it! ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/38 "2007-06-29T12:22:08Z")
**Amazon** , along those same lines – Growing up in eastern Long Island, NY, a lot of our influences are more New England than the state we belong to. My old man always used to say the word “ **passel** ,” as in _a passel of trouble_ or _a passel of worry_. It wasn’t until I moved down to Florida 6 years ago and started hanging around with real New Englanders that I realized Pop’s word was “ **parcel**.” I was floored! I use all sorts of archaic words and phrases. “Need’st thou,” “wherefore,” “betimes,” “avaunt,” etc. Unfortunately, “please,” “thank you” and “I beg your pardon” seem to be falling into the same category … ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/39 "2007-06-29T12:24:49Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] = “Pretty near”. Doesn’t seem all that archaic to me. [/QUOTE] I’ve always seen it spelled “purt near” [Google](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=purt+near) seems to agree with me, for what it’s worth, which tain’t much. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/40 "2007-06-29T12:26:14Z")
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