# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/61 "2007-07-01T00:06:18Z")
I still use “fortnight” and “fortnightly”, at least partially because so many of the locals don’t seem to know the difference between **bi** -weekly/-monthly/-ennially and \*\*semi-\*\*weekly/-monthly/-annually… I’ve heard it in the UK but not in the US in the last few decades… ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/62 "2007-07-01T00:48:32Z")
I’ve used “mightn’t” once or twice. Do “ye gods” or “Egads” count? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/63 "2007-07-01T12:47:34Z")
[QUOTE=Kilvert’s Pagan] I still use “fortnight” and “fortnightly”, at least partially because so many of the locals don’t seem to know the difference between **bi** -weekly/-monthly/-ennially and \*\*semi-\*\*weekly/-monthly/-annually… I’ve heard it in the UK but not in the US in the last few decades… [/QUOTE] Fortnight is absolutely standard in the UK. I find it a little odd that such a useful word has died out in the USA. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2007, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/64 "2007-07-01T13:16:51Z")
Hee! This is fun! Remembered a couple of others I use often: Dassn’t ( I dares not) Febrile (having a fever) S’truth! Sooth (for ‘truth’) And I use Latin abbreviations, e.g. in my email at work. People just shake their heads and back away … ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/65 "2007-07-01T15:44:56Z")
My husband has been saying “Hark at the bairn!” when the 2.5-year-old says something particularly precocious. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/66 "2007-07-01T23:13:46Z")
When asked when sometghing might get done, I like to reply, “In the fullness of time.” ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/67 "2007-07-02T00:07:37Z")
[QUOTE=The Sonoran Lizard King] More quolloquial than archaic, but I’ve used the phrase “If I had my druthers, I’d..” I’m sure it’s a bastraction of ‘I would rather’. [/QUOTE] It originated in the old _Li’L Abner_ comic strip. I doubt that a more specific origin was ever given, but I’m pretty sure that it was derived from “I’d rather,” as you surmised. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/68 "2007-07-02T01:38:43Z")
Aye. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/69 "2007-07-02T01:40:13Z")
Since I read Stephen King’s _The Dark Tower_ series I sometimes say “thankee-sai,” but I doubt that really counts. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/70 "2007-07-02T01:43:51Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] Fortnight is absolutely standard in the UK. I find it a little odd that such a useful word has died out in the USA. [/QUOTE] Really? How exactly is a single word that just means “two weeks” useful generally (or at least more so than the phrase “two weeks”)? Can you give examples? ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817/71 "2007-07-02T01:48:37Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Aye. [/QUOTE] Does a word become archaic if it’s being used only currently by a given group? The reason I ask is that “aye” and “aye, aye” are both still in current use within the Navy (and so I hear, the Coast Guard.). I can quite readily accept that it’s not common currency outside those circles, but I’d not consider it archaic, no more than I’d consider “scuttlebutt,” or “head\*” to be archaic. \*The bathroom, toilet or WC. ETA: **Leaper** , I think you’ll have to admit that talking about speeds in furlongs per fortnight just offers something that you can’t get by talking about feet per two week period. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-actively-use-archaic-words/409817.md?page=3)