# Do you say "yonks ago"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 9, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326 "2008-06-09T15:21:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/1 "2008-06-09T15:21:53Z")
My girlfriend told me that I’m the only person she has ever heard saying “yonks ago”. I checked the dictionary and it was in there but I was wondering how widespread a term it is. The dictionary claims it is British slang of unknown origin. I live in Ireland. Do you say “yonks” and where do you live? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/2 "2008-06-09T15:36:38Z")
I don’t say it myself, but I’ve heard it often in Australia. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it is England or in the United States. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/3 "2008-06-09T15:41:45Z")
I say it occasionally; not as often as I did when I was at school, but it’s there for me when I need it. For longer periods of time I also have “yonks plus ages” – which I like. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/4 "2008-06-09T15:44:48Z")
It’s something I’d occassionally say. Certainly heard it a lot in New Zealand, but don’t recall hearing it in England. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/5 "2008-06-09T16:07:54Z")
American here, and I’ve never heard of it! ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/6 "2008-06-09T16:09:47Z")
I may have heard it, but have never said it. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/7 "2008-06-09T16:49:32Z")
I use it, but I’m not sure if it counts, since I think I picked it up from Yahtzee Croshaw. For added comic effect, I like to refer to a very specific number of yonks: “Dude, I haven’t seen you in, like, five yonks!”, or “sure, I’d love some tuna pizza, I haven’t had any in about half a yonk.” ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/8 "2008-06-09T16:52:49Z")
British here, have certainly heard it and even said it on occasion, but it sounds rather old-fashioned, quaint and Noel Coward to my ears. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/9 "2008-06-09T16:59:36Z")
Maybe it’s time for me to get glasses. I misread the title as “wanks ago.” ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/10 "2008-06-09T17:58:45Z")
Doesn’t yonks come from “donkeys years”? As in “I haven’t seen him for yonks”. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/11 "2008-06-09T18:03:43Z")
I used to say it a lot, but I haven’t said it since, well… yonks ago! ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/12 "2008-06-09T18:44:34Z")
The first time I can remember hearing that expression was on **Red Dwarf** , [this scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu-LPzVRPh8) to be precise. That episode apparently aired in 1988, and the expression struck me as so strange that it stayed with me lo these many years. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/13 "2008-06-09T19:06:16Z")
American and I haven’t ever heard it before. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/14 "2008-06-09T19:10:57Z")
American, and never heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/15 "2008-06-09T19:25:17Z")
Haven’t said it for, well, you know. But certainly it was a common enough thing ten or fifteen years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/16 "2008-06-09T21:41:01Z")
Yep, I’m another one who hasn’t said that for quite a while. It seems sort of dated, somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/17 "2008-06-09T21:53:46Z")
Yeah, I must’ve last said it… donkey’s years ago. How long is a donkey’s year? [mummerset]About nine an’arf inches![/mummerset] ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/18 "2008-06-09T22:20:55Z")
Occasionally. Certainly within the last couple of weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/19 "2008-06-09T23:10:07Z")
Haven’t heard that expression in – well, yonks! I certainly used it frequently back in the UK. _[I’m a Brit in the US.]_ For some reason when I read the OP, the specific phrasing “yonks ago” looked wrong; the “haven’t seen/done **x** in yonks” form seems more natural to me. However, after mulling it over, they both sound equally OK now. I would never expect an American to recognize the term unless they had significant exposure to UK/Oz/NZ culture. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/20 "2008-06-10T00:35:39Z")
American and not heard of it. I’ve watched Red Dwarf, but don’t recall the scene with its use and I have several British friends in their early 20s and have never heard them say it. Have one Aussie friend as well (also early 20s), and she’s never used it with me either. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326.md?page=2)