# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/21 "2008-06-10T00:42:12Z")
I think I’ve only heard it on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/22 "2008-06-10T01:29:37Z")
To me it sounds almost satirically British, very Sloaney, like “Darling, we haven’t seen Penny and Nigel for absolute _yonks_.” As an American, I’ve never used it. I don’t think many people over here would know what it means. ---
**Author:** ![Skylark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Skylark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skylark)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/23 "2008-06-10T01:58:19Z")
No, but I will now. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/24 "2008-06-10T04:26:02Z")
It took the context of other replies to figure out what on God’s green earth you meant. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/25 "2008-06-10T04:32:42Z")
[QUOTE=Antonius Block] 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. [/QUOTE] There are variations on the theme: - I haven’t done that in yonks; - We haven’t seen her for yonks; - It’s yonks since we went there; - That was yonks ago. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/26 "2008-06-10T04:33:30Z")
**Holly:** Cow’s milk, ran out of that yonks ago. Fresh and dehydrated. **Lister:** What kind of milk are we using now? **Holly:** Emergency backup supply. We’re on the dog’s milk. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/27 "2008-06-10T06:26:57Z")
I used it a bit in the 90s, but I don’t use it (or hear it much) now. No cite, but in my experience it tends to be more a New Zealand thing. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/28 "2008-06-10T06:49:14Z")
[QUOTE=lobotomyboy63] Maybe it’s time for me to get glasses. I misread the title as “wanks ago.” [/QUOTE] Heh, the last time I hand a wank was yonks ago 😛 Fairly common expression in my neck of the woods, yonks that is not wanks…although…erm, right ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/29 "2008-06-10T07:02:03Z")
Yeah, Mancs have no word for “wank”. It’s like fish have no word for “water”. 😛 Why yes, I did catch that “Naaaridge” crack of yours the other day. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/30 "2008-06-10T07:56:41Z")
British. I’ve heard it occasionally, said it a few times, consider it uncommon, but not weird. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/31 "2008-06-10T08:07:09Z")
I say it. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/32 "2008-06-10T09:25:18Z")
Spent time in US, UK, NZ and Australia - very familiar with it (although more with the ‘in yonks’ format - the OP sounded a little odd to me) would expect it’s not of US origin though. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/33 "2008-06-10T10:09:38Z")
I’d say far more kiwi than UK, but occasionally hear it over here. Si ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/34 "2008-06-10T10:13:46Z")
[QUOTE=Max Torque] 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. [/QUOTE] I’ve seen all of Red Dwarf several times now, and I don’t remember that expression. Funny how that works. Maybe I just filtered it out as unintelligible noise. Anyway, the equivalent Bay Area expression would be “hella days ago”. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/35 "2008-06-10T10:28:09Z")
English,used to say it many years ago but dont say it now I suspect it might have been a “trendy” saying at the time Man. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/36 "2008-06-10T11:18:55Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] I used it a bit in the 90s, but I don’t use it (or hear it much) now. No cite, but in my experience it tends to be more a New Zealand thing. [/QUOTE] My Victorian transplant husband says it all the time. Not me. Cheers, G ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/37 "2008-06-10T11:23:35Z")
My elder brother and I used it a lot when I was growing up in the late 60s/early 70s. It was quite common, iirc. I had the impression then that it was a new expression then, but I could well be wrong on that point. ---
**Author:** ![Trisha\_McMillan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@Trisha\_McMillan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trisha_McMillan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/38 "2008-06-10T11:55:04Z")
Heard it often, used it lots, though thinking about perhaps less so in recent years. However have now read it and said it over and over again enough to make it sound utterly meaningless gibberish. May need to give it a wild berth and then see how it feels at a later date. “Yonks”. Yes, I’ve ruined it for myself now. ---
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/39 "2008-06-10T13:07:43Z")
I say it quite often. British - grew up in the North East. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326/40 "2008-06-10T13:30:16Z")
British - my Dad says it a lot, me not so much if at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-yonks-ago/452326.md?page=3)