# "Old-personisms" that have sneakily snuck into your habits or vocabulary **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 12, 2023, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111 "2023-01-12T16:52:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2024, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/261 "2024-03-01T05:24:24Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > And speaking of which. I’m sometimes still surprised to find fruits like strawberries during the off season. When I was a kid, I don’t ever remember seeing strawberries at winter, but these days you can still find them in the store even if they’re expensive. The only truly seasonal fruit I can think of now (as in, you can only get certain times of the year) are fresh cherries. Which makes them a real treat when they are in season. ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2024, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/262 "2024-03-01T17:15:14Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > had a remote control that literally clicked to change the channel). My uncle had a television with an actual “clicker”. Opening a fresh 2 liter bottle of soda was also enough to change the channel. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/263 "2024-03-02T04:11:59Z")
> [@solost](#): > > ‘Cool’ is a rare slang term that seems to straddle generations. I worked with a nonagenarian who’d grown up in the clubs of Greenwich Village. He was so amazed that cool was still cool. “A lot of old terms we used faded away, but we were using ‘cool’ back in the early '50s, I first heard it used by old jazz musicians back then. Even the beat poets… And hey, here we are, we’re still cool!” ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/264 "2024-03-03T03:58:01Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/wugWGhItaQA/maxresdefault.jpg "West Side Story - Cool (1961) HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wugWGhItaQA&t=10) ---
**Author:** ![ColdBrew50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@ColdBrew50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColdBrew50)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/265 "2024-03-03T09:23:24Z")
None. Says he defiantly. Except that I now look for a longer stick to push a button or perhaps to reach something else just outside of reach. No, actually, not kidding. Am 47 years young and in good health, with a good skeleton and muscles for miles…I just don’t like bending over to reach stuff. Cf. Jean Gabin. When he got to be a certain age, if Peter Macsonofbitch is to be believed, he had it written into his contract he didn’t bend over in films. Also, envious of those grabber sticks. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/266 "2024-03-03T12:48:09Z")
Be careful. The way to become unable to bend over is to be unwilling to bend over. The way to remain spry is to behave spry. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/267 "2024-03-03T13:31:18Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The way to remain spry is to behave spry. That is so true. My gf took her mom to Florida to visit relatives. I have a typed list of things that need to be done each morning/evening wrt the horses, chickens, wildlife, etc. It’s almost like I’ve enrolled in a gym. I actually feel good doing the extra work. Then again it is unseasonably warm outside. I shudder to think about doing her chores if it was cold and snowy. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/268 "2024-03-03T22:28:56Z")
I keep commenting on all the places (mostly restaurants) that are gone when I’m out driving around. And it makes me sad. _Sniff_ ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/269 "2024-03-03T22:29:48Z")
“Kids these days…” ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/270 "2024-03-04T16:31:21Z")
> [@solost](#): > > The last I remember seeing them in stores was maybe the early 90s- I introduced a friend to them. We juiced a bunch of them and made the best screwdrivers ever. Anybody remember Temples, or seen them in stores recently? Now _that_ was an orange! Cara Cara’s come close. But yeah, I remember. I knew they were doomed though, because they had so many seeds. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/271 "2024-03-04T16:34:38Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > Honeycrisp is no longer under patent; they don’t seem as good lately. The first Honeycrisps I ever bought were so big that I made a pie from a single one. The great thing they retain though, is that the skin does not get chalky when you bake them. Most apples have to be peeled if you want to heat them up. But a Honeycrisp, you can bake it stuffed or in a pie and just eat the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/272 "2024-03-05T17:30:53Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Hwæt! We Gār‐Dena⁠ in geār‐dagum þēod‐cyninga⁠ þrym gefrūnon The first word of _Beowulf_ doesn’t mean “white”? or does it? I thought it was just some kind of utterance, like “all right!” or “OK!” or “Hey!” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/273 "2024-03-05T20:56:11Z")
It’s literally “what,” but in this context it is more like “Okay!” or “hey!” ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/274 "2024-03-05T21:02:17Z")
There is a company that makes prepared dinners and delivers them to elderly customers. Their commercials show an elderly woman, remembering as a young girl about how they used to deliver milk. They then show a younger man unloading dinners into a fridge, while the old woman says “and it’s always great to chat with Bob. He’s an old soul…” Was the phrase “old soul” popular, referring to a younger man? Is it likely to appeal to the elderly? ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/275 "2024-03-05T21:18:17Z")
My English professor who taught us _Beowulf_ translated it as “Listen!” ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/276 "2024-03-05T23:54:59Z")
It actually looks like a cognate of “what”-- don’t know why that never occurred to me before. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/277 "2024-03-06T00:50:30Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > It is or was considered high register speech within the US, especially in the Northeast. > > IOW: > > > Ignorant yokels say “wite”. We grand people of high breeding say “hwite”. Pinkies extended, but more than that noses elevated. Of course. I spent my early childhood in the deep South in rather crappy public schools saying “cain’t” and “Chewsday” and “duddin-it” and “iddin-it” and “Co-cola” and “Seb-mup”, but damned if they didn’t drill in “Huh-wether” and “Huh-wite” hard enough to last a lifetime. They actually taught: when you see “WH”, just reverse the letters in your head before you say them. And they damn well enforced the rule. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/278 "2024-03-06T01:11:17Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > Yes, I was explicitly taught in elementary school that the digraph “wh” was to be pronounced “hw” in all instances, and pronouncing it simply as “w” was incorrect. > > Thus, “where” and “wear” are not pronounced the same way. Neither are “which” and “witch,” “whether” and “weather,” or “whet” and “wet. Where did you grow up? This is part of the [wine - whine merger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation_of_English_%E2%9F%A8wh%E2%9F%A9#:~:text=Wine%E2%80%93whine%20merger,-The%20area%20indicated&text=In%20most%20other%20areas%20of,%2Dvelar%20approximant%20%5Bw%5D.). > [@](#): > > Most speakers in the [United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) and [Canada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada) have the merger. According to Labov, Ash, and Boberg (2006: 49),[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation_of_English_%E2%9F%A8wh%E2%9F%A9#cite_note-ANAE-2) using data collected in the 1990s, there are regions of the U.S. (particularly in the Southeast) in which speakers keeping the distinction are about as numerous as those having the merger, but there are no regions in which the preservation of the distinction is predominant (see map). Throughout the U.S. and Canada, about 83% of respondents in the survey had the merger completely, while about 17% preserved at least some trace of the distinction. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Hw-w_merger.svg/440px-Hw-w_merger.svg.png) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Hw-w_merger.svg/440px-Hw-w_merger.svg.png) Growing up in Utah in the 60s and 70s, we defininately pronounced the “wh”. My mother and siblings still do. When my kids were having English lessons in school in Taiwan, they were sure that their Taiwanese teachers were mispronouncing words such as “why”, “what” and “white.” I wasn’t aware of this until I corrected a student’s pronunication and the parent explained that is how other teachers were teaching it. Oops. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/279 "2024-03-06T01:41:10Z")
… telling our teenage daughters to put on something on top of that short-crop top - so she doesn’t catch a cold … does that qualify? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111/280 "2024-03-06T02:55:10Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > The first word of _Beowulf_ doesn’t mean “white”? or does it? I thought it was just some kind of utterance, like “all right!” or “OK!” or “Hey!” > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > It actually looks like a cognate of “what”-- don’t know why that never occurred to me before. > [@Dr.Drake](#): > > It’s literally “what,” but in this context it is more like “Okay!” or “hey!” What [heh] inspired me to quote it was the spelling: first “h”, then “w”. Which is still the dictionary pronunciation recommended to those without a wine-whine merger. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-personisms-that-have-sneakily-snuck-into-your-habits-or-vocabulary/978111.md?page=15)