# Old terms in fiction that are weird to hear or read today. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 4, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741 "2012-10-04T20:44:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/61 "2012-10-06T17:19:51Z")
I’m running across the suffix “-ical” added to some words, like “fantastical”, where now we say “fantastic”. There are other “-ical” words but I’m drawing a blank. Has the meaning of “fantastic” changed? Now it means “great” or “awesome” or “wonderful”, but didn’t it used to mean something closer to “fantasy”? ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/62 "2012-10-06T19:58:06Z")
“Aerial torpedo” instead of “bomb.” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/63 "2012-10-06T20:44:29Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > In the end, the Cubs won the National League pennant that year. Well, now you’re just makin’ stuff up. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/64 "2012-10-07T18:56:19Z")
In my Later American Literature course in college, I had to read the following two works by Horatio Alger, which were published in a double novel: _Ragged Dick_ and _Struggling Upward_. > **[Ragged Dick and Struggling Upward (Penguin American Library): Bode, Carl, Alger...](https://www.amazon.com/Ragged-Struggling-Upward-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140390332)** > > Ragged Dick and Struggling Upward (Penguin American Library) \[Bode, Carl, Alger Jr., Horatio\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Ragged Dick and Struggling Upward (Penguin American Library) Yes, Dick used to be a common nickname for Richard, and Alger’s books had the theme of poor boys that made good, but still. Also, I read a book published in the 1950’s, in which women wore girdles, which they referred to as “waist-nippers.” ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/65 "2012-10-07T19:04:50Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > “Aerial torpedo” instead of “bomb.” I thought that an aerial torpedo was steerable… in other words, what we might call a guided missile (or even self-guided, like a cruise missile). Then again, “missile” meant anything thrown, not something with its own power source. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/66 "2012-10-07T19:11:44Z")
> [@Moris](#): > > Speaking of penises… > > there’s a phrase “to give head” = to loose rein on a horse. I don’t think that one’s entirely lost; it’s just that there’s always a noun, pronoun, or possessive phrase between “give” and “head.” I think there always was. That is, you wouldn’t write, “The Lone Ranger gave Silver head,” but “The Lone Ranger gave Silver his head.” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/67 "2012-10-07T19:16:26Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I’m running across the suffix “-ical” added to some words, like “fantastical”, where now we say “fantastic”. There are other “-ical” words but I’m drawing a blank. > > Has the meaning of “fantastic” changed? Now it means “great” or “awesome” or “wonderful”, but didn’t it used to mean something closer to “fantasy”? Well, _fantasy_’s a noun and _fantastic_ is an adjective, of course, but yes the meaning’s changed. Checking the OED, I find the oldest meanings were things like “existing only in the mind; unreal; fabulous” (that last word has obviously changed meaning in the same way), “pertaining to the nature of a phantasm,” and “extravagantly fanciful.” In other news, an obsolete meaning of _addiction_ is [QUOTE=some dead white guy who worked for the Oxford English Dictionary. Let’s say JRR Tolkien. Or possibly Jackson Roykirk] †2 Roman Law. A formal giving over by sentence of court; hence, a dedication of a person to a master. E17–L19. [/QUOTE] I am very fond of this meaning and am working hard to bring it back to currency. Both bribes and extortion are involved though I have not yet had to bring out the shotgun. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/68 "2012-10-07T21:42:19Z")
Drug fiend instead of drug addict. The current book I’m reading is using it over and over. I’d say Portiere, which this same author uses in all his books, but portiere is a doorway curtain which is a specific type not just a general curtain. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/69 "2012-10-07T22:21:56Z")
I’m reading the first Albert Campion book and he often refers to someone as a _queer fellow._ ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/70 "2012-10-07T23:42:32Z")
I still say “fantastical” to mean “fanciful” but then I’m weird. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/71 "2012-10-07T23:51:00Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > “Aerial torpedo” instead of “bomb.” For that matter, “torpedo” where we’d use “bomb” or “mine,” today. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/72 "2012-10-08T04:07:19Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > There’s a passage in Jane Austen’s _Northanger Abbey_ where Henry Tilney complains about people using the word “nice” as slang to mean “pleasant” instead of its proper meaning: “neatness, propriety, delicacy, or refinement”. It was a lost cause, though. I doubt many people today are even aware that “nice” once had this more precise meaning. Even before that, nice meant foolish or silly. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/73 "2012-10-08T05:29:26Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > For that matter, “torpedo” where we’d use “bomb” or “mine,” today. Here’s something I recently learned (probably not a surprise to some of you); the torpedo was named after a fish, a type of ray, that gives electric shocks. I had no idea, and just thought it was named after somebody or was Latin for something (it is, for “numbness”). ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/74 "2012-10-08T13:32:22Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > [A Logic Named Joe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Logic_Named_Joe) in which a ‘logic’ is what we now call a computer. > > I once read a series of short stories where a man was traveling about the galaxy in a single person ship and because ships ran so quietly there had to be a loop tape of background noise running to keep people from going crazy because it was too quiet. That was Murray Leinster med-ship series. “A logic named Joe” was also Murray Leinster. Not only was it a computer, but it was a PC, connected to a world wide network that used a search engine to answer any question. But the information was stored on micro-film. Amazingly prescient. The story was from the mid 1940s. For some reason, I started rereading some old Murray Leinster a few weeks ago. It turned out they weren’t very good, not nearly as good as they seemed 50 and 60 years ago. But the logic named Joe was amazing. Joe was a rogue who answered questions (“How do I commit a perfect murder?”) that filters were supposed to filter out. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/75 "2012-10-08T14:00:35Z")
There is a (probably apocryphal) story that Queen Anne described the newly built St Paul’s Cathedral as “awful, terrible and artificial” awful - it fills her with awe terrible - it fills her with terror artificial - constructed with tremendous skill ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/76 "2012-10-08T14:55:54Z")
Sad as a colour, particularly for clothing, “a sad cloured gown” I think it meant grey. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/77 "2012-10-08T15:01:57Z")
[QUOTE=Harmonious Discord] 1. Penises referring to cylindrical space ships with a pointed nose or bullet shaped ships. [/QUOTE] What? ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/78 "2012-10-08T16:06:37Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > terrible - it fills her with terror Good example of that one in _Treasure Island_: > [@](#): > > His stories were what frightened people worst of all. Dreadful stories they were–about hanging, and walking the plank, and storms at sea, and the Dry Tortugas, and wild deeds and places on the Spanish Main. . . . > (T)here was even a party of the younger men who pretended to admire him, calling him a “true sea-dog” and a “real old salt” and such like names, and saying there was the sort of man that made England terrible at sea. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/79 "2012-10-08T17:45:23Z")
> [@hrhomer](#): > > What? See my skeptical comments on this in post #13. By post #30 he admitted that a quick search through where he thought it might be didn’t disclose any examples. I encouraged him to keep looking. If such a thing exists, it’d bre interesting. But I doubt it – I don’t think SF writers and editors were ever that naive. Others have also expressed their skepticism. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741/80 "2012-10-08T18:40:23Z")
I wonder if **Harmonious Discord** is misremembering some penile-near-synonym like _phallus_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-terms-in-fiction-that-are-weird-to-hear-or-read-today/636741.md?page=5)