# Post your favourite old fashioned unusual words... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 28, 2004, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favourite-old-fashioned-unusual-words/231588 "2004-02-28T05:58:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favourite-old-fashioned-unusual-words/231588/61 "2004-03-01T23:16:14Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > Fortnight ( yeah, verily.) And don’t forget sennight (the space of seven nights and days)! I actually used that once in front of my manager and another guy who liked words. Fun stuff. Archergal, word nerd ---
**Author:** ![jastu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/43a26b/32.png) [@jastu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jastu)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favourite-old-fashioned-unusual-words/231588/62 "2004-03-02T00:14:16Z")
I certainly wouldn’t consider fortnight to be particularly old fashioned, it’s still very much in use today. I’ve also heard kerfuffle, crikey, dreadful, cross, banter, ought and whilst all used quite recently. ---
**Author:** ![TheOnlySaneOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@TheOnlySaneOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheOnlySaneOne)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favourite-old-fashioned-unusual-words/231588/63 "2004-03-02T01:08:49Z")
Indubitably. Preferably said with a British accent. ---
**Author:** ![Deus\_Ex\_Apocrypha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f1d935/32.png) [@Deus\_Ex\_Apocrypha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deus_Ex_Apocrypha)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favourite-old-fashioned-unusual-words/231588/64 "2004-03-02T01:09:22Z")
I’ve never actually heard this word used, only read it in some victorian novel or other, but I think ‘gloppened’ (meaning ‘frightened’) is a rather lovely old word. ---
**Author:** ![Xerxes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d2c977/32.png) [@Xerxes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xerxes)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favourite-old-fashioned-unusual-words/231588/65 "2004-03-02T01:20:23Z")
> [@Reyemile](#): > > Personally, I like any english words that has it’s origins in Yiddish. > > Oh, and Defenestrate. Defenestrate is a great word. I tought it to a class of ESL students, for fun 😃 I know that defenestrate means to throw something/body out’ve a window, but I’ve always thought that this word was mis-formed. Seems to me that defenestrate should mean the _removal_ of a window (c.f. the French ‘la fenetre’) as in; declaw (the removal of claws), defuse (the removal of the fuse) etc etc etc. I think what we refer to as defenestration should really be **exfenestration** i.e. something comes **out of** the window. Not that it bothers me or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favourite-old-fashioned-unusual-words/231588/66 "2004-03-02T05:53:54Z")
Okay, thought of a couple more: higgledy-piggledy (all jumbled up) and lollygagging (not keeping up, usually due to messing around with something). I’m a lollygagger from way back; I never shopped with my family. I shopped behind them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-favourite-old-fashioned-unusual-words/231588.md?page=3)