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
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.
Indubitably. Preferably said with a British accent.
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.
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.
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.