# Terms that have fallen out of fashion **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 6, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938 "2012-03-06T16:39:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/201 "2012-03-12T13:18:50Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > I have rabbit ears sitting behind and above my computer monitors at work. When people ask about them, I just say it’s for high definition wireless access to the Internet. > > They believe that and want to know how to set it up for themselves, I kid you not. We’re moving and we were sorting through boxes of wires, cables and assorted electronic detritus. We were tossing some, but most we were boxing up to take to Joe the part guy who recycles and parts out computer and electronic stuff. Old modem… donate, a mouse with a non usb port..donate… rabbtt ears… _big larfs_ We did put it in the donate bin, though I have no clue if Joe the part guy will have any use… ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/202 "2012-03-12T14:07:33Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > An uncle, a First World War vet, would say “ **What the deuce**!” I’ve since come across it in Sherlock Holmes movies. Stewie on “Family Guy” says that. In fact when I read your post I heard his voice in my head. 😉 “Gag me with a spoon” - or “pitchfork”, or whatever else we made up at the time “Radical” for when something was cool When I was little my dad used to jokingly call me a “reprobate”. I don’t think anybody talks about a “modem” anymore - all the Internetz are on high-speed cable now and the modems are built-in to the computers. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/203 "2012-03-12T14:17:12Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I don’t think anybody talks about a “modem” anymore - all the Internetz are on high-speed cable now and the modems are built-in to the computers. People do still say “cable modem” to refer to the access point device (with or without router) that the home network plugs into. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/204 "2012-03-12T14:22:35Z")
Now you’re cookin’ with gas! ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/205 "2012-03-12T15:29:15Z")
Well, latecomer to the party here but reading this thread made me realize one very profound truth… I am old!!! Anyway, “back in my day you young whippersnappers…” - People used to smoke grass. They’d roll it up in papers as a cigarette called a “doobie.” (There’s even an old rock & roll band named the Doobie Brothers that your grandparents were fans of.) - If you thought something was really great, you’d exclaim “Awesome!” or say it was “intense!” - Valley Girls were trendy girls in the early 80s. They would often substitute “tres” for very in speech (tres is the french word for “very.”) ex: “I am, like, tres smart!” - Someone who talked non-stop was a “motormouth.” - Teenagers sorely lacking in social graces were typically (insultingly) called a “spaz.” - If you wore a sweater wrapped around your neck (arms tied together in front), then you were a “preppy.” - If you wore a black leather jacket, listened to Judas Priest and smoked grass behind the bleachers during gym class, you were a “head.” - If you suspected a guy of being homosexual, you called him a “bufu” (butt fucker.) ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/206 "2012-03-12T15:39:04Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > - If you wore a black leather jacket, listened to Judas Priest and smoked grass behind the bleachers during gym class, you were a “head.” Back in my day they were “Metalheads” or “Metallers”. A jean jacket could also be worn in warmer weather. Quarter-cut sleeve shirts, black with white sleeves or vice-versa, with any given Metal band (Iron Maiden, KISS, Def Leppard, etc.) were also worn by such Metallers. The females wore their hair “feathered”. You don’t hear that term anymore… ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/207 "2012-03-12T17:06:06Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Not a word that’s fallen out of fashion, but this reminds me of when saying something sucks was considered somewhat offensive. I think I heard the reason is that it’s a reference to a blow-job. Yes, which is why I wouldn’t let my students use it. I didn’t tell them the reason, of course, but would just tell them to ask their parents what it meant. I do realize that the parents now are young enough to not know! ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/208 "2012-03-12T17:23:59Z")
For some reason it just dawned on me to look up Beat Cancel. For those who’ve never heard of it, it was on tape decks or boom boxes (also out of fashion). Anyway, I never understood what the switch was for\* but after looking it up I realized that as obsolete as tape decks have become, I think that beat cancel switches became obsolete a while ago before that. \*From what I read it cancels out whistling and some clicking that can occur if you record from an AM station. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/209 "2012-03-12T17:48:00Z")
“Say …” or “Say there …” preceding any question. My father calls auto dealerships “agencies”. It turns out it’s a very old term, maybe last commonly used in the 1940s. “Heads” around my neck of the woods were also “groders” and “heshers”. There’s still quite a few of them around, fuckin’ a right! Which reminds me … is “fucking a” falling out of favor yet? Addressing young men as “Master”. “Inflammable” with the same meaning as “flammable”. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/210 "2012-03-12T17:50:51Z")
Hardly anybody gets called a pathetic peripatetic anymore! ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/211 "2012-03-12T18:27:41Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > - If you suspected a guy of being homosexual, you called him a “bufu” (butt fucker.) I never knew this! That casts these lyrics from the song “Valley Girl” in a little different light: \*“Like my English teacher He’s like… He’s like Mr. BU-FU We’re talking Lord God King BU-FU” \* I have learned something. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/212 "2012-03-12T18:40:44Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I never hear anybody say they’re “cross” when annoyed anymore. When I hear the term “cross” (which I admit, isn’t often), I always think of Lucy Van Pelt. I have no idea why. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jasper\_Kent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@Jasper\_Kent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasper_Kent)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/213 "2012-03-12T18:49:00Z")
When my dog misbehaves, I call her an **incorrigible miscreant.** I say it with love, though. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/214 "2012-03-12T19:28:09Z")
A few years ago I had a thread where I asked if Brits still said “cheerio” (and some other terms as well) and I got back joke answers about it only being said if talking about the cereal. So add that one to the list. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/215 "2012-03-12T21:34:14Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > A few years ago I had a thread where I asked if Brits still said “cheerio” (and some other terms as well) and I got back joke answers about it only being said if talking about the cereal. So add that one to the list. Bugger. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/216 "2012-03-12T22:06:44Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > When I hear the term “cross” (which I admit, isn’t often), I always think of Lucy Van Pelt. I have no idea why. 🙂 Oh yeah, and Lucy’s a fussbudget! How often do you hear THAT nowadays? ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/217 "2012-03-12T22:28:30Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Bugger. And do the Brits still tell people to sod off? ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/218 "2012-03-12T23:23:36Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > And do the Brits still tell people to sod off? I don’t know, Baldrick. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Entheogen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Entheogen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Entheogen)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/219 "2012-03-13T01:59:51Z")
> [@Rich\_G7subs](#): > > A couple of 80’s exclamations that I can remember that have died out. (Thank GOD, what were we thinking?) > > - Radical! " Did you see the new Nike’s? They are Radical, man!" > - Groty (SP?) " He had spinach stuck in his teeth, it was, like…so groty!" > > A grandma-ism I just remembered. When we would play a practical joke on Grandma as a young kid. "You Rat Finks! " I always saw and heard it as Grody/Grodie… (upon finding a skin mag in the forest with friends when young, one kid always had to say: “EWWWWWWW! GRODY!!!”) UD has it as grody. ---
**Author:** ![Entheogen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Entheogen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Entheogen)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/220 "2012-03-13T02:02:49Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > When my father-in-law (who will be 82 this month) whole-heartedly agrees with something, he’ll say “Right on!!” most enthusiastically. I don’t think he’s even in the demographic that popularized the phrase back in the 60s or 70s. I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s “hip” or “with it” when he says that. > > What about the various “ins” of the past: sit-in, love-in, be-in… Your FIL _is_ with it. 🆒 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938.md?page=12)