# 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:** 12
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/221 "2012-03-13T02:05:00Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > I don’t know, Baldrick. > > 🙂 I was actually thinking of that episode when I wrote the question. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/222 "2012-03-13T02:33:35Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Grody, I believe. In extreme cases, “grody to the max!” Grotty, I think, for grotesque. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/223 "2012-03-13T09:32:29Z")
Oh, you kid! ---
**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:** [March 13, 2012, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/224 "2012-03-13T12:22:15Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Grotty, I think, for grotesque. No – “grotty” alwaysd struck me as a Britishism, pronounced with a short “o”. “Griody” – with a long “o” – was a Valley Girl -ism. I don’t know if it’s reallly synonymous with “grotty” (the words seem to imply the same thing), but the pronunciation and the user pool were different. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/225 "2012-03-13T12:29:04Z")
> [@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. In addition to the cable modems mentioned by **JRDelirious** , there are also wireless USB modems that connect to cell phone networks. They’re popular with laptop and netbook users, but can be used with any computer with a USB port. We bought one when we moved and were told by our (wired) Internet provider that it would be two months before they could hook us up. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/226 "2012-03-13T12:43:39Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > Oh yeah, and Lucy’s a fussbudget! How often do you hear THAT nowadays? I thought she was crabby. ---
**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 13, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/227 "2012-03-13T15:02:50Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Bugger. Wait, the Brits don’t say ‘bugger’ anymore? Like “Bugger that”? ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/228 "2012-03-13T15:53:41Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Wait, the Brits don’t say ‘bugger’ anymore? Like “Bugger that”? It was a joke, heavens to murgatroyd! ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/229 "2012-03-13T17:04:39Z")
ISTR, in old crime novels or movies, people urging nervous whistle-blowers or witnesses to “drop a dime” to anonymously expose someone. ---
**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 13, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/230 "2012-03-13T18:17:59Z")
> [@rjk](#): > > ISTR, in old crime novels or movies, people urging nervous whistle-blowers or witnesses to “drop a dime” to anonymously expose someone. Ohhhh, I just got this: a dime was what a payphone used to cost. Hence, “drop a dime” into the payphone to call the cops. (A payphone has always cost a quarter to me.) I saw a teenager accuse another teen on Facebook of “diming me out to the 5-0” recently. Speaking of cops, I don’t hear them being called “The Fuzz” anymore. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/231 "2012-03-13T18:50:11Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > … > I saw a teenager accuse another teen on Facebook of “diming me out to the 5-0” recently. > > Speaking of cops, I don’t hear them being called “The Fuzz” anymore. Do the flatfoots have the bird’s eye lowdown on your caper? ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/232 "2012-03-13T18:58:25Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > In addition to the cable modems mentioned by **JRDelirious** , there are also wireless USB modems that connect to cell phone networks. They’re popular with laptop and netbook users, but can be used with any computer with a USB port. We bought one when we moved and were told by our (wired) Internet provider that it would be two months before they could hook us up. The device you use to connect to the Internet through DSL is called a DSL modem, even though technically it isn’t a modem. > [@BMalion](#): > > It was a joke, heavens to murgatroyd! Easy there Snagglepuss. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/233 "2012-03-13T19:42:21Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > … > Easy there Snagglepuss. 🙂 Aaah shut your pie-hole. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/234 "2012-03-13T19:46:02Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Aaah shut your pie-hole. Don’t make me El Kabong you. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/235 "2012-03-13T21:44:01Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Don’t make me El Kabong you. You’re not going to finagle your way out of this, buster! ---
**Author:** ![SkyBlueKayak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@SkyBlueKayak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyBlueKayak)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/236 "2012-03-15T02:30:25Z")
> [@Haunted\_Pasta](#): > > My MIL still calls her couch a davenport. She comes from the upper midwest- is this maybe a regional thing? Oh, my mom says Daveno–accent on Dav (and she’s in Maryland) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/237 "2012-03-15T05:08:48Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > And when they’re done they hang up. Um… up where? At one time just about all phones were wall-mounted and had an actual, visible hook where the handset rested when not in use. When you were done you literally hung the handset back up on the hook. If a house had only one phone it was likely to be mounted on the wall in the kitchen, hard-wired in of course. > [@The cat Mia](#): > > iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidszxagggggtcVnbmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm > mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm > mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm > mmm[here is a picture of me](http://www.flickr.com/photos/78538399@N00/5269360687/sizes/z/in/photostream/) mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm > mm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm > mmmm > mmmmmm (Sorry about that. I leave the room for a minute and anything can happen. Of course it doesn’t help that the keyboard is the warmest place in the room right now.) Until I read **tdn’s** post I never stopped to think that wall-mounted phones have become quite rare, even if many phones that you can buy still have the necessary holes on the bottom to be hung up on a couple of nails in the wall if desired. When you see people using land line phones in films or TV shows, it seems they’re always using desk or tabletop phones. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/238 "2012-03-15T07:07:55Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Blueprints** > > I’ve seen and handled actualy blue-prints 9and blue-line) drawings, but in my professional career, it’s been either hand-=drawn prints or computer-generated or scanned-and-printed prints. The term “blueprint” is supposedly still used, but I inevitably hear simply “Prints” > > I’m reminded of an old science fiction novel where we have fallen into a new Dark Age, and one of the monks laboriously copying the blueprints (white lines on a blue-colored background) suddenly has a revelation that the reason the drawings look that way is because they’re the result of a _duplication process_. After that, they can just copy them black on white. > [@Zsofia](#): > > _A Canticle for Leibowitz_. That book told me why they’re called blueprints in English. The Spanish name is completely different (_planos_, “flats”) and I’d never seen one of those white lines scratched off blue paper reproductions, only normal black-in-on-white-paper prints; I’ve seen some later in period movies. Does anybody know what were those drawings called in English before that repro technique came along? ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/239 "2012-03-15T09:57:33Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > That book told me why they’re called blueprints in English. The Spanish name is completely different (_planos_, “flats”) and I’d never seen one of those white lines scratched off blue paper reproductions, only normal black-in-on-white-paper prints; I’ve seen some later in period movies. > > Does anybody know what were those drawings called in English before that repro technique came along? I believe they were (and, as an alternative to blueprints, still are) called “plans”. ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_G7subs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85e7bf/32.png) [@Rich\_G7subs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_G7subs)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/240 "2012-03-15T11:21:39Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > I believe they were (and, as an alternative to blueprints, still are) called “plans”. Yup, In the trades we call 'em “One lines” (or “Single Lines”) , “As-Builts” , “Shop Drawings” or “prints”. Only the suits call 'em plans. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938.md?page=13)