# 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:** 3
**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 6, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/41 "2012-03-06T22:32:39Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > True enough, but I don’t even know of any current a capella groups still around. Some friends of mine sing in an amateur a cappella group. They refer to themselves as a choir. ---
**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 6, 2012, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/42 "2012-03-06T22:40:17Z")
Spoony bard? Never heard that one. I still think “strumpet” has a nice ring to it, although I guess I don’t use the word in everyday speech. Anybody say “rogue” or “bimbo” anymore? And I haven’t heard “masher” in decades. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/43 "2012-03-06T22:47:26Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > To me, it’s just a “trash can”. My new landlord referred to it as a “barrel”. I don’t know if that’s a northeast thing, or because of his profession (he’s a contractor). I use Garbage Can or Trash Can. I would use barrels for those bigger oil-drum-like cans (or plastic drums) you find in parks. Actually, is Skips/Dumpsters/Tips a national thing - Dumpsters in the US, Skips in the UK maybe? ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/44 "2012-03-06T22:51:04Z")
> [@Jasper\_Kent](#): > > Spoony bard? Never heard that one. > > I still think “strumpet” has a nice ring to it, although I guess I don’t use the word in everyday speech. Anybody say “rogue” or “bimbo” anymore? And I haven’t heard “masher” in decades. Was “masher” considered a very grave insult or a middling one? Could it even have been a somewhat mild insult? ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/45 "2012-03-06T22:51:16Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > We called them Zoris. I have no idea where that came from. Japan? ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/46 "2012-03-06T22:54:28Z")
My husband calls my purse a pocketbook and the refrigerator an icebox. He isn’t 60, but he has the quality of not adapting to other people’s speech patterns, so his vocab is something like his mother’s; she’s 97 or so, and from tidewater VA. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/47 "2012-03-06T22:56:57Z")
A woman being described as “frigid.” Dates a work immediately to pre-1970 (and even in the sixties only old fuddy-duddies still used the term). ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/48 "2012-03-06T23:02:46Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Rascal! I think it’s interesting that this word, which nowadays connotes a mildly-misbehaving but lovable scamp, was once an insult serious enough to provoke duels. ---
**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 6, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/49 "2012-03-06T23:02:47Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Was “masher” considered a very grave insult or a middling one? Could it even have been a somewhat mild insult? It was fading out even when I was young, so I’m not really sure. I think it was relatively mild. ---
**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 6, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/50 "2012-03-06T23:04:38Z")
> [@Jasper\_Kent](#): > > Spoony bard? Never heard that one. I was just being silly: “rakish cad” reminded me of it. It’s an insult (or maybe more of a term of endearment) from one of the old Final Fantasy games. It gets tossed around by gamers occasionally, or anyway it used to around the time the game it was from was popular. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/51 "2012-03-06T23:14:26Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > You spoony bard! > > It’s not really a term, but I do wonder how long it’ll be before the kids have no idea what that little icon is on their documents that’s supposed to represent “save” (it’s a 3.5" diskette). Diskette? I always called them ‘floppies’, even though the 3.5" floppies were encased in hard plastic and were not, therefore, actually floppy; the older 5.25" floppies were indeed floppy, as were the even older 8" floppies (which I’ve never personally seen), so by the time the 3.5" version came out everyone just kept using the old term. That term never applied to Zip Disks, however, and it certainly was never used for thumb drives. ‘Diskette’ would have made more sense, but it’s a bit formal. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/52 "2012-03-06T23:16:19Z")
> [@Jasper\_Kent](#): > > It was fading out even when I was young, so I’m not really sure. I think it was relatively mild. I looked it up and it pretty much means rapist or date rapist, right? The definition I saw said it’s a man who forces himself on a woman. > [@Neidhart](#): > > I think it’s interesting that this word, which nowadays connotes a mildly-misbehaving but lovable scamp, was once an insult serious enough to provoke duels. Yes, some terms which used to be quite negative now are used in very light-hearted ways. The King James’ Bible gives us an example: Jeremiah 24:2 One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. Proverbs 17:4 A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue. ---
**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 6, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/53 "2012-03-06T23:20:39Z")
Here’s a confession: If the fact that I’m an old hippie isn’t already obvious to people, it becomes so immediately when I blurt out the phrase _“far out”_ or sometimes even _ **"far-fucking-out!"** _ ---
**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 6, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/54 "2012-03-06T23:29:32Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > I looked it up and it pretty much means rapist or date rapist, right? The definition I saw said it’s a man who forces himself on a woman. I could be wrong, but I never thought it meant “rapist.” I thought is was more like a guy who comes on too strong or is overly suggestive to a woman-- making her uncomfortable, but not threatened. Back then, “date rape” was not an expression. If a man forced himself on a woman during a date, “she must have been asking for it.” _ **Not my opinion-- the sexist attitude of the times!** _ ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/55 "2012-03-06T23:31:37Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > I looked it up and it pretty much means rapist or date rapist, right? The definition I saw said it’s a man who forces himself on a woman. I only ever heard it said when watching reruns of the Flinstones. “You brute, you masher!” So I don’t think it could be that bad a term if it was used in a cartoon. Yeah, the Flinstones was aimed at adults, but it was the 60’s. Even adult shows had to be kid friendly. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/56 "2012-03-07T00:06:21Z")
That broad was a real dame. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/57 "2012-03-07T00:14:18Z")
For some reason mine all come from transportation: Automobile Pantechnicon Airliner Jalopy Pram Omnibus Perhaps because that area does change so rapidly. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/58 "2012-03-07T00:16:42Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > To me, it’s just a “trash can”. My new landlord referred to it as a “barrel”. I don’t know if that’s a northeast thing, or because of his profession (he’s a contractor). It’s a New England thing, I think. I’m from away, and call it a garbage can. My husband, who’s from MA, calls it a trash barrel. Don’t get me started on shopping “trolleys.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/59 "2012-03-07T00:40:51Z")
I like using varying terms for the same thing. Language would be pretty boring, otherwise! That said, we had an ‘icebox’ for a couple of years while I was growing up. Our fridge broke, didn’t have the money to replace it, but we did have a huge functional freezer in the basement. So…we took empty plastic gallon milk containers, froze them full of water, and used 4-6 of them in the fridge. With 4 kids, there were plenty of hands to ‘Change the ice!’ the two or three times a day it took to keep everything cold. It worked VERY well! If any of our family members need a secret phrase or question to figure out if it’s REALLY THEM, the phrase ‘Change the ice’ and what it means will definitely be it. 😛 ---
**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 7, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/60 "2012-03-07T02:52:01Z")
“Been put through the wringer” is still a phrase I hear on occasion, yet I haven’t seen a wringer washer since the mid 1960’s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938.md?page=4)