# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/81 "2012-03-07T14:22:19Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Ghetto? Frigid? Air Mail? > > When did those fall out of use? I still hear them all the time. You get quite good broadband speeds there in the 1980s, don’t you? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/82 "2012-03-07T14:25:06Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Was “masher” considered a very grave insult or a middling one? Could it even have been a somewhat mild insult? Masher was actually pretty serious, as it had overtones of what today we might call a pervert or sex-offender. Calling someone a masher was darned close to calling him a rapist. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/83 "2012-03-07T14:32:34Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > It’s interesting that we still talk about _dialing_ phone numbers. I think there are people alive who have never literally _dialed_ a phone in their life - they just push the buttons. And we still say “roll down” when we talk about car windows, even though they’re pretty much all push-button now. Really confuses little kiddos. I’ve always thought “GORP” stood for “granola, oats, raisins and peanuts”. My mom still makes me “gorp bars” when I request them, which basically granola, oatmeal, raisins, and chunky peanut butter, mixed with some powdered milk, corn syrup, and melted chocolate chips, and pressed into bars. YUM. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/84 "2012-03-07T14:36:03Z")
PS: As in Postscript isn’t really used any more. You can pretty much amend any letter or memo now without adding a PS at the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/85 "2012-03-07T14:36:52Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > You get quite good broadband speeds there in the 1980s, don’t you? 😃 Of course. It goes well with my parachute pants. Ghetto? I hear it all the time, but more as an adjective than as a noun. The guys that work at the nearby sandwich shop are so ghetto. I can think of at least one use of frigid in a movie, from 2001, not terribly long ago. “Oh, I like your outfit too, except when I dress up as a frigid bitch, I try not to look so constipated.” Am I behind the times on air mail? How does a letter travel overseas these days? ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/86 "2012-03-07T14:39:49Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Masher was actually pretty serious, as it had overtones of what today we might call a pervert or sex-offender. Calling someone a masher was darned close to calling him a rapist. I think so, too. The police could arrest someone for being a masher, and a chivalrous gentleman was considered to be doing the right thing if he beat up a masher and saved the woman from the unwanted attentions. By the time the word was used in cartoons (Olive Oyl used it of Bluto), it had already become a much milder term. This usage was current in the 1870’s, according to a couple online dictionaries I glanced at. No wonder it isn’t in use anymore! ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/87 "2012-03-07T14:44:52Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Of course. It goes well with my parachute pants. > > Ghetto? I hear it all the time, but more as an adjective than as a noun. The guys that work at the nearby sandwich shop are so ghetto. > > I can think of at least one use of frigid in a movie, from 2001, not terribly long ago. “Oh, I like your outfit too, except when I dress up as a frigid bitch, I try not to look so constipated.” > > Am I behind the times on air mail? How does a letter travel overseas these days? Nah, we still use “ghetto” as a noun. I just told the guy who came to measure for my backsplash that we could only afford this historic house in such a nice neighborhood because we’re two streets from the ghetto. Something I haven’t heard in years - “the show” or “a show”, to mean a movie. I’d babysit as a teenager all the time for people going to “dinner and a show”. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/88 "2012-03-07T14:48:38Z")
How about “bogart”, as in to act in a bogue manner. “Don’t bogart that joint, save a hit for me”. ---
**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 7, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/89 "2012-03-07T15:09:08Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Am I behind the times on air mail? How does a letter travel overseas these days? Letter? What’s this letter thing you speak of? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/90 "2012-03-07T16:18:54Z")
> [@Jasper\_Kent](#): > > 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!”** _ A very good friend of mine is a professional (Director of Special Projects). She’s 50 years old and still uses ‘Groovy’ quite a bit. It’s really pretty cute. She uses ‘Howdy’ too. She’s a cross between a country girl and a hippie chick I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/91 "2012-03-07T16:40:12Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > 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. “Floppy” doesn’t refer to the casing that surrounds the media; it referred to the flexible magnetic media within the disk’s casing, and compared its relative floppiness as to the steel platters used in the early “hard” drives. Crack open a 3.5" disk, and you’ll find the same “floppy” mylar media as in the larger disks that only incidentally had softer casings. I don’t remember too many people using “diskette” in the day, and agree it’s a bit formal. According to Wikipedia, IBM introduced the term (and I suspect it was meant to call into mind an easily portable media like the “cassette,” to emphasize the difference from the cumbersome hard drives of the time), and it does smack of the stuffy IBM thing a lot of people in the 70s computer scene didn’t like. ---
**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 7, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/92 "2012-03-07T16:45:58Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > PS: As in Postscript isn’t really used any more. You can pretty much amend any letter or memo now without adding a PS at the bottom. For that matter, we still have CC: and BCC: in our email, but I wonder how many younger people even know what they mean. When was the last time anybody made a carbon copy? Can you even buy carbon paper anymore? Also, shortening people’s names with a period (“Chas.” or “Geo.” or “Jos.”) Oh: and one I just thought of that went out of fashion and came _back_: The whole idea of using “tel” in front of your telephone number. I remember when I was a kid that was something old people did, but nowadays with our myriad of contact methods, putting “tel” or “mobile” or “fax” (yeah, who uses fax anymore?) in front makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/93 "2012-03-07T16:53:12Z")
The largest room in our home is set up for conversation (a couch and two comfy-chairs nicely spread out), with thirty or forty plants gathering sun in the windows. There are four speakers spaced throughout tied to our music library. There are books books books along two walls and artwork on the others. There is no clock, and no television (the theatre is in the den down the hall). We spend hours in there, listening to music, talking or just relaxing. It’s our\* **parlour** \*. Many people give us funny looks for using the word. But nothing else fits. Anyone care to join us in there for a single malt or a glass of wine? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/94 "2012-03-07T16:56:18Z")
I still use almost all of these, regularly. But then, I refer to myself as a “dowager” and a “spinster,” too. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/95 "2012-03-07T16:57:28Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Ghetto? Frigid? Air Mail? > > When did those fall out of use? I still hear them all the time. Groovy, daddio. 🆒 ---
**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 7, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/96 "2012-03-07T16:57:35Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > The largest room in our home is set up for conversation (a couch and two comfy-chairs nicely spread out), with thirty or forty plants gathering sun in the windows. There are four speakers spaced throughout tied to our music library. There are books books books along two walls and artwork on the others. There is no clock, and no television (the theatre is in the den down the hall). > > We spend hours in there, listening to music, talking or just relaxing. It’s our\* **parlour** \*. > > Many people give us funny looks for using the word. But nothing else fits. Anyone care to join us in there for a single malt or a glass of wine? “Anyone care to join us in the SOLARIUM for a single malt or a glass of wine?” So much more snooty! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/97 "2012-03-07T17:07:24Z")
Aero gramme ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/98 "2012-03-07T17:33:33Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > You mean flip flops? > [@picunurse](#): > > We called them Zoris. I have no idea where that came from. It may only have been my family that ever called them go-aheads. Regarding ‘far out’, ‘groovy’, etc. - I seem to have defaulted on ‘cool’. It’s not an attempt to be cool, and it’s not what I got used to saying when I was younger. But the older I get, the more often I say it. It’s often found holding court as a monosyllabic acknowledgement that I heard what you just said and either mildly agree or am just feel generally well-disposed at the moment. Cool. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/99 "2012-03-07T17:38:43Z")
I don’t know that it was ever used much in the US, but I can’t remember the last time I heard someone called a “bounder.” ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/100 "2012-03-07T18:01:26Z")
> [@Rich\_G7subs](#): > > A grandma-ism I just remembered. When we would play a practical joke on Grandma as a young kid. "You Rat Finks! " [Rat Fink.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Fink) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938.md?page=6)