# 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:** 6
**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 7, 2012, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/101 "2012-03-07T18:22:39Z")
**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. ---
**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, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/102 "2012-03-07T18:31:53Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > 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.” And ‘poltroon’ and ‘churlish knave’ are right out, I’m guessing. ---
**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, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/103 "2012-03-07T18:41:16Z")
> [@Rich\_G7subs](#): > > “Anyone care to join us in the SOLARIUM for a single malt or a glass of wine?” So much more snooty! 😃 Actually, we’ve spec’d out adding a solarium off the parlour :smack: ---
**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 7, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/104 "2012-03-07T18:58:55Z")
Remember when Heath Ledger was on Regis and he said on his days off he and his buddies like to “Put on our thongs, go to the beach and grab some weiners”? (After the hastily-applied commercial break it was explained that they liked to put on their flip-flops, go to the beach and enjoy some hot dogs.) My Dad sometimes says “Jim Dandy” to indicate something good or helpful. As in, “Well that’s just Jim Dandy!” ---
**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, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/105 "2012-03-07T19:22:42Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > And ‘poltroon’ and ‘churlish knave’ are right out, I’m guessing. I’d expect a comment like that from a rapscallion like you, you guttersnipe! ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/106 "2012-03-07T19:49:03Z")
No one has threatened to [“biff”](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biff) me since my GrandMother died in the early '90s. I never hear “sneakers” or “trainers” anymore. Every shoe has it’s own specific intended use. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/107 "2012-03-07T19:56:58Z")
I’ll say “sneaks” for sneakers, but I don’t distinguish between walking shoes, running shoes, tennis shoes or other athletic shoes. I’ve got white sneaks and black sneaks, plus the Addidas with pink stripes. How about dungarees? That’s what my mom called blue jeans when I was a kid, when she forbade me to own any. ---
**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, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/108 "2012-03-07T19:59:05Z")
Tennis shoes, there’s another one. ---
**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, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/109 "2012-03-07T19:59:29Z")
> [@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. _A Canticle for Leibowitz_. ---
**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 7, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/110 "2012-03-07T20:02:03Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > _A Canticle for Leibowitz_. Thanks. I thought it might be, but I’ve read a lot of SF along the same lines, and didn’t want to take a chance of choosing the wrong one. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/111 "2012-03-07T20:06:55Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > It may only have been my family that ever called them go-aheads. My family calls them go-aheads, too. I seem to recall mom mentioning that her family picked it up when they lived in Hawaii in the early 60s. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/112 "2012-03-07T20:26:14Z")
“Let the cat out of the bag” I haven’t seen a good flogging in a coon’s age. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/113 "2012-03-07T20:32:16Z")
Well, I don’t know whether to keep reading this thread or wind my watch. “What’s a watch, grandpa?” Oh, like the clock on my phone. “Why would you wind it?” You cannot be serious! Everything is electric. A manual watch? You made that up. ---
**Author:** ![stargazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@stargazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stargazer)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/114 "2012-03-07T20:48:32Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > And when they’re done they hang up. Um… up where? That’s been a tricky phrase to explain to my 4-year-old, for just that reason. ---
**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, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/115 "2012-03-07T20:48:49Z")
> [@caveman](#): > > My family calls them go-aheads, too. I seem to recall mom mentioning that her family picked it up when they lived in Hawaii in the early 60s. As a child, I heard and said it as one word. I didn’t twig to the combination of ‘go’ and ‘ahead’ until I was grown. I also didn’t realize that the word peeohed was supposed to be initials for something that the adults didn’t want to say in front of the kids. I just knew it meant annoyed or angry. And that it was pronounced with a whole lot of extra eeee’s sometimes. Come to think of it, I haven’t heard anyone say they were P.O.'d in a long time. Is that acronym still used? ---
**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, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/116 "2012-03-07T20:57:46Z")
Go-aheads, really? As long as we’re talking about very strange words, does anyone know what a cabinet is? It’s something that you drink with a straw. How about kill 'em quick? It’s a condiment. Surely it was not just my grandparents who called it that. ---
**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, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/117 "2012-03-07T21:02:10Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > I’d expect a comment like that from a rapscallion like you, you guttersnipe! A pox upon you, scurvy dog! And my personal all-time favorite: A knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-taking knave, a whoreson, glass-gazing, super-serviceable finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd, in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pandar, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch: one whom I will beat into clamorous whining, if thou deniest the least syllable of thy addition. King Lear (2.2.14-24) ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/118 "2012-03-07T21:06:23Z")
Zounds! Gadzooks! I’ll Be a Monkey’s Uncle! Well, I swan! ---
**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 7, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/119 "2012-03-07T21:09:01Z")
Glorioski! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938/120 "2012-03-07T21:09:40Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > 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.” In the song “He’s a Tramp” in the movie _Lady and the Tramp_ (sung by Peggy Lee!), Peg the Lhaso Apso calls Tramp a “bounder”. (You can find it easily on U-t00b.) In the movie “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (starring Danny Kaye), the leading female character is stalked by evil-doers, whom she calls “mashers”. (In fact, they aren’t really mashers, they’re con men engaged in espionage, and she knows it.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-that-have-fallen-out-of-fashion/614938.md?page=7)