# What "old" slang do you still use? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 11, 2005, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027 "2005-03-11T14:49:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/21 "2005-03-11T16:16:37Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > I like ‘Bob’s your mother’s live-in lover’. > > [sub]_The Young Ones_ reference.[/sub] Actually, that might be ‘Bob’s your auntie’s live-in lover’. I’ll have to pull out a DVD to be sure. **pulykamell** : I say ‘cat’ too. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/22 "2005-03-11T16:19:33Z")
> [@AbbySthrnAccent](#): > > Oh and “there’s the rub”. Now that’s old school. . .so, were you there for the premier of _Hamlet_? ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/23 "2005-03-11T16:21:31Z")
I use “nifty” a lot, which was apparantly popular in the '70s. I wasn’t alive then, so I dunno. I also use a lot of foreign slang, like “Ach! Bloody 'ell!”. One time there was a British exchange student at my school, and he thought I was mocking him until my friends explained that, yes, that’s how I normally talk. ---
**Author:** ![Unregistered\_Bull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3da27b/32.png) [@Unregistered\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unregistered_Bull)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/24 "2005-03-11T16:40:24Z")
A couple that no one will probably mention: “You couldn’t kill him/her with a double bitted axe” refers to toughness in living through accidents, disease, old age. “Since Jesus Christ worked lead tongs” - an oil field expression meaning old or for a long time. Comes from the bottom position on a drilling rig. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/25 "2005-03-11T16:46:23Z")
I’ve read way too much P.G. Wodehouse so I tend to greet friends with a hearty call of “What Ho!” If an argument ensues, I’ll raise an eyebrow, look frostily at my opponent and exclaim “Ha!” _and I meant it to sting_. Brian \*"half-a-league, half-a-league, half-a-league onward. with a Hey-nonnie-nonnie and a Hot-cha-cha!" \* ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/26 "2005-03-11T16:49:32Z")
_And Desi loved Othello cuz he had a big…sword!_ ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/27 "2005-03-11T16:49:59Z")
Sling your hook - roughly means piss off. A load more old northern English one, too, which for some reason I can’t think of now :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/28 "2005-03-11T16:51:55Z")
I think all my slang is old, and I’m 23. However, also, I cling stubbonly to some older meanings of words (in addition to new ones), like, occasionall using “gay”=“happy, carefree” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/29 "2005-03-11T17:44:28Z")
> [@emekthian](#): > > I use “nifty” a lot, which was apparantly popular in the '70s. I wasn’t alive then, so I dunno. Nifty isn’t cool anymore? Crap! What next? Will they take my “odds bodkins” too? Is nothing sacred anymore?! ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/30 "2005-03-11T17:50:42Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > Actually, that might be ‘Bob’s your auntie’s live-in lover’. I’ll have to pull out a DVD to be sure. I always say “Robert’s your father’s brother,” but I think that came from a Guy Ritchie movie. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/31 "2005-03-11T18:11:30Z")
A better question would be “What ‘new’ sland do you use?” To which my answer would be: None! I don’t use slang until it’s gone out of style and sounds wonderfully ironic! Word! ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/32 "2005-03-11T18:35:22Z")
I’ve suggested to friends that it’s time to “Cheese it!” with, of course, the obligatory reference to the immenent arrival of “The Fuzz.” When driving, and having a loooong wait to break into traffic, when I finally have a clear spot, I’ll call out: “Into the breach!” “Od’s bodkins,” or “Od’s bodikins,” get used often, as well. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/33 "2005-03-11T18:53:53Z")
I frequently threaten peopel with knuckle sandwiches. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/34 "2005-03-11T18:59:48Z")
Admittedly, it is an affectation, but when I talk to mys students I like to sprinkle my conversation with expressions from Nadsat, The Beverly Hillbilies, hard-boiled private eye novels, and British or Australian slang. Recently, for example, I made this statement to a student when we were discussing a friend of his who had run afoul of the police the night before: “That goomer best stay on the up and up lest next time the bottle and stopper tolchock him with no appy-lolly-ologies.” Since the kid I was talking to is a pretty big movie fan, he actually understood me. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/35 "2005-03-11T19:06:04Z")
Cat’s pyjamas 23 skidoo …and Bob’s your uncle Porkies Cool Dude (although it’s a saying I got from my dad: if you’re looking at some guy, and he’s looks like a complete fool in some way, but it makes you shake your head and smile anyway, Dad will say “He’s a _dude_.” Or “What a dude.”) Ace (sometimes preceded by bloody) Widdershins ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/36 "2005-03-11T19:23:19Z")
“Porky Pies” for lies (as in falsehoods); “scrimshanker” or “lead-swinger” for someone who slacks off; “jiggery-pokery” for underhanded doings; “skee-whiff” for something that is crooked. Some great stuff here: [http://www.anu.edu.au/andc/res/aehist/wwi/annoted1.php](http://www.anu.edu.au/andc/res/aehist/wwi/annoted1.php) ---
**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 11, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/37 "2005-03-11T20:48:45Z")
I don’t know if it was ever popular, but I use “neato-torpedo” a lot. I also like “spiffy” and its superlative “spifferriffic” but just on special occasions - one doesn’t want to overuse, does one? I’ll also let out with a “cool beans” if I feel it’s warranted. I have no idea what the kids are saying these days, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/38 "2005-03-11T20:52:50Z")
Cool beans. ---
**Author:** ![mailman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@mailman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mailman)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/39 "2005-03-11T21:01:17Z")
One of my personal favorites is, “Slicker than snot on a doorknob.” ---
**Author:** ![GraphicsGal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@GraphicsGal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GraphicsGal)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027/40 "2005-03-11T21:08:20Z")
I use spiffy, neato, and nifty a fair amount (I feel justified using nifty as I HAD a Nifty-brand notebook when I was a kid and am still mourning its loss…) Cool beans, yep, I use that one Jesus, Jenny in the foothills Christ on a crouton Cool and groovy…even I cringe a little but they slip out. And the ever popular far out… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-slang-do-you-still-use/294027.md?page=3)