# What words do you never use? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 4, 2011, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997 "2011-12-04T00:44:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/1 "2011-12-04T00:44:46Z")
There are words I’ve seen used in books that I’ve never heard anyone use in actual conversation. For example, I’ve never heard anyone called “burly.” I’m sure I’ll think of more. What about you? ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/2 "2011-12-04T01:38:32Z")
I have more than a few. Most of them are words that I refuse to use because they are incorrect, but have passed into common usage to the point where they’ve become “correct”. Such as the word “nauseous” to mean nauseated. And good to mean well. Such as, “yeah it runs real good”. Or “how are you doing”? “I’m doing good”. UGH! And some are words that are correct, but they’re just odd or archaic and no one else uses them either. (I have actually used the word “burly” in conversation :D) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/3 "2011-12-04T02:54:54Z")
I’ve never spoken the word “whilst.” And until just now, I’d never written it. . ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/4 "2011-12-04T03:33:25Z")
How weird. It occurred to me to start a thread exactly like this one a couple of hours ago when I heard someone say ‘terrific’. So mine is ‘terrific’. mmm ---
**Author:** ![67java89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/aeb1de/32.png) [@67java89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/67java89)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/5 "2011-12-04T05:02:36Z")
I have never used the word “shyster.” On the opposite side, my husband laughs at me when I use the word " prowler" to describe a stranger in the neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/6 "2011-12-04T05:06:50Z")
I’ve never used the word “dame” to mean woman. Or to mean anything else for that matter. I once had “persnickety” thrown at me, but I’ve never hurled it at anyone else. I don’t even take it down from the shelf to dust it off. ---
**Author:** ![67java89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/aeb1de/32.png) [@67java89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/67java89)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/7 "2011-12-04T05:21:34Z")
Also, I never use cloying offputting flummoxed Hate these words or have no use for them ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/8 "2011-12-04T05:23:42Z")
Bucolic. ---
**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:** [December 4, 2011, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/9 "2011-12-04T05:36:42Z")
Defenestration. Whenever I toss someone out of a window I hardly ever refer to it as that. ---
**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:** [December 4, 2011, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/10 "2011-12-04T10:01:03Z")
There are unusual words I see in news articles from time to time, often words that I don’t know and have to look up. So obviously those are words I don’t use, or at least never did previously. Sometimes I have to look up the same word over and over each time I see it. One that comes to mind at the moment is “solipsism”. Other words from philosophy. It’s not much my shtick, so I don’t talk about “metaphysical” or “existential” or other abstract words that philosophers bandy about. (ETA: OMG, did I just use the word “bandy”? That doesn’t happen often!) I don’t even know what a lot of those words mean. Just think of any discipline or field of knowledge that you don’t deal in, and there will be piles of words that you never use, that you may or may not understand (or half-understand) when you see or hear them used by others. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/11 "2011-12-04T10:40:10Z")
If I told you I would be lying, wouldn’t I? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/12 "2011-12-04T10:50:21Z")
All the words in the language are grist to my mill. Except grist. Have never said it. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/13 "2011-12-04T11:50:09Z")
Halcyon. ---
**Author:** ![Teufelblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@Teufelblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teufelblitz)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/14 "2011-12-04T12:09:42Z")
Alas, I seldom avail myself of my full vocabulary. Plebians may pronounce me gradiloquent and guffaw comtemptuously, but I find loquacity lovesome. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/15 "2011-12-04T12:46:56Z")
Fuck off. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/16 "2011-12-04T12:47:35Z")
Whilst there are words I often abuse, and words I sometimes confuse, there are many I never use and none of them are these. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/17 "2011-12-04T12:48:59Z")
You 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:** [December 4, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/18 "2011-12-04T15:38:44Z")
I’ve used most of these words. Reminds me of an exchange I had with my teen grandson this Thanksgiving: Me: The gravy has congealed. GS: (trying to be cute) Why does everyone have to use big words? Me: “Congeal”? It’s a perfectly normal word to describe this. GS: Can’t you use a shorter word? Me: You need to read a book. GS: I read. Me: Read more; you’re not learning anything. GS: ::eyes darting toward the exits:: Ummmm Me: And try reading something besides comic books; something beyond your age group. GS: Uh…mom? ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/19 "2011-12-04T17:10:10Z")
Antiestablishmentarianism. Too negative for me. ---
**Author:** ![slm2955](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c6cbf5/32.png) [@slm2955](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slm2955)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997/20 "2011-12-04T17:20:06Z")
Certainly; I prefer to use definitely. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-do-you-never-use/604997.md?page=2)