# Which obsolete/archaic words in English do you think should be ressurrected? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 12, 2017, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934 "2017-01-12T02:44:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/41 "2017-01-15T01:07:28Z")
I get my shoes repaired but once only. As a mathematician, I use hence regularly and whence occasionally (but not thence). When my kid brother was in college I once helped him write (= wrote) a composition and used hence. The teacher red-pencilled it as archaic. I was crushed. This was in the late 60s. I’ve been known to say thrice, hither, and thither. I would like to see yonder used as an adverb it was originally, instead of the noun it is usually perceived to be. ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/42 "2017-01-15T02:10:05Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > I rather like verily; hither and thither; whence and whither; and forthwith. > > How much more satisfying it would be to shout out “Bring that report hither, forthwith,” than to say “Bring that report over here, now”. > > It would be even more satisfying if I could toss in a “varlet” at the end of the command. 🙂 Yes, verily I agree about verily. ---
**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:** [January 15, 2017, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/43 "2017-01-15T03:26:16Z")
Gadzooks! mmm ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/44 "2017-01-15T03:37:22Z")
I’ve been a proud written proponent of _prolly_ for as long as I can remember and have no intention of stopping; someday it will either be a trademark of mine or it will be widely used. I would be pleased to find that _groovy_ was making a comeback. ---
**Author:** ![NetTrekker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nettrekker/32/2909_2.png) [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/45 "2017-01-15T04:07:01Z")
Whereupon. Not exactly archaic but awkward in modern everyday parlance. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/46 "2017-01-15T04:16:01Z")
Trumpery - attractive articles of little value. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/47 "2017-01-15T04:57:30Z")
Zounds, I want to use ept. We have inept, why not ept? ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/48 "2017-01-15T06:19:00Z")
> [@CoastalMaineiac](#): > > I’m voting for _thrice_. After all, we kept _once_ and _twice_, so why not bring back _thrice_? Because it [doesn’t belong in a song.](https://youtu.be/MA-BYgduGzY) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/49 "2017-01-15T15:07:52Z")
> [@CoastalMaineiac](#): > > I’m voting for _thrice_. After all, we kept _once_ and _twice_, so why not bring back _thrice_? > [@cuauhtemoc](#): > > Because it [doesn’t belong in a song.](https://youtu.be/MA-BYgduGzY) Aw, man, I was _sure_ this was going to be a Commodores spoof. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/50 "2017-01-15T15:19:08Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I’ve been a proud written proponent of _prolly_ for as long as I can remember and have no intention of stopping; someday it will either be a trademark of mine or it will be widely used. > > I would be pleased to find that _groovy_ was making a comeback. I thought “prolly” was a relatively new word (like, last 10 years – I see it every so often.) Or are you saying it’s had its peak as slang and has been on the decline? As for “groovy,” my impression is that it’s been on an upswing since the 2000s or so. I remember it as really old-fashioned slang in the 80s and 90s, and then at some point, my peers started sporadically using it again. I would not at all feel weird “That’s pretty groovy,” and I’m pretty sure I end up using the word a couple times a month. It’s at least [displayed an upswing](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=groovy&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cgroovy%3B%2Cc0) in the written corpus on ngram viewer, but with the upswing about a decade earlier. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/51 "2017-01-15T15:27:46Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Hence and whence are not uncommon. Thence, I’l grant. My impression is that “hence” meaning “therefore” is perfectly normal and not archaic, but not so much “hence” meaning “in the future” as in “five years hence.” That and “whence” both sound old-fashioned to me and I rarely hear them, except for effect or to draw attention to the words. Only my more literary-bent friends and family would use those words. It’s a useless word, but I’ve always been fond of “widdershins” for “counterclockwise”/“anticlockwise”, although looking into it more, it looks more like a dialectal usage more than an archaic one. ---
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/52 "2017-01-15T16:49:22Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > My impression is that “hence” meaning “therefore” is perfectly normal and not archaic, but not so much “hence” meaning “in the future” as in “five years hence.” That and “whence” both sound old-fashioned to me and I rarely hear them, except for effect or to draw attention to the words. Only my more literary-bent friends and family would use those words. _Hence_, _thence_, and _whence_, along with their counterparts, _hither_, _thither_, and _whither_, are also simple variations of _here_, _there_, and _where_ that imply motion. The _-ence_ forms imply motion away from, whilst the _-ither_ forms imply motion toward. Thus, “Come hither!” and “Depart hence!” > [@](#): > > It’s a useless word, but I’ve always been fond of “widdershins” for “counterclockwise”/“anticlockwise”, although looking into it more, it looks more like a dialectal usage more than an archaic one. This word needs to make its way into American English.😃 Just because it’s much more fun to say than “counterclockwise.” ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/53 "2017-01-15T16:53:55Z")
Pulchritude! The pulchritudinous bride took the groom’s breath away. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/54 "2017-01-15T17:01:59Z")
> [@CoastalMaineiac](#): > > _Hence_, _thence_, and _whence_, along with their counterparts, _hither_, _thither_, and _whither_, are also simple variations of _here_, _there_, and _where_ that imply motion. The _-ence_ forms imply motion away from, whilst the _-ither_ forms imply motion toward. Thus, “Come hither!” and “Depart hence!” Oh, sure, I know what they mean and how they’re related. And you’ll hear the idiomatic form “from whence” every so often, too. (Not sure if I’ve ever heard “to whither” or not.) It’s just that all those versions are considered a bit old-fashioned and formal, if not archaic. The “therefore” meaning of “hence” does not seem to be archaic to me. ---
**Author:** ![Melcalc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/melcalc/32/468_2.png) [@Melcalc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melcalc)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/55 "2017-01-15T17:21:37Z")
Here [http://phrontistery.info/clw1.html](http://phrontistery.info/clw1.html) are some candidates for revival. I think epeolatry should be revived, since it is definitely an apt descriptor for some people. ---
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/56 "2017-01-15T18:48:07Z")
> [@Melcalc](#): > > Here [http://phrontistery.info/clw1.html](http://phrontistery.info/clw1.html) are some candidates for revival. > I think epeolatry should be revived, since it is definitely an apt descriptor for some people. From that site: **brephophagist** : one who eats babies (I now want a T-Shirt with this on it) **cacatory** : accompanied by loose bowels **fallaciloquence** : deceitful speech Also, is _garrulous_ still in use these days? How about _blatherskite_? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/57 "2017-01-15T18:58:59Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I thought “prolly” was a relatively new word (like, last 10 years – I see it every so often.) Or are you saying it’s had its peak as slang and has been on the decline? Prolly dates back to at least the early 1920s in print. [Here it is used by Hugh Wiley in his 1922 novel _Lily_](https://books.google.com/books?id=fP0nAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA248&dq=%22prolly%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj8-v_FxsLJAhVV5GMKHYowDGAQ6AEILjAD#v=onepage&q=%22prolly%22&f=false), for example. I don’t know that the word has yet had a “peak” in usage, but I am to give it one (by bringing it into the mainstream). Glad to hear that you hear people using _groovy_. I also call people “brother” and “sister” frequently. It began at work (I am a proud union member) but has since carried over into regular usage if the situation is more familiar or egalitarian, where the respect inherent in “sir” or “ma’am” isn’t required or helpful. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/58 "2017-01-19T13:49:43Z")
“Resurrected” should be resurrected and “ressurrected” put to death. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/59 "2017-01-19T15:04:37Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’d like to see _ **swive** _ make a comeback, myself. > It seems like a much happier word than the modern alternatives. Being an unfamiliar word, you can more easily get away with using it. And it doesn’t even have four letters. You can get a "[WTS" (What the Swive?) T-Shirt](http://www.zazzle.com/chaucer_blog_whatte_the_swyve_t_shirt-235410897778370866) from [Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog](https://houseoffame.blogspot.com/). My personal favorite archaism is “clamber”, which means “to climb”. My father was fond of telling us to “clamber on in” to the car. I use it myself from time to time. ---
**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:** [January 19, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/60 "2017-01-19T15:20:49Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > Pulchritude! > > The pulchritudinous bride took the groom’s breath away. IMHO _Pulchritude_ is the ugliest sounding word for “beauty” there is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934.md?page=4)