# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/61 "2017-01-19T15:31:30Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > 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. It wasn’t archaic, it was vintage! Sheesh… > [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Zounds, I want to use ept. We have inept, why not ept? Apt. Inept isn’t in+ept, but in+apt. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/62 "2017-01-19T15:34:55Z")
Slapsauce - meaning a glutton. “Would you say you’re a foodie?” “Oh no, I’m just a slapsauce.” ---
**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:** [January 19, 2017, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/63 "2017-01-19T15:52:47Z")
> [@cuauhtemoc](#): > > Because it [doesn’t belong in a song.](https://youtu.be/MA-BYgduGzY) But it _does_ belong in a musical: \ ***Philia:** That’s the brute who raped my country, Thrace! **Pseudolus:** He raped Thrace? **Philia:** And then he came and did it again! And then again! **Pseudolus:** He raped Thrace thrice? \* ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/64 "2017-01-19T17:17:23Z")
> [@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. What a wonderful site. Thanks for the link! ---
**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 19, 2017, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/65 "2017-01-19T18:44:27Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > 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). I’ve definitely seen it a lot online. [Here’s a thread from over 10 years ago about it](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=337356). I also just realized that I also came across it in Confederacy of Dunces. Looking at Google’s [ngram viewer](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=prolly&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cprolly%3B%2Cc0) for the word, it looks to be at its peak right now. There’s also a lot of hits on this message board with the word, going [all the way back to the beginnings of the board in 1999.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=353) So it’s not really what I would call archaic or obscure. It’s part of at least Internet slang (and I’d guess pre-Internet online slang, too). Don’t know much about it being used verbally, though. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/66 "2017-01-19T21:31:04Z")
From one of the Dirty Harry movies, I picked up the word “swell.” It’s a great answer to standard small talk like, “how’s it goin’?” And it has a nice, Ozzie-and-Harriet type of archaic feel to it. ---
**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 19, 2017, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/67 "2017-01-19T22:03:59Z")
My current favorite is “pill.” I have a two and a half year old daughter and, for some reason – I have no idea where it came from – when she starts being difficult, I quip at her “Oh, stop being such a pill!” I don’t know if I’ve heard it recently or I’m just channeling the old folks in the neighborhood I grew up in, but I’ve been getting some mileage out of that word lately. ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/68 "2017-01-20T07:20:04Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > My current favorite is “pill.” I have a two and a half year old daughter and, for some reason – I have no idea where it came from – when she starts being difficult, I quip at her “Oh, stop being such a pill!” I don’t know if I’ve heard it recently or I’m just channeling the old folks in the neighborhood I grew up in, but I’ve been getting some mileage out of that word lately. I like that one, and I’ll go you one further “jackanapes.” As in, someone familiar being churlish (another fine archaic word) in your presence. “Heel” is another nice derogatory term for a hanger-on that doesn’t quite get it. 😉 Doxy, bawd, and jade are also fun terms for fun ladies. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/69 "2017-01-20T07:46:42Z")
Fizzgig ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/70 "2017-01-20T09:06:12Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > “Ye” is the plural “you”, according to my Irish-born mother. 🙂 Pluses: it’s short and doesn’t sound too much like “you”. Minus: nobody on this side of the Atlantic has used it in many decades, so unlike “y’all” it would have to be consciously revived for people to understand it. I wonder if that died as the e over thorn degraded to a Y and then became th. Ye could be “the” or the plural “you” Especially as “Ye” as mentioned above was /j/e or Ȝe before english gained the consonantal Y. I do find it interesting that the older plural second person object “you” replaced “Ye” and þe “thee” for singular second person object. Other funny thing, IIRC complaints about vulgar forms of latin often complained about people dropping the /h/ from works, and “it” use to be “hit” in old english. And think about the confusion of hes (his) being confused for his (its), how many less issues due to the the its/it’s problem would be gone had we not lost the /h/ from the neuter versions. Anyway thanks for pointing this out, I may have been reading “ye” as “the” when it may have been “you” while reading the non-modernized versions of the classics like Shakespeare (not that spelling and grammar had been locked down at that point anyway) ---
**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 20, 2017, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/71 "2017-01-20T15:24:48Z")
> [@Elemenopy](#): > > I like that one, and I’ll go you one further “jackanapes.” As in, someone familiar being churlish (another fine archaic word) in your presence. > > “Heel” is another nice derogatory term for a hanger-on that doesn’t quite get it. 😉 > > Doxy, bawd, and jade are also fun terms for fun ladies. 😉 I also like peppering my conversations with “moxie” and “spunk.” Wait. That didn’t sound right. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/72 "2017-01-20T16:33:32Z")
persnickety crotchety ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/73 "2017-01-20T18:39:06Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > My current favorite is “pill.” I have a two and a half year old daughter and, for some reason – I have no idea where it came from – when she starts being difficult, I quip at her “Oh, stop being such a pill!” I don’t know if I’ve heard it recently or I’m just channeling the old folks in the neighborhood I grew up in, but I’ve been getting some mileage out of that word lately. Some etymology supposes the slang meaning derived from someone being difficult to take or hard to swallow, like a literal pill. Makes sense to me. I always thought that was a southernism, though. It was very common during my childhood and is not particularly rare to hear now. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/74 "2017-01-20T19:02:16Z")
Not archaic, but not in regular use in conversation: obstreperous. Boisterous, noisy, aggressive, defiant. Usually used about a child or an adult displaying childish behavior. Which brings us to churlish. Rude in a mean-spirited and surly way. All this talk of whence reminds me of Sir Walter Scott: The wretch, concentred all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonored, and unsung. My thoughts seem to take a definite tone today. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/75 "2017-01-20T22:21:20Z")
“Crotchety” is hardly obsolete/archaic. Googling for pages updated in the last 24 hours returns 566 hits. Lots of various forum posts. “Yclept”, OTOH, returns 36. Mostly odd pill sites and such presumably with weird SEO concepts. Another current user of “moxie” here. But I’m aware of the quaintness of the term. (_Mad_ magazine: permanently ruining minds since 1952.) ---
**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 20, 2017, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/76 "2017-01-20T22:35:00Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Some etymology supposes the slang meaning derived from someone being difficult to take or hard to swallow, like a literal pill. Makes sense to me. I always thought that was a southernism, though. It was very common during my childhood and is not particularly rare to hear now. Yeah, I found an earlier thread on the Dope about this, and it looks like a good portion of Dopers (about a quarter) still use the phrase, so perhaps it’s not as archaic and quaint as I thought. I certainly don’t here it round these parts much, though. ---
**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 21, 2017, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/77 "2017-01-21T03:04:20Z")
Basically anything Mr. Burns says on _The Simpsons_. “Ahoy, hoy!” ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/78 "2017-01-21T03:10:46Z")
I’m waiting for “23-skidoo” and “Oh, you kid” to come back. With raccoon coats for the Big Man on Campus. ---
**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 21, 2017, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/79 "2017-01-21T03:37:06Z")
^ Wanna borrow my [skimmer](http://static.messynessychic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/racooncoatrevival50s.jpg)? ---
**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:** [January 21, 2017, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934/80 "2017-01-21T03:40:12Z")
I would like to resurrect the distinctions between “thou” (singular subjective), “thee” (singular objective), “ye” (plural subjective), and “you” (plural objective). I’d also like to resurrect the distinctions between no/nay and yes/yea. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-obsolete-archaic-words-in-english-do-you-think-should-be-ressurrected/776934.md?page=5)