# Words (and phrases) you wish were in more common use **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 9, 2023, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265 "2023-06-09T20:58:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/1 "2023-06-09T20:58:04Z")
Avoiding a hijack of a very serious thread. > [@FBI Search and Seizure at Trump's Mar-A-Lago Residence (August 8, 2022)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-08-08-22/969329/5320): > > bolding mine and off-topic: This word isn’t used enough. Kudos! What other words and phrases do you wish were used more widely. ETA: To clarify it was “higgedly piggedly” that was being referred to here. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/2 "2023-06-09T20:59:26Z")
For the record, the word that was being kudos-ed in that thread was “higgledy-piggledy.” ninja’d! ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/3 "2023-06-09T21:05:14Z")
My contribution is, “cattywampus”. Askew, awry, or kitty-corner. “The post office is cattywampus from Starbucks.” ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/4 "2023-06-09T21:05:43Z")
I’m flummoxed! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/5 "2023-06-09T21:11:49Z")
Not enough people get called “knuckleheads.” ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/6 "2023-06-09T21:30:55Z")
More folks need to get called “whippersnappers” and “smartypants”. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/7 "2023-06-09T21:32:54Z")
Whatever happened to dunces? Lord knows we still have too many of them. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/8 "2023-06-09T21:38:53Z")
“I know you are a nincompoop, and I strongly suspect you of being a scalawag.” William Powell, in Life With Father. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/9 "2023-06-09T21:48:09Z")
Though I am glad that the actual people no longer exist, I still wish that we could still use “highwayman”. “Brigand” and “cad” should still be in popular use as well ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/10 "2023-06-09T22:15:35Z")
Avast me bucko’s! Shiver me timbers! > [@smithsb](#): > > My contribution is, “cattywampus”. > Askew, awry, or kitty-corner. > > “The post office is cattywampus from Starbucks.” Interesting. I know cattywampus only as askew or damaged / screwed up. “After the crash, his fender was all cattywampus.” I have never heard it used to mean near, adjacent, or kitty-corner / cater-corner / cat-a-corner or any of the other variations on that idiom meaning “diagonally opposite.” ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/11 "2023-06-09T22:17:00Z")
Moist panties. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/12 "2023-06-09T22:18:30Z")
Or getting your panties in a wad. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/13 "2023-06-09T22:23:24Z")
On that theme there’s a barrel load of words that could handily see more service. Trolleys, undercrackers… I turned off autocorrect. It’s so much better. j ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/14 "2023-06-09T22:26:57Z")
Hors piste. This is a French term that means “off ski-run” and has an element of maverick/hotdogging to it. I use it a lot and I don’t think people understand what I am saying. (Maybe that’s good.) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/15 "2023-06-09T22:29:12Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Moist panties. In case anyone thinks I’m just being a perv… [Language Log » Literary moist aversion](https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4389) ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/16 "2023-06-09T22:30:14Z")
Detritus. And impunity. More people should use the word “detritus” with impunity. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/17 "2023-06-09T22:38:23Z")
> [@dirtball](#): > > Detritus. And impunity. More people should use the word “detritus” with impunity I love “detritus”, the word, that is, not the stuff 😄 ---
**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:** [June 9, 2023, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/18 "2023-06-09T23:28:53Z")
“Slake”. It’s one thing to have your thirst satisfied or to be sated. But to have it slaked sounds so much spiffier. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/19 "2023-06-10T00:21:54Z")
I like how British people, call people they don’t like, ‘rubbish human being!’ I mean, it’s mean, yet somehow not quite as foul as calling someone trash. From my Asian friends I like calling the local variety store the generic ‘Mama shop’, everyone knows it’s the store your Mama always sends you to fetch things. I also like, ‘Can!’, and ‘Also can! ‘ as full sentences. As in, “Can we stop at the ATM on the way…”, response; “Can!” If they add, “…and maybe the deli too.”, “ Also Can!” (Or, equally good, “Can also.”) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/20 "2023-06-10T01:45:49Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > “Slake”. It’s one thing to have your thirst satisfied or to be sated. But to have it slaked sounds so much spiffier. I was not a big fan of the M.A.S.H. TV series. Saw it now and again, nothing wrong with it, but nothing special about it either. I’ve always been aloof about TV in general and this was general TV as far as I could see. There is a line in one episode I happened to see where Radar O’Reilly is talked embarrassedly (or was it enthusiastically?) to one of the main doctor characters about some novels he had gotten in the mail (or from the library or something?). Anyhow, in his clueless wide eyed nerdly way he said something about like “These stories have ‘slaking’ in them!” with an embarrassed shiver of delight. So ever since, “slaking” has been code at my house for shagging. Which makes all the other more innocent non-O’Reilly uses of the term much more interesting. 😁 But yeah, count me in for more slaking. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265.md?page=2)