# 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:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**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 11, 2023, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/41 "2023-06-11T19:59:19Z")
I think the word “Lest” is becoming (has become?) an anachronism. I use it whenever I can - lest it be forgotten. j ---
**Author:** ![doc481](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@doc481](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doc481)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2023, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/42 "2023-06-11T20:09:41Z")
Grandpa used to say, “What the Sam Hill”. As a youngster I thought he was swearing. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2023, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/43 "2023-06-11T20:18:57Z")
Call 'em a caitiff; that’s too old-school to be mistaken for “Victorian” or otherwise jokey. I did hear a (relatively) young person [American, though Wiktionary says it is originally RAF slang], within the past few years, refer to something awesome as “wizard!”, so maybe that could be on the way back. ---
**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 11, 2023, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/44 "2023-06-11T20:21:10Z")
I have to imagine JK Rowling and her ghastly (though highly profitable) literary offspring have a hand in that. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2023, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/45 "2023-06-11T20:26:42Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > 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.” Me, too. > [@Karen\_Lingel](#): > > Hors piste. This is a French term that means “off ski-run” and has an element of maverick/hotdogging to it. I’ve seen it as “off-piste,” and I’ve seen it quite a bit in UK books/movies/TV shows. It’s a kinda English/French hybrid term. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2023, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/46 "2023-06-13T02:24:54Z")
“I will desire you to live in the mean time, and eat your victuals: come, there is sauce for it.”-- Fluellen (in _Henry V_). Of course, it is often claimed that Appalachia is the place to go if you want to hear English as it sounded in Shakespeare’s time. “Pshaw” doesn’t recall come across in print; at least, once the ink is dry. Back to “frank”, the popularity of the phrase “Not to put too fine a point on it…” really shows the lengths people will go to to avoid the word. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/47 "2023-08-15T15:51:17Z")
I hope to use the word fulcrum more often, in particular I hope to use the plural form some day. I day-dream about a situation in which I could muse that a lever with two non co-axial fucra is an oxymoron and remains immobile. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2023, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265/48 "2023-08-22T19:44:41Z")
And here you just did! Mark your calendar and take yourself out for dinner. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-wish-were-in-more-common-use/985265.md?page=2)