With the exception of “eh” and “meh” I use all of the words on your list in the appropriate situations. I’m especially fond of *“methinks”. Despite what you may have Woody on Cheers ***say, its not **“I Thinks”. **
JRagon, I’ve never heard anyone say ***“By the Gods!” ***outside of a movie, but being a Conan fan I’ve sometimes accidentally blurted out ***“Crom!” ***when surprised. Most folks have no idea what I’m talking about.
In Spain they’re both required and usually advertised in the teeny weeny print at the bottom of “special offer!” adverts. There were a few companies that tried not offering them and discovered that was not an option: unless you’ve advertised it’s a “clean out stock sale,” if you run out you have to offer a rain check.
The British engineers I’m working with claimed they didn’t know “backhoe.” Please note that I had picked that specifical word in that specific example by writing down what one of their also-British coworkers said; I didn’t choose the word, I got it from one of the other Brits. I used up my diplomacy quota for the year and refrained from pointing it out in the dictionary.
I use “eh,” having discovered that it’s the Canadian equivalent to the Cuenco “pues” (Cuenco is the subdialect spoken in and around Pamplona)
It’s funny how many of these words everyone else use and get WTF looks for using are also common in my speech. I never considered “exceedingly” to be odd at all, that might speak volumes for my mindset, no?
As for the polite things – I grew up and currently live in the South, and have noticed that more and more, people look at me as if I’ve grown a fourth head when I say them. It does not make me a happy girl.
My daughter likes to use antiquated phrases, too. Her favourite exclamation is “Oh dear!” but she also likes to tell people she’s swell or spiffy.
This reminded me…I’ve been known to bust out with a “goodness gracious!” or “Oh, my goodness!” It has to be at least a little amusing to see a big old bearish, bearded man come out with little old lady exclamations! Of course, that doesn’t preclude the more type-and-age-appropriate exclamations, though. I did burst out with an exasperated “Jesus Christ!” (aimed at her relatively ancient and stubborn DVD player) in front of my devoutly Catholic mother once recently…just about gave her a heart attack and earned me a VERY sharp “Hey! Watch your mouth!”
I picked up saying “Aces!” from a commercial starring “'30s guy” (I don’t remember the actual product; just googled it, and all I got back was personal ads). I also like the phrase “Don’t worry, everything’s jake”, while my wife uses “bee’s knees” all the time.
I use groovy in common conversation, generally in response to “how are you?” greetings. Anon doesn’t mean immediately, by the way, it means “in time” without specifying how much time. I use that occasionally. I also use "hemi-demi-semi- whatever to indicate not so much. I am relentless with please, thank you, and your welcome, and at work “what may I do for you?” is my most common response to being addressed. I sometimes respond to “can you do” this or that with “certainly, and perhaps I shall.”
I use “yonder”, which I’ve sometimes been teased for (because it’s considered a “hillbilly” word). It’s a very handy word, though, and there really aren’t any other words in the English language that mean exactly the same thing (as far as I know anyway).
Drat, I came in here to say that I use these expressions all the time, except I usually say “Blow that for a game of soldiers.”
One day I forgot myself and told someone I didn’t want to part brass rags with them. A long and tedious explanation inevitably followed. (I’d been reading Patrick O’Brian or P.G. Wodehouse or something, and the expression was just in my head.)
In an effort to clean up my language a little, I’ve taken to saying “Great ZEUS!” as an exclamation.
I also say “OMG!” in conversation. Yes, I actually SPEAK in internet abbreviations. :smack:
I was going to correct you, as Triskadecamus did, that “anon” means “soon” or “presently”, only to find that it can mean “right now”, “soon”, or “later”, making it the most useless word in the English language.
I say “Oh my stars and garters” to replace profanity in front of the kids. I was thrilled when Kelsey Grammer said it in the 3rd X-Men movie.
Yeah, “immediately” is the archaic definition. I mostly just use it to confuse people (like the abomination that is “deceptively” using that in a stand alone sentence will tell half of the people in the room one thing and half the opposite).
I love the word anon precisely for its ambiguity. “In the fullness of time” is also very useful, as most people have no idea what I’m talking about and are too shy to ask.
I also enjoy:
vex(ed)
my stars!
piffle
expansive (even though, or maybe because, most people think I said “expensive”)
lest
I’ll most likely be appropriating some of the aforementioned words for my own use.
And lest you think me a snob, I also use “yonder”, “ya’ll” and “howdy”.
I’m very big on “please” and “thank you”. (♪ they are the magic words ♫)
P.S. Let’s add appropriating and aforementioned to the list.
I use lots of rather outmoded words and phrases- including latin and french.
Several of my co-workers and friends have admitted to either having to stick with context to figure out what I have spewed out or just let it go over their heads. I find that frustrating as hell!!!
If you can’t figure out what I meant- ask me to clarify!