once-common words people don’t use anymore

I'm pretty sure I still say 'whatchamacallit' quite often, as well as 'oopsadaisy'.

no one talks about "the web" or "the net" these days do they? apart from like, eminem and other old people

so glad "internets" and its worse variants seem to have died for good. maybe wonkette still uses them idk

Modal very popular with user interface designers.

yes that's on my 'words I never used until about six years ago' list

The will/shall distinction feels archaic to me albeit still on the spectrum of intent. That old tale of a man drowning and shouting 'I will drown!' and people thinking, fine, if you're that sure you carry on mush. Whereas if he'd shouted 'I shall drown' everyone would have waded in to help.

It's even more complicated than that... will and shall switch meanings based on person:

I will drown! = I intend to drown, don't stop me!
I shall drown! = I am about to drown, help me!
He will drown! = He is about to drown, help him!
He shall drown! = He intends to drown, don't stop him!

Feel like nobody says "it stinks" anymore when judging the quality of something. "Sucks" seems to now be the only term people use in that context.

F. Hazel, is that true about the last usage? ie that 'shall' for a 3rd person implies intent and willing? I didn't know that.

I would say that 'the net' was an earlier common usage; then 'the web' was seen as more correct and people stopped saying net; then just 'online' became normal; but I'm not sure that 'web' has disappeared.

Might have more a shade of command to it than intent, but yeah. It was always a prescriptivist hack to address the supposed ambiguity of shall vs. will, it's very much written about and presumably some speakers actively made the distinction in their speech and writing. Think of it like the may/can distinction in modern English... everyone uses "can" to request permission and express ability, and it confuses nobody because the context makes the meaning clear. But some dingbat is always going to respond with "I'm sure you CAN, are you asking me if you MAY?"

It seems as if even "online" is gradually fading since it's becoming redundant in such phrases as "Last week I bought an (x) online." Might take a while for it to disappear altogether though.

Feel like nobody says "it stinks" anymore when judging the quality of something. "Sucks" seems to now be the only term people use in that context.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/apr/24/keir-starmer-renews-call-for-inquiry-into-government-sleaze

The Labour leader told BBC News: “It matters. It is about integrity, it is about taxpayers’ money. Every day, there is more evidence of this sleaze. Frankly, it stinks.

“If there is nothing to see here, whether it is the refurb of No 10, whether it is the dodgy contracts, whether it is the privileged access, if there is nothing to see, publish everything, have a full inquiry.

“Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

Calling a person a "stinker" is totally retro. Makes me think of an elementary school teacher in the mid-1970s.

https://cdnmetv.metv.com/lVOeb-1611690446-16110-list_items-cecil.jpg

I have had way too many arguments about "shall" because in some professional contexts it has contractual and therefore legal weight.

In governmentese, if you say you will do something, or you should do something, those imply predictions.

If a contract says that you shall do that thing, it implies an enforceable requirement. It means "must," even "must, or else." Fail not, herewith, at your peril.

After taking an Al Gore-approved "Plain English in Government" class, I spent a few weeks trying to convince clients and colleagues that you could just use "must" in place of "shall." I could not make any headway against the tide, and eventually stopped doing government work altogether.

I love the idea that any kind of political language implies intent. Surely the whole industry is founded on equivocation?

xp "stinks" (and "flippin'" too, for that matter) is an accepted swear-word substitute for evangelicals, and is widely used by that lot.

Chinaski, was that to me? I am not talking about politics but rather government contracting. In contracting, "shall" has the force of law. You won't get paid if you don't do a thing that has a "shall" next to it.

Sorry YMP, that did sound a bit aggressive! Was more an open point about political language and intent.

I have a friend who works at a ticket vendor that gives customers a week to request a refund for a cancelled concert, or they will get store credit by default. She’s had a handful of customers who missed the deadline arguing that the email is worded “customers should contact us within 7 days”, not that they must, so the deadline isn’t binding.

I wrote "alas" the other day in a social media post and someone was like "do you use 'alas' in everyday conversation?"

Uh, yes, I do. Verily. Forsooth.

Zounds!

I think 'alas' is used quite a lot. Maybe even too much!

Alack!

Alackaday

nave

sacristy

narthex

choke (as in an engine)

my dad's riding lawnmower used to have a choke

maybe that's just me though, maybe chokes still exist and people still use them

Lascivious

choked by lascivious lawnmower

anyway, I like the word “lascivious” a lot, it’s very good at what it does. wasn’t aware it led a moribund existence.

integrity

quinsy

Penultimate

In the 80s it seemed like every eastern guru in American media was called a swami. Haven't heard that term used since.

good one

My motorbikes have chokes, I use that all the time.

My late father used to say that someone acted 'niggardly' (cheap, tightwad) and I remember feeling uncomfortable even though it's (probably?) an innocent if obsolete word

hale fellow

what vim!

People don't use 'penultimate' anymore? What? I've got to admit some of the words being suggested here are making me if I don't move in completely different circles.

... make me wonder.... ffs.

I agree with Tom D: the concept of words that people no longer use is definitely valid, but I'm surprised by many entries here.

'Lascivious' is another example, I use it whenever appropriate. It's in probably the most famous B&S song. I don't see it as archaic at all.

“vim” is frequently used in Ghanaian Pidgin English. was hearing it a lot in the songs I was listening to, thinking it was a local slang word, and only found out much later that it was actually a word in standard English

Vim is yet another word that I would still use now.

those are fair comments. i still stand by 'swami' being an excellent example of a once common word that is not only not used any more but that i think people would actively search for an alternative for if they were, say, editing a book that contained it.

i think mostly the flavour of thing i'm looking for in this thread is words that refer to habits that are no longer maintained by many (i.e. religious ritual) or words referring to the natural world, or outdated remedies/techniques - that were once incredibly common.

i.e. mercurochrome.

or 'rill'.

Not exactly common perhaps but this footnote in 'The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' tickled me:

Budzak, Crim Tartary, Circassia, and Mingrelia, are the modern appellations of those savage countries.

That's the other thing, a lot of these words were never in common usage.

Suet, creosote and chillblains, I'll give you!