Words you want back in the English language

[Keith]

Yode- old past tense of go before we took the past tense of wend
Ereyesterday- "the day before yesterday"
Overmorrow- "the day after tomorrow"

 

[Maddox]

Hitherto. I know it still exists but is so infrequently used that it is probably dying.

 

[tree]

Hap
archaic
noun
noun: hap

1. 1.
   luck; fortune.
   • a chance occurrence, especially an event that is considered unlucky.
     plural noun: haps

verb
verb: hap; 3rd person present: haps; past tense: happed; past participle: happed; gerund or present participle: happing
1.
come about by chance.
"what can hap to him worthy to be deemed evil?"

Middle English, from Old Norse happ good luck, chance; akin to Old English gehæp suitable or fit, Old Church Slavic kobĭ lot, fate
First Known Use: 13th century

per hap, may hap, haply may remember.....

 

[Harrison]

Hap
archaic
noun
noun: hap

1. 1.
   luck; fortune.
   • a chance occurrence, especially an event that is considered unlucky.
     plural noun: haps

verb
verb: hap; 3rd person present: haps; past tense: happed; past participle: happed; gerund or present participle: happing
1.
come about by chance.
"what can hap to him worthy to be deemed evil?"

Middle English, from Old Norse happ good luck, chance; akin to Old English gehæp suitable or fit, Old Church Slavic kobĭ lot, fate
First Known Use: 13th century

per hap, may hap, haply may remember.....

Happenstance used to be a favourite word of mine

 

[SignOfLazarus]

I don't know if this is regional or what [and I mean the US, as I am fairly ignorant of its usage elsewhere]… but my sister and I were talking a little while ago. It suddenly dawned on US that no one our age or younger seems to use the word neat.
[I'm 32, she is 4.5 years older]

Like, go to science museum, every two minutes: "hey, neat! Look at this!"


Hmmm. I'm also aware there are some other small oddities about my word usage and vocabulary and to a lesser extent hers, but at least around New England- in my experience mostly- people don't often use "neat" for slang to mean "interesting, cool" [and forget how one wants their drink. You pretty much get a big WHAT THE F- face with that one].

 

[Sully]

I don't really hear anyone use 'neat' that way anymore. It would be like someone saying 'swell'. I have no idea how it applies to drinks. I do love the museum of science; I have a membership there.

 

[tree]

I don't really hear anyone use 'neat' that way anymore. It would be like someone saying 'swell'.

"Gosh, this is swell!" ~ Mickey Mouse

I know a couple people in their 40s who use "swell" in
a jocular/ironic way. What I haven't heard in a long time:
anyone describing a class as "Mickey Mouse."

 

[Sully]

I had a professor who referred to some classes at other colleges as Mickey Mouse. This was in community college where the whole thing was Mickey Mouse so those other classes must have been really bad.

 

[Progster]

Gosh, I use a lot of these old words... I must sound really old fashioned. I still use 'neat'. Crikey. Blimey.

When I was a lot younger, 'lush' was still quite popular, as was 'brilliant'. Don't hear those anymore.

 

[tree]

I don't really hear anyone use 'neat' that way anymore. It would be like someone saying 'swell'. I have no idea how it applies to drinks. I do love the museum of science; I have a membership there.

"...a drink served "neat" – a single, unmixed liquor served without being chilled and without any water, ice, or other mixer."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartending_terminology

 

[Keith]

Oh, I guess I started this already.

The evolution of slang is interesting sometimes.

I am so glad "epic" is gone. I've heard people use "awesome" too often.

 

[tree]

Keith
Although I agree, I won't say I'm 'on board'---
I am tired of hearing that one. People I hear say
they are 'on board' rarely do anything once they
are 'on board.' I got tired of 'push the envelope'
so long ago I have forgotten when.....

Here are those 2 and 48 more.
http://www.jeffbullas.com/2014/01/13/50-epic-jargon-solutions-for-better-writing/
How does this fit in a thread called
"Words you want back in the English language"?
The list offers alternatives to the overused words.

 

[Keith]

I would accept either "yode" as the past tense of go or "wend" as a replacement for go.

 

[Beverly]

Whippersnapper, revering to a person much younger than the speaker and, usually a slightly impetuous person. I still use it but, I never hear it used by anyone else. Often I use it in joking.

 

[wyverary]

Widdershins - A counterclockwise direction

 

[Tom]

Zounds!

 

[ChrisC1983]

whoremonger, pre-emptive (outside of war related talk), hence (or "henceforth" or similar), thus....... and bring some words back to their realistic meaning. for example.. your icecream is not "awesome"... i don't care how great of a flavor it is and how long it's been since you had rocky road icecream. you are not struck by awe over the flavor.... and if you are, you really need to experience life a bit more.

i would also like to see clearer definitions of words. to build off the above example... people love icecream, and they love puppies, and they love their parents, and they love their wife/husband....... but they do not love any of those in the same way as they love the other. and it's confusing as hell. i know there's a difference and i can often assume the correct one (if not all the time) but if i mean to say 1 thing and not the other, i want to be capable of saying that 1 thing and not another.

i could make a list if i really paid attention to the words i use compared to the words others use. even with all the rewording i'm required to do just to speak outloud, i still use a far more unique vocabulary than others.

 

[AsheSkyler]

"Widdershins" and "hap" are the only ones here that I don't either use regularly or hear used regularly, but "happenstance" is fairly familiar. Although I do know of a webcomic named Widdershins.

So, uh, is "lush" in the sense of a nice, fertile, and thick something like grass, or does it mean a perpetually drunk lady? 'Cause I go either way on that one.

Speaking of drunk, I'm fond of "soused", as in "he got soused last night". I don't hear it much. And thankfully has nothing to do with souse, although the term also applies to a drunkard.

 

[Harrison]

"Widdershins" and "hap" are the only ones here that I don't either use regularly or hear used regularly, but "happenstance" is fairly familiar. Although I do know of a webcomic named Widdershins.

So, uh, is "lush" in the sense of a nice, fertile, and thick something like grass, or does it mean a perpetually drunk lady? 'Cause I go either way on that one.

Speaking of drunk, I'm fond of "soused", as in "he got soused last night". I don't hear it much. And thankfully has nothing to do with souse, although the term also applies to a drunkard.

Widdershins is common in my arena as I have a lot of pagan contacts, they seem to like the word

I would like a return of august, as in, respected.

 

[Progster]

So, uh, is "lush" in the sense of a nice, fertile, and thick something like grass, or does it mean a perpetually drunk lady? 'Cause I go either way on that one.

It was also used to mean something that was awesome, really good, cool, mint.

I just remembered that when someone talked a lot, people used to say "rabbit rabit rabbit..." I don't know why or how that started.