A Glossary of Almost Forgotten Words and Phrases
A Glossary of Almost Forgotten Words and Phrases
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Glassman

Original Poster:

24,164 posts

235 months

Saturday 16th August
quotequote all
Whilst killing a chunk of spare time, I tackled a crossword and got stuck on a clue: state of deep thought (5,5). After a bit of head scratching I arrived at 'brown study'. I had to look it up to make sense of it. It got me thinking, and you could say I fell into my own brown study, what other not-used-much words or phrases do you know of?

Such as:

Navel-gazing: the activity of spending too much time considering your own thoughts, feelings, or problems.

Another rarely seen word is antimacassar: a small cloth placed over the backs or arms of chairs, or the head or cushions of a sofa, to prevent soiling.




defblade

7,916 posts

233 months

Saturday 16th August
quotequote all
Glassman said:
Another rarely seen word is antimacassar: a small cloth placed over the backs or arms of chairs, or the head or cushions of a sofa, to prevent soiling.
Now I'd use antimacassar quite happily, it's the right name for those things; however it's effectively an orphan word these days as the macassar oil they were there to defend against has long gone.

55palfers

6,199 posts

184 months

Saturday 16th August
quotequote all
Please and Thank You.

wolfracesonic

8,628 posts

147 months

Saturday 16th August
quotequote all
I know of anti macasser and its meaning, don’t use it a lot though, the word or the product.

Midden, that’s one I sometimes use, along with skivvy.

Oberheim

420 posts

11 months

Saturday 16th August
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Horseplay and tomfoolery.

anonymous-user

74 months

Saturday 16th August
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Wazzock

Eric Mc

124,446 posts

285 months

Saturday 16th August
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Wizard prang - beloved of World War 2 fighter pilots (at least in comics).

Mastodon2

14,124 posts

185 months

Saturday 16th August
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Japes.

Muntu

7,670 posts

219 months

Saturday 16th August
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French Letters or FLs - usually known as condoms by most of the planet


Super Sonic

11,333 posts

74 months

Saturday 16th August
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Copacetic

Warhavernet

547 posts

7 months

Saturday 16th August
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" there's something of the night about him/her "

I thought it had a long pedigree in literature, but according to sources, it dates back to Anne Widdecombe describing Michael Howard.

Billy Eyelash

834 posts

228 months

Saturday 16th August
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Cripes!

K87

4,089 posts

119 months

Saturday 16th August
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Cockwomble

A person who makes stupid statements and or behaves inappropriately.


So very many people will qualify.

Super Sonic

11,333 posts

74 months

Saturday 16th August
quotequote all
Muntu said:
French Letters or FLs - usually known as condoms by most of the planet
Prophylactic.

Mr Squarekins

1,434 posts

82 months

Saturday 16th August
quotequote all
Notwithstanding


Super Sonic

11,333 posts

74 months

Saturday 16th August
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Thou
Thine

Edited by Super Sonic on Saturday 16th August 19:00

Jonmx

2,859 posts

233 months

Saturday 16th August
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Thank you, please and sorry seem to have been forgotten by a large portion of society. Then again, perhaps they never learned them in the first place.

'Buffoon' would be my submission. A sorely underused word that I endeavoured to get into arrest statements when I was plod as it encapsulates perfectly how drunken folks should be described.

Tango13

9,768 posts

196 months

Saturday 16th August
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Billy Eyelash said:
Cripes!
Crivens!

Super Sonic

11,333 posts

74 months

Saturday 16th August
quotequote all
Tango13 said:
Billy Eyelash said:
Cripes!
Crivens!
Crikey!

Super Sonic

11,333 posts

74 months

Saturday 16th August
quotequote all
Golly!
Gosh!
Gadzooks!