Terms that you don't hear young people use these days

[Lloyds siding]

'Popular beat combo'?
'Concert' as in musical event.
'cassette tape'

'you rotter'

'Golly gosh',
'Yarroo!'
'clod' as an insult

 

[Doppelganger]

"Discothèque" or "disco"

 

[Bevan Price]

"Let's wait until after the wedding"

"Gay" in its traditional meaning (effectively meaning something bright/ cheerful).

 

[ABB125]

"Let's wait until after the wedding"

Would you like to supply some context?

 

[31160]

I'm looking forward to the future, lots of things to look forward to

 

[gg1]

Job for life

 

[XAM2175]

it seems to me a dreadful indictment of how little correct grammar matters to the modern world, and the new generations, that children now seem to be taught how to use electronic devices before they can read and write. Excuses can be made that it does teach them how to read and write, but, in my opinion, that doesn't address the fundamental issue: the phone or computer that is the modern child's model toy is not suited to reading and writing in a traditional sense. Everything is about typing quickly to get your elbows in before everyone else's on "group chat", and most things online are written to capture the attention quickly and present everything in small bites.

I should like to draw your attention to the vast hordes of no-longer-young people who appear to be no less poorly trained. You don't even need to go far into other posts in this forum to encounter "should of" instead of "should have", for example, or to run in to confusion between "your" and "you're" - and grocer's apostrophes have been a cultural trope for so long that they've mostly outlived the very profession for which they're named!

Again, I'll happily admit that I'm not a typical member of my generation regarding language use!

With respect, and as you do indeed admit, you're so wide of the 'normal' mark for 'young people' that your contributions in this thread are almost entirely pointless; they simply distil to "aha, I am a young person who does use that phrase! But I am in no way representative of the group! But I thought you should know anyway!"

And I say that as somebody who was told by a professor of law that his style as a moot barrister was too archaic

 

[Islineclear3_1]

The mind boggles as to what kind of shop would sell both cloves and clothes, at least, in the same department

Tesco

 

[Trackman]

Do people still go to "the pictures"?

I said that to someone a few years ago- 'Let's go the pictures then', they were very puzzled.

 

[Huntergreed]

Some from the top of my head:

Spectacles
Wireless (for a radio)
Bonnet (hat)
Pictures/Flicks (cinema)
Luncheon
Gammon (instead of ham)
Tea (instead of dinner)
Railway station (most use train station)
Automobile
Splendid

 

[DustyBin]

Would you like to supply some context?

“Can we open a joint account?”

One possibility anyway……

 

[Cdd89]

I feel there’s a subset to this entitled “icons young people wouldn’t understand the origins of”, such as the save, paste, search and voicemail icons. I would add the “reminder” icon (with a string tied around a finger), except that was outdated 25 years ago when I first saw it!

I’d also nominate “reading your phone number when answering the phone”.

 

[Purple Train]

I should like to draw your attention to the vast hordes of no-longer-young people who appear to be no less poorly trained. You don't even need to go far into other posts in this forum to encounter "should of" instead of "should have", for example, or to run in to confusion between "your" and "you're" - and grocer's apostrophes have been a cultural trope for so long that they've mostly outlived the very profession for which they're named!

I am not doubting that - I've lost count of the number of times I've started to type a correction to somebody's grammar on this forum. My perception is that incorrect usage is more common among younger people that not-so-young people. However, that's still only my perception, and it's probably wrong - there are many people on this forum who are much more qualified than I to talk about grammatical standards.
Speaking of apostrophes, shouldn't it be "grocers'" or "grocers's" (depending on taste) when you're talking about their apostrophes in the plural, as opposed to "grocer's"?

 

[Calthrop]

Speaking of apostrophes, shouldn't it be "grocers'" or "grocers's" (depending on taste) when you're talking about their apostrophes in the plural, as opposed to "grocer's"?

If I recall rightly from Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots and Leaves: for "of plural grocers", it's definitely " grocers' " -- plural-with-s followed by apostrophe-s, doesn't happen. (She mentions also in her chapter on apostrophes: that some well-established institutions express their names in a way which, apostrophe-wise, is technically wrong; but, with the force of long tradition behind them, "their way" is accepted: example, a certain big London hospital -- its name, concerns only one St. Thomas; but damn that noise -- it calls itself St. Thomas' .)

Re tradesmen tending to misuse apostrophes: Truss ascribes this to greengrocers (potato's; banana's; etc.) rather than plain grocers. Although she's normally pretty merciless about any punctuation infraction; she writes quite leniently re greengrocers in this respect -- in part because she sees them as "horny-thumbed people who do not live by words" (condescending, or what?).

 

[Purple Train]

If I recall rightly from Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots and Leaves: for "of plural grocers", it's definitely " grocers' " -- plural-with-s followed by apostrophe-s, doesn't happen. (She mentions also in her chapter on apostrophes: that some well-established institutions express their names in a way which, apostrophe-wise, is technically wrong; but, with the force of long tradition behind them, "their way" is accepted: example, a certain big London hospital -- its name, concerns only one St. Thomas; but damn that noise -- it calls itself St. Thomas' .)

Re tradesmen tending to misuse apostrophes: Truss ascribes this to greengrocers (potato's; banana's; etc.) rather than plain grocers. Although she's normally pretty merciless about any punctuation infraction; she writes quite leniently re greengrocers in this respect -- in part because she sees them as "horny-thumbed people who do not live by words" (condescending, or what?).

Eats, Shoots & Leaves is, as far as I am concerned, my grammar Bible.
And, regarding Lynne Truss's description of greengrocers, I wonder: was she thinking of Mr Hodges from Dad's Army?

 

[Calthrop]

I'm weird -- basically "don't do TV": have seen in my whole life, maybe half a dozen episodes of Dad's Army. I seem to be aware only of Mainwaring, Wilson, and the gloomy old chap who regularly asserts that everyone is doomed (I believe that the actor playing him, was a genuine World War I [not II] veteran).

 

[Busaholic]

I'm weird -- basically "don't do TV": have seen in my whole life, maybe half a dozen episodes of Dad's Army. I seem to be aware only of Mainwaring, Wilson, and the gloomy old chap who regularly asserts that everyone is doomed (I believe that the actor playing him, was a genuine World War I [not II] veteran).

John Laurie played him, probably at that stage the most prolific and famous actor amongst them (RSC etc.)

 

[Purple Train]

John Laurie played him, probably at that stage the most prolific and famous actor amongst them (RSC etc.)

As John Laurie was reputed to have said, "I've played every part in Shakespeare, I was considered to be the finest Hamlet of the twenties and I had retired, and now I'm famous for doing this [nonsense, to use a politer phrase]."

 

[AlterEgo]

I’d also nominate “reading your phone number when answering the phone”.

“4291? hello? HELLO!”

Whose number was that, sitcom fans?

 

[Jimini]

“4291? hello? HELLO!”

Whose number was that, sitcom fans?

I don’t belieeeeeve it!

 

[Lloyds siding]

'A pint of mild, please...'

 

[Bevan Price]

"Let's wait until after the wedding"

Would you like to supply some context?

"Let us perform intercourse - or words to that effect"

 

[Springs Branch]

I'm weird -- basically "don't do TV" . . . .

That reminded me that one word I rarely* hear these days is "the Telly". Most people now seem to use "TV" instead. Or maybe that's just the circle of family and acquaintances I meet.

* - the main exception being comedian Craig Cash (ex-Royle Family) who narrates Gogglebox, on the odd occasions I watch it.

 

[xotGD]

Floppy disk
Modem
Fax machine
The blower, for telephone
Two Bob, ten Bob, or any other multiple of 5p

Happily, young people do not normally use the sort of racist and homophobic language that was in common usage in the 70s and 80s.

 

[PupCuff]

"Call into", as in, "I just need to call into Boots and collect my pills."

 

[pdq]

How about spending a penny?

 

[Davester50]

I don't think anyone says "a paramour" these days

Was very much used in a legal case I was reading!

Going for messages is on the wane too.

 

[Purple Train]

If I recall rightly from Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots and Leaves: for "of plural grocers", it's definitely " grocers' " -- plural-with-s followed by apostrophe-s, doesn't happen. (She mentions also in her chapter on apostrophes: that some well-established institutions express their names in a way which, apostrophe-wise, is technically wrong; but, with the force of long tradition behind them, "their way" is accepted: example, a certain big London hospital -- its name, concerns only one St. Thomas; but damn that noise -- it calls itself St. Thomas' .)

If it concerns only one St Thomas, then St Thomas' is correct based on personal preference (though mine is for St Thomas's). If it concerned a St Thoma, then St Thomas' would indeed be incorrect, but it does not concern a St Thoma. Lynne Truss mentioned St Thomas' Hospital (and St James' Park football stadium) as examples where a certain style is universally accepted, rather than it being correct. She quoted The Times Guide To English Style And Usage as saying: "Beware of organisations that have apostrophe variations as their house style, eg. St Thomas' Hospital, where we must respect their whim," in direct contrast to incorrect punctuation, such as in the film Two Weeks Notice (what do the two weeks notice?).

 

[Iskra]

‘Please’, ‘Thank you’, ‘Sorry’ and, most of all, ‘Excuse me’.

I find this entirely untrue. I work with the general public and find the younger ones more polite and that generally more less polite people are older.

- - - -

My endangered word nomination is ‘pence.’ A few people abbreviate to ‘P,’ but most seem to say something like ‘seven pounds forty’ or ‘seven pounds and forty.’ Of course with inflation pence are increasingly unimportant and relevant, so that’s a potentially valid reason for a decline in everyday use.

 

[Big Tim]

I’d also nominate “reading your phone number when answering the phone”.

This archaic (probably another word relevant to the thread!) tradition is still done to this day by my parents (in their 70's) when answering the landline - and I picked up the habit too from an early age - and continue to do this now in my early 40's! Remember other people doing it back in the 80s/90s but not much so beyond that - and definitely not in 2022.

As so few calls are received on the landline now, such a greeting has been known to flumox the only regular callers - scammers!