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

[61653 HTAFC]

Still the floor, raised above the ground slightly.

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So you are saying young people say "I sat on the ground in the train as no seats were available"? Never heard that that I recall. They'd say floor.

I blame Pharrell Williams and his daft "room without a roof" line from his 2014 hit single "Happy"...

Rooms have ceilings. Buildings or vehicles have roofs (or rooves, if you prefer).

 

[Bletchleyite]

I blame Pharrell Williams and his daft "room without a roof" line from his 2014 hit single "Happy"...

Rooms have ceilings. Buildings or vehicles have roofs (or rooves, if you prefer).

I picture different things for each. If I said my room didn't have a ceiling, I'd expect to be looking up and seeing the loft beams (perhaps because I'd taken it down to replace it but not done it yet). If I said it didn't have a roof, I'd expect to be looking up and seeing the sky (perhaps because my house had been on fire and it had burnt away).

 

[najaB]

I picture different things for each. If I said my room didn't have a ceiling, I'd expect to be looking up and seeing the loft beams (perhaps because I'd taken it down to replace it but not done it yet). If I said it didn't have a roof, I'd expect to be looking up and seeing the sky (perhaps because my house had been on fire and it had burnt away).

Indeed. My bedroom back home doesn't have a ceiling - it's very uncommon in the tropics as you want the heat to rise as high as possible, it's almost always just rafters and the roof.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I must be getting old, because I've just used the term "snap box" in another thread.

This is slang for a packed lunch, picked up many years ago from my grandfather who worked in the mines.

 

[najaB]

I must be getting old, because I've just used the term "snap box" in another thread.

This is slang for a packed lunch, picked up many years ago from my grandfather who worked in the mines.

I've never heard that one - is it generational or regional (or both?)

 

[Busaholic]

I've never heard that one - is it generational or regional (or both?)

It's Tupperware.

 

[Pinza-C55]

"British Rail Sandwich"

 

[ChrisC]

I must be getting old, because I've just used the term "snap box" in another thread.

This is slang for a packed lunch, picked up many years ago from my grandfather who worked in the mines.

I think the word snap used to be used fairly generally around the mining areas of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and not just by those who worked down the mines. It certainly was used to describe a packed lunch but also more widely to describe food. I’ve heard parents tell their children to eat their snap.

 

[Matey]

"Yonks". Slang meaning "a long time".

 

[johnnychips]

I think the word snap used to be used fairly generally around the mining areas of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and not just by those who worked down the mines. It certainly was used to describe a packed lunch but also more widely to describe food. I’ve heard parents tell their children to eat their snap.

And South Yorkshire. Where I worked in Doncaster the kids said ‘spice’ instead of sweets, whereas where I came from in Manchester we always said ‘toffees’ instead of sweets. I doubt either are used today in that general sense.

 

[ABB125]

And South Yorkshire. Where I worked in Doncaster the kids said ‘spice’ instead of sweets, whereas where I came from in Manchester we always said ‘toffees’ instead of sweets. I doubt either are used today in that general sense.

"Spice" is, as far as I'm aware, still used by younger people. However, generally they won't be referring to cinnamon and nutmeg (or sweets)...

(I should point out that this is not my area of expertise, so I may be several years out of date.)

 

[61653 HTAFC]

And South Yorkshire. Where I worked in Doncaster the kids said ‘spice’ instead of sweets, whereas where I came from in Manchester we always said ‘toffees’ instead of sweets. I doubt either are used today in that general sense.

Also West Yorkshire, as I picked it up from my grandfather who worked as an electrician at Emley and Park Mill (Clayton West) collieries.

I've also heard it used by people from mining communities in the Preston and Wigan areas. It wasn't used for all food in my experience though- just packed lunches at work or school.

My cousins who grew up in Barnsley used "spice" for sweets as well.

 

[ChrisC]

Also West Yorkshire, as I picked it up from my grandfather who worked as an electrician at Emley and Park Mill (Clayton West) collieries.

I've also heard it used by people from mining communities in the Preston and Wigan areas. It wasn't used for all food in my experience though- just packed lunches at work or school.

My cousins who grew up in Barnsley used "spice" for sweets as well.

Snap is definitely used to mean more than a packed lunch in some areas. I’ve often heard people comment after going to a party or any event where food is available saying “It was a good do. They’d got plenty of snap.”

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Snap is definitely used to mean more than a packed lunch in some areas.

Only ever heard it used in connection with the card game, the breaking of (for example) bones or rubber bands, or occasionally, someone who quickly loses their temper.

 

[najaB]

I’ve often heard people comment after going to a party or any event where food is available saying “It was a good do. They’d got plenty of snap.”

If snap did, indeed, mean Tupperware then that's not inconsistent - so much food you could take some home with you.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Snap is definitely used to mean more than a packed lunch in some areas. I’ve often heard people comment after going to a party or any event where food is available saying “It was a good do. They’d got plenty of snap.”

I didn't phrase my previous post all that well, I should have clarified that the broader use of snap for food in general was the case with the Lancashire folk. The use of it specifically for a packed lunch but not for a regular meal at home was definitely a Yorkshire thing, maybe just an HD8 thing, and may even have been specific to my mother's side of the family!

It's interesting to learn about these various regional quirks, particularly when it's the same word- just used differently. Though to bring us back on topic, I can't recall hearing anyone under the age of 40 use it in the last few years!

 

[Pinza-C55]

Snap is definitely used to mean more than a packed lunch in some areas. I’ve often heard people comment after going to a party or any event where food is available saying “It was a good do. They’d got plenty of snap.”

In the North East it is called Bait or Scran.

 

[GusB]

I occasionally use “outwith” and “herewith”; the former isn’t even recognised by my phone’s spell check! “Whence” is another one.

My usage of 'outwith' was pointed out as being somewhat unusual fairly recently - probably here on the forum. I don't really see it as being weird but, as I get older, I do find myself coming out with things that my grandparents would have said!

When I moved to this village at the age of five, I was introduced to a whole new world of Scots expressions that was so different to that which I'd grown up with. Perhaps it's not so much an age thing, but a "local" thing; as our society becomes more diverse, so does the language we use from day to day.

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Tesco

Shouldn't that be "Tesco's"?

 

[Busaholic]

I didn't phrase my previous post all that well, I should have clarified that the broader use of snap for food in general was the case with the Lancashire folk. The use of it specifically for a packed lunch but not for a regular meal at home was definitely a Yorkshire thing, maybe just an HD8 thing, and may even have been specific to my mother's side of the family!

It's interesting to learn about these various regional quirks, particularly when it's the same word- just used differently. Though to bring us back on topic, I can't recall hearing anyone under the age of 40 use it in the last few years!

I married a Preston girl. When her mother gave us food to take back on the train she put it in 'snapwrap' (her words). A tin of Baxter's game soup also accompanied us back to London, an item which eventually became a family joke.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I married a Preston girl. When her mother gave us food to take back on the train she put it in 'snapwrap' (her words). A tin of Baxter's game soup also accompanied us back to London, an item which eventually became a family joke.

Ooh, Baxter's Royal Game Soup... (adopts exaggerated Monty Python style Yorkshire accent) Luxury!

That soup was an indulgence that a young 61653 was only allowed if poorly. I bought a can for nostalgic reasons a few years ago, it wasn't how I remembered it!

 

[GusB]

Ooh, Baxter's Royal Game Soup... (adopts exaggerated Monty Python style Yorkshire accent) Luxury!

That soup was an indulgence that a young 61653 was only allowed if poorly. I bought a can for nostalgic reasons a few years ago, it wasn't how I remembered it!

As an avid soup-maker, I only buy in tinned stuff for when I really need something quick to prepare. On a few occasions I've ordered tinned soup (own brand) to stock up the cupboard, only to discover that when it arrives, the supermarket's brand wasn't available at the time and they've provided Heinz as a substitute; it's rather disappointing when you discover that the "good stuff" isn't as good as you remember it to be.

In these health-conscious days it seems fairly clear that the "less salt, less sugar" mantra is in play. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad thing; it simply means that we have to "season" to taste".

 

[krus_aragon]

It annoys me a bit and used to annoy my late mother (born 1926) a lot to hear someone say, ’Guys’, to a young group when there are obviously females in the group. (However, I don’t think it would be a good idea to say, ‘Guys ‘n Gals,’ considering just who used to use it is as a catchphrase.)

I worked with a Canadian woman in the mid 70s - she used the word guys as an all-encompassing one, the first time I'd come across this. Interestingly, the singular form still only seems to apply to males, though

The Anglesey dialect of Welsh has long had something similar: the term "hogia" [hogiau] can be used there to refer to a group of mixed gender, rather than just boys.

Shall' used in its traditional first and third person sense is definitely dying out, as in 'I shall and you will'.

My (primary school age) daughter uses "shall I" regularly when forming questions. I'm not sure where she picked it up from, but probably my wife's side of the family (as I'm concentrating on speaking Welsh with her).

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.

In the early 21st century, when I was working in high-street retail, I got a few double-takes when giving "tuppence" or "thruppence" change. ("Tuppence? You're too young to say tuppence!")

On the topic of pubs, do many people actually say "Wetherspoons", or is it pretty much just "'Spoons?"

I still do, but many of my peers don't.

I find that I tend to use a wide range of older words (in Welsh and English), partially because I did so much reading as a kid. I never picked up the Famous Five's pattern of "Do let us go to ..." (instead of let's) though.

These days, if I re-read some of Patrick O'Brian's seafaring novels, some of their early nineteenth century vocabulary sneaks back into my conversations for a few weeks.

 

[birchesgreen]

It annoys me a bit and used to annoy my late mother (born 1926) a lot to hear someone say, ’Guys’, to a young group when there are obviously females in the group. (However, I don’t think it would be a good idea to say, ‘Guys ‘n Gals,’ considering just who used to use it is as a catchphrase.)

Heh, i actually do sometimes say "Goodbye guys and gals" to my colleagues when i leave the office, though most of them are far younger than me and probably won't get the reference.

 

[Pinza-C55]

I work in a store with a number of people aged maybe 19-55. The young people have a tendency when you say "Good Morning" to reply "Hello". I don't understand why this is.

 

[BananaRepublic]

Corporation pop

"Corporation Pop"
My late father used this term, in a light hearted, joking way.

He also referred to children's pushchairs (strollers) as "trolleys", much to the annoyance of my wife, who equally annoyed him by telling him that a "trolley" was something you wheeled around the supermarket and put your shopping in.
Such is the north - south language divide.

Another one was the habit of calling a bench (as in a seat), a "form".
Her usual response was that a form was something you filled in and not something you sat on in the garden.
Oh what fun !


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Here's one I doubt many, if any have ever heard.
More of a turn of phrase, than a term.

My late Grandad (he's now been dead for 53 years), used to use the phrase...
"Ger-off T' park" , which meant something like "pull the other one" or "get away with you".
"Bugger off, No way !" or "leave it out !" might be more modern equivalents.


.

 

[westv]

I work in a store with a number of people aged maybe 19-55. The young people have a tendency when you say "Good Morning" to reply "Hello". I don't understand why this is.

Well its better than *Goodbye"

Do people still say "Whoops a daisy!"

 

[BananaRepublic]

Oh Golly ! - (nothing to do with jam)
Oh my goodness ! - (not self praise)
Flippin' eck ! - (no, not similar to cooking pancakes)
Bumming a lift - (doesn't involve selling your body)
Cadging a fag. - (nothing to do with homophobia)
Wearing a pair of kecks
Wearing your strides
Being caught by the Rozzers. - (no, not your undercarriage)
Strewth ! - (not a town somewhere west of London...)
Gone Bananas ! - (not an empty fruit bowl)
The old bill.
Going to a Disco
Describing something as being "Ace"
Up sh*t creek (without a paddle)
Listening to the "wireless"
Snogging
Describing someone as being "Dapper"
Eating "Bangers"
Going for "a swift half" or "swift pint"


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[bearhugger]

Do people still say "Whoops a daisy!"

Yes, although only with my young grandkids.

 

[37078xotTE]

One I still use is "Quacks", referring to the Doctors

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Do people still say "Whoops a daisy!"

Possibly only Hugh Grant and then, only when appearing in a 'romcom' film.