If you're a member of Team Coco like I am, you may know that Conan O'Brien launched a campaign to bring the word "thrice" back into our daily lexicon. While I have little occasion to use the word, I fully support this endeavor. There are probably tons of words that have fallen out of the mainstream that are due for a comeback.
And so I ask you - what words do you want to see return?
For me, I like the word "scram." I always have and think it's hilarious. And why don't people get called "nimrod" anymore? Or hear people say "forthwith?" These are valuable words, people! If we, The Literary Ones, don't bring them back, who will? The Save the Words website can only do so much!
So what say you? Which words do you want to rescue from obscurity before they permanently fall to the wayside?
Betwixt.
ReplyDeleteaskew - I love that one.
ReplyDeleteRespite! I also happen to love what it means.
ReplyDeleteforsooth- it's just so fun to say!
ReplyDeleteMasher, and as in "He was a masher." We'd probably say heartbreaker now, but I love the mix of masher and crush. I had a crush on a masher.
ReplyDeleteVerily. Ah :D
ReplyDeleteWhatever we do, let's not bring back "whom," okay?
ReplyDeleteI love of all of these words so far!
ReplyDelete@Kelly - I say "whom" regularly when it's the appropriate usage. I'm also "that guy."
"Homey" and "Homeboy"
ReplyDeleteStill in regular use at Chez Feliza, but so many parts of my life are like a mid-90s hip-hop movie that I guess this would be a given.
Galore
ReplyDeletePosthaste
There are pineapples galore. Clean them up posthaste!
Ahhh...both of those sentences made me happy. :)
Fain
ReplyDeleteIf for no other reason than it's so confusing.
"Radical" in the non-political sense, but the eighties equivalent to "awesome".
ReplyDeleteIE. That Blues Brothers shirt you're wearing is radical!
Or "wicked", even though my grandma didn't like that.
Contrariwise!
ReplyDeleteI like morbific. It just sounds right.
ReplyDeletePeckish - it's just the right way to describe how I feel around 11:00am on any given work day. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm quite the proponent of 'tis. I also say indubitably and indeed all the time.
ReplyDeleteprognosticate. It's just so much fun to say.
ReplyDeleteDisinterested. I love what it means, and I don't think there's anything we can replace it with.
ReplyDelete@Jayme: I second your call to save galore!
Fortnight. They still use that in England/Australia...
ReplyDeleteIt's so useful, as in "I get paid fortnightly."
I occasionally use "thrice" in my vocabulary. Glad to see it might be making a comeback.
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of scram as well, but I'm a fan of anything of the classic noir era (so "scram", "what gives?", "monkey's uncle", "that tears it" and stuff like that is solid in my book).
I say, we give the word "parapraxis" a chance. My browser won't even recognize it!
Parapraxis (noun):
"a slip of the tongue or pen, forgetfulness, misplacement of objects, or other error thought to reveal unconscious wishes or attitudes."
So, like a Freudian slip, but one word.
And somehow, "wonky" as become a technical term in my place of work.
ReplyDeleteEXAMPLE: "The computer went wonky."