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AIBU?

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Original poster

To ask for words and phrases you no longer say?

213 replies

namezchangez · 21/02/2026 11:24

Not really an AIBU, but I wanted a good list! DH and I were talking about words and phrases we used to say frequently as children in the 80s and which now we rarely use or hear. Some of these refer to things that no longer exist, or which have become rare, some have fallen out of fashion, some now seem tasteless or prejudicial. Would love to hear some more! (And doesn’t need to be from the 80s.)

ozone layer
polystyrene
crybaby
wicked (as a term of approval)
teacake
space race
Indian summer
gooseberries

OP posts:
canklesmctacotits · 21/02/2026 21:02

I had to explain what a milkman was/is to my DD day before yesterday!!

Butteredtoast55 · 21/02/2026 21:02

5foot5 · 21/02/2026 20:57

We used to call the pavement a coursey, or is it causy? I assume it was a corruption of causeway.
It could well be regional if you are in South Yorkshire because I was brought up in that area, a few miles from Doncaster.

Show quote history

Causey in North Derbyshire too! A Northern version of 'causeway'

Butteredtoast55 · 21/02/2026 21:01

My son rolls his eyes at me every time I call a baguette a 'French stick'! 😁
Just annoy him further my DH refers to 'avocado pears'.

5foot5 · 21/02/2026 20:57

DreamingOfGeneHunt · 21/02/2026 13:43

I still say Piss Off, Teacake, Polystyrene, Wazzock, Twonk. I still have a CD player and Dvd player!
Plenty of bouncy castles here (S Yorkshire)

One I haven't heard in years is coursey- pavement. That could be regional though.

We used to call the pavement a coursey, or is it causy? I assume it was a corruption of causeway.
It could well be regional if you are in South Yorkshire because I was brought up in that area, a few miles from Doncaster.

cardibach · 21/02/2026 20:56

namezchangez · 21/02/2026 20:54

Also, I always thought it was bog off…

Bog off - go away. A step down from fuck off.

Original poster
namezchangez · 21/02/2026 20:54

Also, I always thought it was bog off…

OP posts:
Original poster
namezchangez · 21/02/2026 20:54

Totally right on eiderdown! And bonking and necking and running away with the milkman. Ragamuffin I still say.

An older girl at my school had a rat’s tail, which I haven’t seen since.

Gooseberries are I think much less common than they used to be — hard to buy in shops, and not many fools/yoghurts featuring them. Teacakes: I mean the bready kind that you slice and toast. I never see them any more but am sure they still exist. When I was a child I had one several times a week.

I still buy Horlicks sometimes, but it feels a bit retro.

Maybe some fabric words: flannelette, crimplene, drip-dry.

OP posts:
SmilingHappyBeaver · 21/02/2026 20:46

Latchkey Kids!

Usually aimed passive aggressively towards working mums who allowed their perfectly capable teenagers to let themselves into the house after school…

GinaandGin · 21/02/2026 20:33

cardibach · 21/02/2026 16:40

I passed through Sloane Square on the underground the other week and it occurred to me I hadn’t heard the term ‘Sloane Ranger’ for a long while.

I had the sloane ranger handbook

troutfish · 21/02/2026 20:30

Dial up (internet in the old days)

thesnailandthewhale · 21/02/2026 20:15

Stone the crows
Blimey

ChuckJacksonIvegottheNeedNSoul · 21/02/2026 20:11

Doggymummar · 21/02/2026 20:08

Nice body, but her face .......

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Oh thanks ..what a horrible expression though.👍

Doggymummar · 21/02/2026 20:08

ChuckJacksonIvegottheNeedNSoul · 21/02/2026 20:07

What's butterface?

Show quote history

Nice body, but her face .......

ChuckJacksonIvegottheNeedNSoul · 21/02/2026 20:07

YankSplaining · 21/02/2026 19:57

Want any from an American?

Schizophrenic (as a noun)
Ghetto (as in, “that name is really ghetto”)
Mentally retarded (this was the correct term in the ‘90s)
Manwhore
Butterface

What's butterface?

Crispbuttyandamugoftea · 21/02/2026 20:02

Tea cakes?? Gooseberries???… both live and well in my freezer…(if that’s not a bit contradictory)

YankSplaining · 21/02/2026 19:57

Want any from an American?

Schizophrenic (as a noun)
Ghetto (as in, “that name is really ghetto”)
Mentally retarded (this was the correct term in the ‘90s)
Manwhore
Butterface

ilovepixie · 21/02/2026 19:57

Ace
wazzock
wally
dip stick

ChuckJacksonIvegottheNeedNSoul · 21/02/2026 19:40

Bbq1 · 21/02/2026 19:21

Courting - as in having a bf/gf. Often heard from older relatives when I was growing up, for example, "Darren is courting".

So is froggy👍😁 as in the song.

Boobyslims · 21/02/2026 19:26

Deserted Wife (a term in Ireland I remember from the 80s if the husband ran off on the family, I think there was a deserted wife allowance too)

i remember it recently as someone asked me about being unmarried with kids! It was as if we’d flashed back several decades!

MrJollyLivesNextDoor · 21/02/2026 19:25

ChuckJacksonIvegottheNeedNSoul · 21/02/2026 14:44

Naff off reminds me of Norman Stanley Fletcher of porridge.
Naff off Godber.

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Reminds me of Princess Anne

Bbq1 · 21/02/2026 19:21

Courting - as in having a bf/gf. Often heard from older relatives when I was growing up, for example, "Darren is courting".

MrJollyLivesNextDoor · 21/02/2026 19:21

QwestSprout · 21/02/2026 13:51

Anyone who never says teacake anymore needs more Tunnock's in their lives.

Indeed!

I have a box of plain chocolate ones on the go as well speak

cardibach · 21/02/2026 19:19

PistachioTiramisu · 21/02/2026 19:17

Knee trembler!
Sits Vac in the local paper
Chicken in the basket

Edited

I vividly remember someone using this phrase the first time I met my ex DH…

PistachioTiramisu · 21/02/2026 19:17

Knee trembler!
Sits Vac in the local paper
Chicken in the basket

cardibach · 21/02/2026 19:16

GTTSR · 21/02/2026 19:13

Bag off…
my first boyfriend age 12 asked if I would bag off with him behind the shopping center after he bought a bottle of body shop white musk perfume.
I was sold… 😂

We had cop off. Never heard bag off

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