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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:
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… 😂

Devilsmommy · 21/02/2026 19:11

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 21/02/2026 14:09

I definitely still say teacake and gooseberry! (unless it's to describe a person maybe?) also wassock and wally. Quite often call DD a wally. Still say minging, it's a brilliant word.

Still say video - it's the name of the setting on my phone camera for a start, I don't know what else I'd call it? DDs school has a tuck shop.

I don't say plimsolls, which we lived in as kids. I don't know that last time I saw some actually!
Chinny reckon,
talk to the hand,
do I look bovvered,
whasuuup (in the style of the budweiser frogs!),
Chicken (as in scared)
Tight as in cool or friends, I say it now but I mean someone who doesn't spend money!

I still say chinny reckon because I wish it was still in use. Conveys so much in two words😁 also Ponce is a word I haven't heard for years, seems to have been taken over by cocklodger

BerfyTigot · 21/02/2026 19:06

'Side' for channel. Eg talking about a programme on TV, 'which side is it on?'

DotNTimmy · 21/02/2026 19:06

ladyamy · 21/02/2026 16:46

It was ‘ran away with a sailor’ for me 😂

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It was 'ran away with a black man' when I was growing up 😮

NormasArse · 21/02/2026 19:03

KeyOfTheDoor · 21/02/2026 12:56

I purposely call the swimming pool "the baths", I'm trying to bring it back!

Edited
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I do too! And the pictures when I’m going to watch a film at the cinema.

Pinkissmart · 21/02/2026 18:58

HK04 · 21/02/2026 12:17

Walkman
Ghetto Blaster
Yuppie
Wally
Nincompoop
Playpiece (break snack at school)
Baths (for swimming pool)
Wireless (radio)
Betamax
Records (now vinyl)
Number 1 (charts)
Disco
Kerbie
British Bulldog (kids game)
Provie (loan lady)
Spinster
Leg warmers
Rad

Edited

I vote to bring back nincompoop

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 21/02/2026 17:17

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.

Do people still talk about Yuppies and Dinkies? IIRC:

Young Upwardly Mobile something or other
Double Income No Kids

Sunday Best.
Reverse the charges
Telephone directory, Yellow Pages, Thomson Local
Pools - do they still exist?
Personal column
Girl Friday (job title)
Dictaphone

sussexman · 21/02/2026 16:51

Netcurtainnelly · 21/02/2026 16:37

Spend a penny lol imagine that today for going to the toilet 😂

Give me a tinkle later (phone call)

Fathead, bozo, dipstick. Futurist haircut.
May I get down please leave the table.

The single most common thing I call our cat is fathead.

ICouldHaveCheckedFirst · 21/02/2026 16:51

This one's a bit sensitive re suicide, apologies in advance.

My mother, in an effort to encourage stoicism I suppose, used to say 'you can get used to anything except hanging'.
I stopped saying it after someone I know lost a relative by that means.

ladyamy · 21/02/2026 16:46

Iamsotiredandfedup · 21/02/2026 12:29

“She’s run off with the milkman” in response to asking where mum is

It was ‘ran away with a sailor’ for me 😂

pompomtiddly · 21/02/2026 16:41

Nitty Nora
Bonkbuster
courting
getting your legover
Bimbo/himbo
scrumping
scratter

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.

Netcurtainnelly · 21/02/2026 16:37

Spend a penny lol imagine that today for going to the toilet 😂

Give me a tinkle later (phone call)

Fathead, bozo, dipstick. Futurist haircut.
May I get down please leave the table.

cardibach · 21/02/2026 16:36

losttheplot25 · 21/02/2026 13:02

A bit none PC and I apologise but when i'd ask where mum was as a child the response would be "she's run off with a black man" 🤦‍♀️😯

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Round my way the running off was quite specifically to London too!

Silverbirchleaf · 21/02/2026 16:27

Do people still say ‘divvy’ it out, as in divide it up and hand it out. .

Cyclistmumgrandma · 21/02/2026 16:14

Counterpane
carpet sweeper
mangle

ballroompink · 21/02/2026 15:29

Words we all used a lot when I was a kid/teenager but I never hear my teen say:

Manky
Skanky/skank
Scabby
Snog
Gross
Talking about 'fancying' someone
Boffin
Frigid
Mega
Wicked
Townie
Grunger
Minger/minging
Calling someone who was uncool/badly dressed/smelly a 'bin digger' (never heard anyone else mention this so perhaps that was a local thing)

Friendlygingercat · 21/02/2026 15:26

Spinster - unmarried woman
Old maid - unmarried woman
Scallywag badly behaved
Hobbledehoy - clumsy
Ragamuffin - someone in ragged clothes
Ingrate - ungrateful person
Any Tom Dick or Harry - a random
Two fingers the same length - dishonest

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 21/02/2026 15:10

EmeraldGlade · 21/02/2026 14:55

Tomboy to describe little 'non-girly' girls

A reverse one, queer was like a swear word/insult but seems to have been revived with a positive meaning

Queer is still a slur for a lot of gay men who lived through the era of gaybashing and paranoia over AIDS. It's by no means universally accepted as a positive word.

My Mum uses queer in its original sense of not quite right, bit odd or unexpected. I doubt many people nowadays use the old phrase 'queer the pitch'.

EmeraldGlade · 21/02/2026 14:55

Tomboy to describe little 'non-girly' girls

A reverse one, queer was like a swear word/insult but seems to have been revived with a positive meaning

StopThePigeonNow · 21/02/2026 14:53

MasterBeth · 21/02/2026 14:46

Like wandering what? Never heard this.

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It’s a Jewish slur I think.

StopThePigeonNow · 21/02/2026 14:52

MasterBeth · 21/02/2026 14:45

What's manking?

Edited
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I always presumed it meant heavy petting. 🤣🤣🤣 I never clarified. I’d usually get asked if I was manking yet, I’d say what and look confused and then they would ask if I had a boyfriend yet. They were 60 years older than me so I was never actually certain what it involved. 🤷🏼‍♀️😂

MasterBeth · 21/02/2026 14:46

HeartyBlueRobin · 21/02/2026 14:27

My.mum used to say you're either in or out, you're like a wandering *. 😱. Definitely not PC and not something I'd ever say.

Eiderdown
Continental quilt

Like wandering what? Never heard this.

CremeEggThief · 21/02/2026 14:46

LittleMissLateForWorkAgain · 21/02/2026 12:26

Also Provy (loan lady)
Div/divvy (stupid person)
Tuck shop (school break cafe thing that sold coke cans and chocolate and crisps)
"Video it for me" (tape a programme off tv to watch on a video tape later)
Be kind. Rewind. (On all blockbuster video tapes hired out)

Really bizarre and maybe just my school but if you wanted to threaten someone you d say
" you're dead. 20 to 4" referring to the time school ended. Presumably the victim would be beaten up outside school.

Ankle swingers. Flares that didn't reach the shoes so a lot of sock was visible.

Divvy is still used all the time in the northeast! 😂

MasterBeth · 21/02/2026 14:45

StopThePigeonNow · 21/02/2026 14:39

Also SY and I still say most of the things on listed so far. I never use coursey but I do say coursey edge for kerb.

Sayings I haven’t heard in ages are things like get stuffed, stuff off, shut your neck, stop mithering, tonguing/frenching for snogging, cock of whichever place you lived in for someone that was good at fighting, manking (always used to get asked by grandparents if I was manking yet 😂.

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What's manking?

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