Page 20 | I just used the word 'hence' in an email

GoodGirlFaith · 2026-09-10T14:21:55+00:00

AIBU to want to punch the air? Pray tell me your favourite olden day words.

MyThreeWords · 20/09/2026 15:11

Ooh thanks for that info about the connection with 'effective', @Floatlikeafeather2 . I didn't know that. I always thought of it as having a connection with 'reck', as in 'reckless'. I thought of 'having feck' as being essentially the same as 'reckoning things out' - making sensible and practical calculations to live prudently. But on further reflection I think I have must just assumed that on the basis of the rhyme. Which ironically may have been a little feckless of me.

SuePerblybuilt · 20/09/2026 15:31

I love using the line from Hamlet “hoist by his own petard”
My dear husband and I try to use at least one new word every week, he often incorporates it into high-level business meetings to great effect.
Latest one was ‘chetif’, meaning weak or feeble.

Emptyandsad · 20/09/2026 18:37

quantumbutterfly · 17/09/2026 20:15

Just the one pedant?

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Pedants' corner is the corner of multiple pedants; pedant's corner would be the corner of one pedant

I don't know why I'm commenting; I couldn't care fewer

eggandonion · 20/09/2026 20:03

I dare not enter the corner of pedants as I would make a typo or my phone would auto correct to something nonsensical.
Earl Spencer said monstrous a couple of times. I will say it tomorrow. 😀

moderate · 20/09/2026 21:34

Emptyandsad · 20/09/2026 18:37

Pedants' corner is the corner of multiple pedants; pedant's corner would be the corner of one pedant

I don't know why I'm commenting; I couldn't care fewer

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Well at least you didn’t say “I could care fewer”.

AgentPidge · 20/09/2026 22:40

PennyShine · 12/09/2026 09:06

'Tomfoolery' is my favourite!

Cockney rhyming slang for jewellery!

I do like to shove in some rhyming slang when I'm talking to the snobs in my village.

ladygindiva · 20/09/2026 22:42

Ergo. I throw it in wherever appropriate, I don't know why. I might be a bit of a twat.

PyongyangKipperbang · 20/09/2026 22:58

moderate · 20/09/2026 21:34

Well at least you didn’t say “I could care fewer”.

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OMG......."I could care less" so therefore, you DO care!

Fucking winds me up so much!

Warmlight1 · 20/09/2026 23:12

AgentPidge · 20/09/2026 22:40

Cockney rhyming slang for jewellery!

I do like to shove in some rhyming slang when I'm talking to the snobs in my village.

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'Snob' isn't heard much these days
'Too nice to make a pxxx' is one my mum said occasionally apparently my grandma had a colourful vocabulary on occasion

PyongyangKipperbang · 21/09/2026 00:04

Warmlight1 · 20/09/2026 23:12

'Snob' isn't heard much these days
'Too nice to make a pxxx' is one my mum said occasionally apparently my grandma had a colourful vocabulary on occasion

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My Grandma used to call out her neighbour who swanked around looking down her nose on all the other women in her posh clothes, with her posh furniture. If she got snotty on Grandma (who had more money) Grandma would say "Are you actually paying the tick this time Vera?" because it was well known that she was always getting stuff repossessed!

Emptyandsad · 21/09/2026 10:56

Warmlight1 · 20/09/2026 23:12

'Snob' isn't heard much these days
'Too nice to make a pxxx' is one my mum said occasionally apparently my grandma had a colourful vocabulary on occasion

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What is a pxxx? You know that on MN you can actually use the word that you want us to try and figure out...

SweetnsourNZ · 22/09/2026 11:25

Hope you followed it up with a good whence.

EmailsaysOOO · 22/09/2026 13:06

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 19/09/2026 18:40

I like rapscallion, ragamuffin, flibbertigibbet, floozie, and slattern/slatternly - very appropriate words IMO for the issue raised in a recent thread about pyjamas in shops/hotel breakfast rooms. And I’d add people who drop their kids to school in pyjamas.

Yes I like flibbertigibbet and Floozie and slattern too and one my dad used to use quite a bit - dollybird . Yikes, hope there's nobody reading from the Feminist board or they will tell me I am a handmaiden and I'm encouraging misogyny. Oops 😬. We ( mum and I) never found these words triggering at the time..

Emptyandsad · 23/09/2026 19:59

How about popinjay?

Warmlight1 · 23/09/2026 20:20

Emptyandsad · 21/09/2026 10:56

What is a pxxx? You know that on MN you can actually use the word that you want us to try and figure out...

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:) Apparently I'm too nice to say it. I'll give you a clue. It's not pie.

Warmlight1 · 23/09/2026 20:21

EmailsaysOOO · 22/09/2026 13:06

Yes I like flibbertigibbet and Floozie and slattern too and one my dad used to use quite a bit - dollybird . Yikes, hope there's nobody reading from the Feminist board or they will tell me I am a handmaiden and I'm encouraging misogyny. Oops 😬. We ( mum and I) never found these words triggering at the time..

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No better that she ought to be.....
I quite like that.

rhubarbqueen · 23/09/2026 20:24

Au fait. Love using that term.

Butchyrestingface · 23/09/2026 22:37

A fortiori - an oldie but a goodie.

I've used it in academic essays, but not an email as yet.

HollyhocksandPeons · 23/09/2026 22:42

whence and thence

HollyhocksandPeons · 23/09/2026 22:43

SuePerblybuilt · 20/09/2026 15:31

I love using the line from Hamlet “hoist by his own petard”
My dear husband and I try to use at least one new word every week, he often incorporates it into high-level business meetings to great effect.
Latest one was ‘chetif’, meaning weak or feeble.

Pronounced in French or English?

Littledidsheknow · 24/09/2026 08:30

Warmlight1 · 23/09/2026 20:20

:) Apparently I'm too nice to say it. I'll give you a clue. It's not pie.

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I am still none the wiser!

lcakethereforeIam · 24/09/2026 10:11

Pasty?

Thisismetooaswell · 24/09/2026 10:14

As long as you didn't say 'hence why'...

Emptyandsad · 24/09/2026 10:21

Nobody uses hither and thither any more