Would your children know these words?

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Following the thread about children not knowing the word "velvet", and they should know what it means from reading books, let's have some fun with words that used to appear in books a lot, but are less often seen now. Would your own children know them? Some of these, I remember looking up when I came across them. Give your own examples too!

Perambulator
The baths (as in "I'm going to the baths").
Field glasses (The Famous Five)
Bosom (Roald Dahl is fond of it)
Splashery (The only place I've seen this is in the Chalet School books)
Crocodile (not the animal; what children do on school trips)
A PT lesson.

I have quite a sad story. Northern Ireland in the early 70s. I’d have been 10. We had lovely sweet shop and it sold books. I was very young. We went there most days. He was a lovely man ran that shop in his front living room we all went there most days. Loyalists went there one day and shot him. I heard he said ‘no lads no’. Mr Robb was his name i think. A very nice man. That’s what Enid blyton and the famous five remind me off.

My dh and I say lavatory because we had an elderly friend who always announced it. My posh aunt said lavvie. Mostly we say toilet. My ds days loo. We also say bathroom or restroom if we are pretending to be fancy. Or powder room. Or freshen up.

Poor Mr Robb. Our vegetable deliver man was shot in the chemist's shop. He survived but a teenage girl was killed. Completely pointless waste in ni.😕

The word ‘velvet’ is absolutely nothing like the words in the OP, or am I missing something?

Velvet is not an old word for something - it’s still the word used for that fabric. It’s not like there’s a more modern way to describe velvet curtains, velvet dress, etc. and you only see the word ‘velvet’ in old books. I’m in my 30s and wore a velvet dress for Christmas this year.

It was mr Kelly not Mr Robb. I got the names mixed up. Mr Kelly was the sweetshop owner killed by loyalists. I didn’t want to leave it with the wrong name. I’m sorry as this thread isn’t about this. But it reminded me of a very nice man that sold lovely books that i loved. RIP.

I’m in my 50s and grew up in a house with a scullery and I used a blotter when learning to write using a fountain pen. Feel quite old reading this!

Very sorry to hear about Mr Kelly and the poor girl in the chemist’s also.

All of these words would have been perfectly comprehensible to me as a child, but then I’m in my 60s. My mum actually had a mangle back then.

Nowadays DH and I have a proper fire so we have a hearth, poker and coal-scuttle (in case you think we live in the 50s, we also have computers, a blu-ray player and broadband along with many other modern accoutrements)

I loved learning new words as a voracious child reader, and I still do - cryptic crosswords are great for that.

I'm Irish and know all of them! But I did read Enid Blyton and the Chalet School books so that probably helped!

This isn't a result of normal Google search, it is the "AI mode" or AI summary. That mode is not really trustworthy, as it can halucinate.

It seems the Scottish dictionary actually have one hit in the mentioned meaning, but the Chalet school reference explanation is changing between different prompts.

I remember aged around 6 or 7 being at a friends house and her brother saying he was going out to get ‘coke’. I was so excited as never really got fizzy drinks and thought what a treat. I was most disappointed when he came back in and I discovered that it was another word for coal.

I knew all except “cruet” but used to read anything I could get my hand on as a child and my nickname was Matilda.
I loved Enid Blyton and classic children’s books and often used words my parents didn’t know.

I then worked nights and got through a few books a week during quiet periods but I just realised I read a lot less now because of the internet which has saddened me.
I listen to about 10 audiobooks a week when swimming (waterproof headphones) at the gym and doing housework but it’s not the same and you don’t use your imagination the same.
The way somebody narrates a book can make them come across as completely different to how you expected and I wish they would use narrators that fit with the character, like age, accent, personality etc.
I was listening to a book by an Irish author and the MC was supposed to be a lively Irish woman in her twenties and it was read in a monotone by someone with an English RP accent and completely ruined it.

My Dp is Iranian and knew quite a few of the words in the OP but I never simplified my language when we first met and it amused me to teach him random words that surprise people.
He had people at work in hysterics when he said “oh my giddy aunt” or calls people a “nincompoop” 😂.
He also read some of my old Enid Blyton books to help with learning reading English and he struggled with some old fashioned world but like a pp said you pick it up with context.

My teenager would know a lot of them or would figure them out from context because I read a lot of children's classics to her and she listened to a wide variety of audiobooks (including Kafka when she was about 8, which was odd but she said she liked it)
My 7 year old would not know many, I haven't read much children's classics to him yet except my naughty little sister and he's not keen on listening to different things on audiobook, he just listens to Mog most nights, or then music.

Also not living in the UK so much less exposure to English

Had to explain ‘three score and ten’ to my young adult dc recently.

No, but I read a lot of books such as the Famous Five and the Chalet School, from that period. My mum was born in 1950, and was always teaching me phrases which are now old-fashioned, such as "in a trice". There were big generation gaps in my family (30 or 40 years), so I was brought up on a lot of older words. @liveforsummer The Famous Five books mention coke as fuel, but I expect that reference has now been modernised out of existence.

Recently, I heard a year 5 girl ask what "scholar" meant, in a history lesson. Even her teacher hesitated, although she may have been thinking of a definition the girl would understand.

I wouldn't count on many children knowing "lavatory". It appears in books, but not many people say it nowadays, and I've never seen it on any signs. Professor McGonagall says it in one of the films: "that's the girls' lavatory".

@EarringsandLipstick I'm not saying the words are obsolete, but they're old-fashioned. Somebody who didn't know might think a "dresser" belongs in the bedroom.

Who knows what a "tallboy" is? Nobody replied to that on the other thread. My mum uses the word, but I've never heard it anywhere else.

A tallboy is a type of wardrobe, isn’t it? People were always putting things in them or taking things out of them in the books I read as a child.

Same same!! My eldest said, book have moved on and are so much better. I read Little Women when I was ten, I remember it clearly as it was the week I had chicken pox! Tried it with my eldest and they had zero interest, they’re a voracious reader too! But much prefer fantasy eg the Hunger Games etc

Im really intrigued that a child would have come across completing ones toilet which I think is one of the most obscure phrases on the thread but not lavatory. How has that come about?

I've been reading Enid Blyton to my 6yo - had to explain to her to calling people a brick was a nice thing but maybe don't say it to your friends or they'll be very confused 😁

Places where I've seen "toilet" used in this way. Think also of the word "toiletries", which are items used for this.

In "The Marvellous Land of Oz", the Tin Woodman is being polished, so cannot take any visitors. However, the Scarecrow pleads to see him and they have an embrace. But alas! The Tin Woodman has forgotten the state of his toilet, and the Scarecrow is now smeared with Putz-Pomade.

In "The True Confessions of Adrian Mole", Adrian says "I will tell you about my day, making particular reference to my toilet habits". As he believes he is the greatest intellectual that ever lived, he loves using old-fashioned words, and by "toilet habits", he means his washing and dressing routine. He refers to his "meticulous toilette". And of course, he says "lavatory".

I don’t think ‘splashery’ is the same as other words on your list as it’s specific to one series of books about a particularly eccentric boarding school! I think either the author made up that bit of slang or she remembered it from her own school days (but even then that doesn’t mean it was in wider use outside her school).

Who knows what a "tallboy" is? Nobody replied to that on the other thread. My mum uses the word, but I've never heard it anywhere else

We had a tallboy when I was a child. It’s just a tall chest of drawers. A quick google reveals that they’re still sold under that name - Dunelm, Habitat, Argos etc stock them.

What was the other thread where people hadn’t heard of it? I’m intrigued now because I can’t quite believe that what seem quite ordinary words to me have become so obscure - although fair enough that children might not have heard of them.

I have got a tallboy. Also my 4yo knows the word lavatory and when he first learnt it he laughed and laughed because it sounds like it should be made of lava. He learnt it from DP singing the rude version of 'Oh Dear, What Can The Matter Be?'

I’m not sure I know all of those. I’m 63 & an avid reader

I saw a mangle yesterday in someone’s garden whilst out on a walk. They are quite popular garden ornaments outside terraced cottages round here.

my daughter is 16 but I’m in my 50’s so we do use old and new vocab. On a related note, my husband did not know what six seven was, well had never heard of it. we were with friends at new year and it was referenced on tv. I had seen the clip but had never heard anyone saying it in real life.So cuts both ways perhaps!