Teenagers and old fashioned phrases

[No17CherryTreeLane]

Would the teenagers in your life know what you meant if you asked them
"Are you courting?"

Spent time with extended family over the last week and I asked my 18 year old niece this question.
She looked puzzled and then asked what I meant 😁
Before I answered, we asked her 14 year old sister if she understood the phrase, who said "Yeah of course I know. It means are you going out with anyone!" and looked at her sister in disgust 😂

Any other gems you've come up with, to be met with looks of total bafflement?
(I'm mid 50s by the way, which practically translates to being older than Methuselah!)

I said "It looks a bit black over Bills mother's" (meaning it looks like rain) the other day to DD, and she looked at me with utter bemusement.

So we asked DP when we got home whether it was a phrase she knew and she'd never heard of it either.

So now I'm wondering if this is a bit of weirdness only my family have ever said!

My dad used to use the phrase courting. He was born in 1946.

MrsGusset · Today 12:11
One fairly common phrase I remember from my 1950's childhood was “he's getting a good screw” - meaning he's got a job that pays high wages.

I remember that - I haven’t heard it for decades. As you say, today’s teens would snigger.

I described something - tongue in cheek - as a ‘wizard wheeze’ and that got blank stares.

"Pointing Percy or Penelope at the porcelain " going for a wee.
"Cash on the nail". This one has its origins in Bristol, where there's some "nails" (historical flat topped bollard type things) where merchants used to do business outside the Corn Exchange.

I am 45 and have no idea what “are you courting?” means.

Reading an old Enid Blyton book out loud to my DS and he went pale at the phrase 'I'll box your ears!"
He was terrified the man was going to cut off the kid's ears and put them in a box ... had no idea about the phrase.

My mam says this! We're from South Yorkshire if that makes a difference in terms of which regions of the UK say it.

Related to “pointing Percy at the porcelain”:

Calling God on the big, white telephone.

I'm 52 and when I was a teenager I found the phrase are you courting very old fashioned and dated. Used by my grandparents not my parents.

I’ve heard of the Bill phrase, I think from my mil who was from the Midlands.

I remember my mum who was early 50s at the time ask me if my then boyfriend and I “ were going to get married or just going chums”.
We did get married and celebrate our 37th anniversary this year.
I told my DD that story and her reaction was “ did Granny actually say that to you”

Percy sometimes gets mentioned on the Baby Name threads. I guess the posters don’t know the ‘Point the Percy’ connection.

Similarly for ‘ Nancy Boy’ meaning effeminate or homosexual, and ‘Georgie Porgie’ meaning fat or podgy.

Ah, my Mum was from Solihull originally, so that'll be where that's come from then!

Ds asked me the other day if I understood the word nonchalant. Apparently it's trending a lot these days and he genuinely didn't know if it's a new word or not.

Courting is just such a sweet way of phrasing it!
I can’t think of any right now but we’ve a 17 year old lad just come on working for us, thinks he’s billy big bollocks like they often do, irresistible to the ladies etc, anyway he was rushing one Friday night and one of the other guys asked if he ‘was on a promise’ … he had literally no idea what the older guy was on about 😂 made him feel more like 300 than 30 odd 😂

My mother still says this, @SomersetBrie. If it's a serious relationship, you can also say 'doing a strong line'.

It irritates me so much it makes me want to punch holes in walls, I think because it implies that you're both moving along some line called Destination Marriage.

I regularly point out to my mother that quite a few relationships (including some of my own) involve both people just amusing themselves temporarily for the sake of a good time, but I don't think she actually believes me any more than she believes that lesbians existed before the eighties ('Sure, how would they even have known what it was?') or that normal women enjoy sex. I think she thinks that women who enjoy sex hang around bars wearing leopardskin and dangly earrings and have something wrong with them.

Lekking · Today 14:45
I regularly point out to my mother that quite a few relationships (including some of my own) involve both people just amusing themselves temporarily for the sake of a good time, but I don't think she actually believes me any more than she believes that lesbians existed before the eighties ('Sure, how would they even have known what it was?') or that normal women enjoy sex. I think she thinks that women who enjoy sex hang around bars wearing leopardskin and dangly earrings and have something wrong with them.

Do you mind telling us how old your mother is?

I love hearing the teenagers around here exclaim “oh my days!” It seems an old fashioned statement to me.

I had a very funny conversation on a train with 10yr old DD where I retorted ‘is the pope Catholic?’ And she exclaimed ‘how should I know?!’

I presume he thought it was referring to her vagina.

Same im 53 at the end of the year and its something my Grandma would ask me.

I have just asked my 19 year old
And he said does it mean
Am i dating anyone ?
So hes obviously heard it.

My Nanna used to ask if I was promenading anyone

Why do you ask?