Obsolete words or phrases

[CharliesAngles]

MIL said so and so came from a "well-to-do" family.
Made me think I don't know when I last heard that phrase being used (probably also in conversation with MIL 😄)

Are there any words or phrases you've recently heard and thought oh I haven't heard that in donkey's years!

On a similar theme, my mother used to describe some people as "la-di-da".

Donkey's years is another one😁. My DH uses flibbertigibbet, the person I know who does.

How about "ship shape"? Or, better still, "ship shape and Bristol fashion"? I don't hear or see those used much nowadays.

My favourites are

Worse things happen at sea

It'll all come out in the wash

A storm in a teacup

@Cerbonny I occasionally hear that one but I'm from Bristol.
" All fur coat and no knickers" isn't used to describe a tarty woman.

@Cerbonny DD12 and her friends use that a lot!

@Brahumbug I actually thought that as I typed it 😄

Sunday best (finest clothes)

“I’ll go to the foot of our stairs”.
”Cadge”.

I said goodbye to someone the other day and they replied with 'Tar-ah'!

It's been an absolute age since I heard that!

The majority of the phrases on here aren’t obsolete at all

I had a recent opportunity to use 'we're all going to hell in a handcart'. As soon as I said it I thought where did that come from.

No, I use most of these, or at least wouldn't be surprised to hear them.

That something “isn’t cricket”.

I use it when I can as it’s an excellent expression.

I also like “scurry” and think describing someone as “scurrying away” creates the perfect image that another word just doesn’t fulfil the same.

I haven’t heard someone describe something as “hacky” (as in a bit grubby (which is also an underused word) for a long time but it used to be a common northern phrase.

I also wish “glowering” was used more as it’s another good word for that’s very descriptive and I haven’t heard it used for yonks!

Oh my giddy aunt.
Ptang-yang-kipperbang (or some such nonsense)
Wotcher.

‘Yonks’ is another one in its own right!

Sounds like a good username that does 😉

Red shoes and no nickers !

Red hat no drawers where I come from!

I use 'glower' a lot. As a confirmed glowerer myself. Also, I have a 14 year old.

'He's like his mother knitted him' (used of an unusually hirsute man).
'I'm as dry as Gandhi's flipflops' (when dying for a pint)
'He's as useful as a one-legged man in an arse-kicking contest' (self-explanatory).
'He doesn't know if he wants a shite or a haircut' (of an indecisive person).

I use most of these.

DH and I were talking about our (long ago) childhood pocket money the other day, and we both used the words farthing, ha'penny, tuppence, sixpence, shilling and ten bob note. They rarely crop up in conversation these days.

I haven't heard anyone say they are 'going to spend a penny' for ages either.

Video player
Speaking clock
Teletext
Cassette tape
Platform ticket
Bus conductor

A ‘ne'er-do-well’. My parents used to say it. And my daughter says nerdwell 🤣
someone who is idle, lazy, a lay-about.
its a contraction of ‘never do well’.

I said "that's my two pen'th" in a meeting recently and there AI transcript came out as "that's my tea penis" so I'm guessing that saying has passed out of fashion.

My mum used to say "gone for a Burton" meaning a fall but I have no idea why and my granny used to say of someone who was tight with money that they'd "skin a gnat for a penny". The latter might be Irish.

I'm reading these wondering if I'm some kind of throwback to a bygone age,😁 none of the ones posted so far as the least bit obscure imo

Why would they though? Once a thing doesn't exist why would the word still be used unless you're specifically talking about that thing

That's a different to phrases