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!

My mum used to say "gone for a Burton" meaning a fall but I have no idea why

In WW2 it was a euphemism meaning a pilot had been shot down. Burton was a popular kind of beer at the time so you were saying the lad had gone to the pub rather than he’d been killed.

Well, I suppose the generation most likely to say 'spend a penny' spent much of their lives with the penny as legal tender. The phrase isn't necessarily going to die as soon as the thing goes out of use.

I mean, we still say limelight, rewind, don't put the cart before the horse etc. I mean, come to think of it, we still say someone is 'worth his salt', and that's been out of date for thousands of years!

My Mil didn't say 7:25 as "seven twenty-five". She'd say it as "five-and-twenty past seven".

Oooh, look what time it is!

My point was why would farthing or tuppence crop up in conversation?

You were specifically having a conversation about old money, in what other context would the words be used as words rather than as part of a phrase

Yonks
Ace buff
Yass min
Ne Scotland mid 70s.

The wireless. My dear old dad never called it a radio.

My Granda was the same..long gone.

we both used the words farthing, ha'penny, tuppence, sixpence, shilling and ten bob note.
You forgot the nine bob note (and the thruppence, come to that)
As in "bent as a nine bob note".

Wasn't Kate glowering at the protesters the other day?

‘Ask’.
I believe the phrase is now ‘reach out’

Can’t stand it.

Very few people in 2026 verbally ejaculate

Yesterday, in a late bid to avoid a more sweary expression, I heard the term 'like billy-o' leave my mouth. I don't know when I last heard anyone actually say that.

My children love "you can't polish a turd"

I say most of these. They’re not obsolete.

Foot of the stairs is a usual one in our house - “can you bring it up? It’s on the foot of the stairs!”

Cadge has fallen out of my lexicon because it used to only be in the sentence “can I cadge a cigarette?”. Usually heard in the smoking area of a club post 11pm 😂

It / she/he looks like a dogs dinner

Teach them the optional add on "but you can roll it in glitter"

Lo and behold.

DH is Scottish and uses a lot of what I would call 'old fashioned' words

He's the only person I know who still will call it the 'infirmary' rather than hospital. Also says, 'Have you got your mackintosh?' or 'they are re-laying the tarmacadam'.

Ending a call by saying “i’m going to ring off”

😀😀 a shit a shave or a shampoo.

Pulling the chain...as in flushing the toilet. Not many have a chain any more.

I say ‘donkeys years’ all the time. I’m in my 50s.

I love ‘heavens to Betsy’ and ‘lollygagging’. I think they might both be American (I’m not) but I still use them

Please may I have