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!

"Lavatory"!

Oh, the "wireless", my dear old Dad.♥️

This thing runs on teacakes. Meaning it's useless.
Think on in future. Meaning don't do it again.

I love this phrase. We often talk about turds and glitter at work - I work in comms 😂

I still use "it's just not cricket" a LOT! 🏏 😂 Last used it this afternoon in a conversation with DH about Andy Burnham and Keir Starmer!

Bloody Nora

I say that sometimes.

Gordon Bennett

Ne'er do wells.

Me and my DP use it for fun all the time.

Giving you 3 rings when we get home.

Burmo, itchy chin, tight (as in you’re being mean).

I said tuppence ha'penny today!

I use it quite often to describe insignificant money. I was born after decimalisation!

I also call DD a flibbertigibbet, DGM used to use it a lot.

I asked DD if she was with us or with the Woolwich recently. She just rolled her eyes at me

@senua my Granny used to say 'five and twenty past' too! She'd also recite her phone number when she answered. Without the extra area numbers that were added! ' Hello, Luton 4321'

It doesn’t mean that though - it’s an expression of surprise.

My DH is a big user of ‘Heavens to Betsy’ but only when he’s being ironically surprised:

’Our teenager got out of bed before noon!’
’Heavens to Betsy!’

Wasn’t the latter a homophobic slur?

My long departed DF used to say five and twenty to or five and twenty past. I'd love to bring it back.

Back in the mists of time when I was a student nurse an elderly lady I nursed always used to say 'I need to shed a tear for Nelson' when she needed the loo. I've never heard it since but always remembered her.

I say Ta-rah as good bye all the time. Is it a regional phrase? I cant imagine it being said in a posh accent.

My mum would have described people as ‘well to do’ OP, and she and my dad still said wireless for radio. Always one that was plugged in as well which is a bit confusing!

Could also mean someone on the take, fiddling the books etc

I'm not so green as I'm cabbage looking.

@Lexy2345 - I think it was 'bent' as in dodgy or fraudulent because there was no such thing as a nine bob note - not homophobic as far as I know but I could be wrong.

That reminds me of a conversation with my 7-year-old grandson last weekend. He has a new watch. He asked me, "what's the time, granny?". I looked at my Fitbit and it said 18:29, so I said "it's half past six." He immediately said, "no that's wrong, it's 6:29".
I asked my granddaughter, who's 12, what she would say if someone asked her the time and her watch was showing 6:29 and she said, "I'd say it's 6:29". Neither of them has ever used the terms "quarter to", half past" and so on - and even the 12-year-old doesn't understand analog clocks!

I, on the other hand, would never say "it's 6:40" even though that's what the digital clock shows. I always translate it to analog and say "it's twenty to seven." if it says 6:43 I translate that to "a quarter to seven." I understand both clock languages, but I only speak the one I learned first!

Where does the first phrase originate from?
I’ve heard it said a lot and often wondered.

It meant bent as in not straight up ie dishonest - that's how I've always heard it used.

Light on the loafers was inferring homosexuality.
Lots of 70s and 80s ones have gone and rightly so.

No, it meant you’re really dodgy (illegal goings on)