to think I have strange vocab

[pinkhappy]

I recently moved to a new city. I had some new friends round and discovered that not one of them had heard of a (criminal) fence. This is a word that everyone I knew before would have known.

Then I was listening to the radio and they used the word antimacassar which I had never heard of. Turns out everyone in my new city knows it.

So, a poll. Do you know

1. what a (criminal) fence is only

2. what an antimacassar is only

3. both

4. neither

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1. South East

Both totally normal words

3 - from the NW.

3 but then I’m old and read a ridiculous amount.

2

I think I learnt “fence” from watching The Bill and didn’t everyone’s granny have antimacassars? Maybe it’s an age thing. I was born in the seventies.

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@Blyatiful

3. But I am a) old and b) from a family that would fit in quite nicely with the Mitchells.

Same here!

3 and they aren’t regional at all.

Fence is a bit dated, know it originally from crime dramas of the 70s and 80s.

Antimacasser is very old fashioned. My mum called them that, (would be 90 now) but even she wouldn’t have known people to use Macassar, more likely Brillcreme!

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Never heard of antimassacar - what is it?

A fence is someone who deals in stolen goods (if used in the in the context of crime rather than gardens etc)

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My mate's dad was known as 'Freddy the Fence' when I was growing up.

I always assumed he sold/fitted garden fence panels or something.

Then one night I was watching Only Fools and Horses and the penny dropped 👀😂

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I have heard of both. I looked up the meaning of antimacassar very recently. When Sir Tom Moore went to Barbados somebody on Twitter commented on a photo that British Airways had personalised the antimacassar with his name. I've obviously seen antimacassars in the past but nobody has ever called them by name so until that point had not heard the name.

OP how on earth did you get to know that everyone in your new city knows what antimacassar means? Have you gone back in time?

Familiar with the word fence from TV crime shows. Not something I would use to refer to someone I know that dealing in stolen property, or that I have heard anyone I know say.
Never heard of antimacassar and had to look it up. Maybe its a common word for people working on trains, or other places they maybe used, but not something I have ever heard anyone say and I will usually look a word up if unfamiliar.

I found it
twitter.com/OntheRoadAJ/status/1337408941081284608?s=19

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