Balderdash and other words millennials haven't heard

Cher_Scope

A recent Metro news article listed 20 words that are falling out of favour with our younger generations.  

Based on a survey of 2,000 adults, the results were as follows:

Twenty words millennials haven't heard of
Sozzled (40%) – Very drunk 
Cad (37%) – Dishonest man 
Bonk (37%) – Have sex 
Wally (36%) – Stupid person 
Betrothed (29%) – Engaged 
Nincompoop (28%) – Fool 
Boogie (28%) – Dance 
Trollop (27%) – Woman who has casual sex 
Bounder (27%) – Dishonourable man 
Balderdash (27%) – Senseless talk 
Henceforth (26%) – From now on 
Yonks – (25%) – Long time 
Lush – (23%) – Very good 
Tosh – (23%) – Rubbish 
Swot – (22%) – Someone who studies hard 
Brill – (21%) – Brilliant 
Kerfuffle – (20%) – Commotion 
Randy – (19%) – Sexually aroused
Disco – (17%) – Dance club 
Minted – (15%) – Rich

I don't know about you but these words comprise half of my vocabulary!  Also, the loss of the word disco is (as Steps would say) a tragedy...

Have you noticed any other words are disappearing?  Let us know.  

janer1967

I dont have any words that come to mind its more the other way the new words that my teen comes out with 

Cher_Scope

@janer1967 What are they?  I'm so not down with the kids 

janer1967

Some that come to mind

Ream - Good

Sick - good

And all the text talk and gaming talk

Cher_Scope

  My nephews say tight a lot which apparently means unfair.  For instance to their mum, "you've only given me one pound for the shop, that's so tight!"

OverlyAnxious

I wonder if they're getting Millennials confused with Zennials?  The only ones I hadn't heard there were bounder and cad.

Zennials confuse me though...  Lit?  Finna? Peng?  Send it?  Yeet?     

I don't hear 'wicked' or 'rad' anymore...

Tori_Scope

Yeet is a fantastic word and no one can tell me otherwise @OverlyAnxious. Zoomer and proud.

leeCal

Poppycock and tally aren’t used so often anymore either. I don’t understand those zennial  words at all.

ive often thought that one should use the best words to communicate according to the audience rather than for self aggrandisement, but I’m old.

woodbine

courting

leeCal

That’s what gets my goat
dunder head was something my dad used to call me on occasion, and of course that used to get my goat no end.

leeCal

Bunkum, nonsense.

what about people who used to sue for breach of promise? Ie one party calling off an engagement. I haven’t heard of anyone doing that for donkeys years, or yonks whichever you prefer. And the remedy was called heart balm!

Adrian_Scope

How can anyone in the UK get to millennial age without encountering kerfuffle?!

The only other person I've heard say 'yeet' with no sense of irony is my 10-year-old daughter. But you go for it @Tori_Scope!

leeCal

What does yeet mean @Adrian_Scope?

Adrian_Scope

I asked my 10-year-old.
She said, 'it's a term you can use to describe throwing something, and it can also be used to describe something that's cool.' At this point, my 13-year-old piped and said very dryly, 'No, no it can't.'

So, take from that what you will.  

Tori_Scope

As a fellow Young Person, I too say yeet with no hint of irony. 

Please do enlighten us @Adrian_Scope, what *does* yeet mean? 👀

Adrian_Scope

I'll use it in a sentence @Tori_Scope.

The word "yeet" should be yeeted out of the English vocabulary. 

Tori_Scope

Uh, that's so not lit @Adrian_Scope. Are you even woke? 

Ami2301

I was going to say Yeet as hubby says it so often. I don't understand most of these new words nowadays, all too confusing!

Adrian_Scope

Tori_Scope said:

Uh, that's so not lit @Adrian_Scope. Are you even woke? 

Pfft. I've cancelled people for less.

Ami2301

...what does woke mean?

Tori_Scope

This is the Wikipedia definition @Ami2301:

a political term originating in the United States referring to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice.

It can be used in a few different contexts, and some people use it ironically, or as a criticism.

leeCal

Way too confusing for me, I prefer standard English language as spoken by ...Jeremy Paxman. 

66Mustang

I think “woke” is the new word for “snowflake”. I.e. a rude word for a liberal person or someone who gets easily offended by things that they perceive as politically incorrect.

What age are millennials? My dictionary says it is someone who reached teenage age in around 2000 so would be around early 30s now, but I have been referred to as one in the past. I’m 26 - what generation am I?

Ami2301

Thanks @Tori_Scope although I don't think I will be using it anytime soon 😂

Tori_Scope

There is some debate and crossover between the age ranges @66Mustang. I guess you can decide whether you want to be a Millennial or a Zoomer! I'm pretty much always considered Gen Z, but I can feel quite a big generational gap between myself and the younger Zoomers as things, particularly social media, have changed sooo much, even just within a few years. 

66Mustang

Oh that’s easy - if we are basing it on tech and social media then I’m a Baby Boomer. I don’t like the idea of any social media (except forums) and will not use it haha. Also was late to the party getting my first smart phone in 2014.

I remember hearing something about the kind of smiley faces you use being able to reveal your generation. I.e. Someone who uses emojis and someone who uses punctuation like :-) !

Yes things do seem to change more quickly these days. I guess good in a way as things could change more quickly for minority people like disabled people.

Tori_Scope

A baby boomer   @66Mustang

Yes, I've noticed the emoji thing too. I absolutely love reading the articles on what emojis that 'young people' send allegedly mean. Most of them are so off the mark it's unbelievable. It also depends on the context. I message my Mum differently to how I message my friends, both of which are different to how I write on here. 

Let's hope so!

66Mustang

That’s really interesting. I used to really adapt how I wrote to whomever/wherever I was writing. I still do up to a point but I think I do it less these days. Maybe that’s an age thing - becoming more confident in your own writing style as opposed to what you think people want to read?

What you say about the emojis reminds me of “lol” which used to mean “lots of love”, haha.

Tori_Scope

Interesting @66Mustang. It's not a hugely conscious thing for me, it happens quite naturally on the whole. I think you're probably right about the confidence thing, though. I do remember frantically looking up acronyms that my friends were using that I didn't know the meaning of when I was at school, whereas now I'd probably just ask.

Haha yes. My Grandma always used to finish with 'LOL, G'ma' in our birthday cards and we always got a good laugh out of it  

Dragonslayer

I haven't heard the word Gusump for some time. That by the way is probably not the correct spelling. I have forgotten how to spell it right.
I think it means'outdoing' someone on a bid to buy a house? 

chiarieds

@Cher_Scope - you have a strange vocabulary! Whilst I understand the meaning of the words, I don't think I've ever called anyone a 'cad', or a 'bounder', or said 'balderdash'. To me these were words used in Regency times. Even my parents didn't use 'betrothed,' rather 'engaged'. My Dad did say 'nincompoop,' another word that I don't think I've ever used, nor 'kerfuffle.'

We did used to say someone was 'plastered' rather than 'sozzled.' Also 'tight' to me meant someone who was 'tight-fisted,' or mean, so somewhat similar now.

Words that I feel will disappear, if they haven't already, are those to do with pre-decimilasation currency, such as a 'tanner,' a 'bob,' etc.

As far as text goes, I do text differently to my children; my eldest daughter who is dyslexic, uses lots of shorthand terms, & very little punctuation, so sometimes I have to read them through 3 times to work out what she means. My son, who is 6 years younger, also has bother with her texts, & we text using words, & punctuation in full.

I was a little disconcerted when my new hairdresser asked me if I knew how to text last week......I must be showing my age!

Cher_Scope

chiarieds said:

@Cher_Scope - you have a strange vocabulary! Whilst I understand the meaning of the words, I don't think I've ever called anyone a 'cad', or a 'bounder', or said 'balderdash'. To me these were words used in Regency times. Even my parents didn't use 'betrothed,' rather 'engaged'. My Dad did say 'nincompoop,' another word that I don't think I've ever used, nor 'kerfuffle.'

   You aren't the first person to say that! I do like throwing in a quirky word to spice up or romanticise mundane sentences but I agree some of the words mentioned here belong in black and white movies!  

I'd also never heard of yeet until this discussion so my aim for today is to use it in a conversation successfully. 

OverlyAnxious

Dragonslayer said:

I haven't heard the word Gusump for some time. That by the way is probably not the correct spelling. I have forgotten how to spell it right.
I think it means'outdoing' someone on a bid to buy a house? 

Gazump...  Millennials can't afford to BUY houses so there's no need for it anymore...  

OverlyAnxious

Might just have been my area but I remember 'safe' being big in the early 2000s...  



Odd thing about smileys...I've always found it difficult to read faces or even create the correct facial expressions in social situations.  I've never understood why people assume you're not listening unless you're constantly contorting your face to adapt to whatever they've said, it's exhausting...  Anyway, since using Messenger and forums and having to actually choose the correct smiley to give a context, I think I've got better at doing it in real life as well.  I can only find 16 smileys on here so you're saved from my usual bombardment of smileys!    

66Mustang

OverlyAnxious said:

Dragonslayer said:

I haven't heard the word Gusump for some time. That by the way is probably not the correct spelling. I have forgotten how to spell it right.
I think it means'outdoing' someone on a bid to buy a house? 

Gazump...  Millennials can't afford to BUY houses so there's no need for it anymore...  

Ha ha ha very true!!!!

leeCal

You don’t hear wizard or top hole being said much these days either, which isn’t a bad thing. Gadzooks is another 😂 

Richard_Scope

Shenanigans is a good solid old fashioned word!

Dragonslayer

Another word not used anymore for an alley between houses was  Ginnel.
Another was Snicket.

Tori_Scope

I still hear people, particularly in the North, say ginnel @Dragonslayer. I'd never heard the word before I moved up here though!

Ross_Scope

Heard of all of those words apart from the top two

leeCal

Another meaning a cad is a bounder, usually someone is a bounder and a cad to boot! 🤣  to boot meaning as well of course. Splendid by jingo!

Dragonslayer

Tori_Scope said:

I still hear people, particularly in the North, say ginnel @Dragonslayer. I'd never heard the word before I moved up here though!

Welcome to the north. Gods own country. 😊

Dragonslayer

Wireless..... Radio
Music cassettes .. Or cassette player.
Eight track music players.
Things not known to many these days. 

chiarieds

I remember when I moved up north, my parents looking for directions about where our new home was when we were close by. My Dad was told to go up the bank, which to my parents was a financial institution, rather than a hill!

I remember people saying 'Gordon Bennet,' as in 'that's not likely.' I'm unsure the phrase is still used today. I've just learnt this evening that this comes from stories about father & son; actually Gordon Bennett from the late 19th, & early 20th century, which surprised me. See: https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/gordon-bennett.html

Not something I said, but thought I understood, & had thought it an expression 'my generation' used.

Dragonslayer

I still use many of the words I have seen on here. Which baffled my American wife for quite a while and sometimes still does.

66Mustang

Dragonslayer said:

I still use many of the words I have seen on here. Which baffled my American wife for quite a while and sometimes still does.

I would be interested to know if she uses any American sayings which we don’t use over here?

Dragonslayer

@66Mustang
Going to hell in a hand cart.
I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts.
The only thing you have to do is die and pay taxes
Penny rich and dollar poor.
Break a bill 
Mystery meat (spam) 

We have heard many others through films and TV. And it is amazing how many of our old sayings come from America.

One thing that baffles her is the one about. If a bird poops on you It means good luck.
I have to agree with her on that one. 😃
She cannot understand why we use the term Gravy boat. For a jug.
A simple toast rack also baffled her. She thought at first it was used for slices of butter. She had never seen one before. 
And she could not understand a butter dish. Especially if it had a cover. We don't even use them anymore. Or at least only some of us and then only rarely But our grandparents did.

66Mustang

Thanks that’s really interesting I like those sayings.

Why is a bird pooing on you good luck???

Considering the tax systems of America and Britain I find it rich that it’s the Americans that complain about paying taxes ha ha ha!!

I think a butter dish was from the days of real butter, not the pretend butter that goes in the fridge. Real butter stays out of the fridge, or it goes hard, and you need somewhere to keep it away from the flies and whatnot I guess.

I think I know another American saying...a dime a dozen...it’s like saying something is very common. I guess our equivalent is two a penny?

Thanks again for sharing all those

leeCal

It’s interesting to note that such an American phrase as ‘the fall’ meaning autumn is actually of English origin. Read it somewhere, don’t remember where exactly.

OverlyAnxious

Don't hear of anyone being flabbergasted these days...

Ross_Scope

OverlyAnxious said:

Don't hear of anyone being flabbergasted these days...

I know right? You hardly hear of anybody being like that. Makes me flabbergasted to be honest

Dragonslayer

66Mustang said:

Thanks that’s really interesting I like those sayings.

Why is a bird pooing on you good luck???

Considering the tax systems of America and Britain I find it rich that it’s the Americans that complain about paying taxes ha ha ha!!

I think a butter dish was from the days of real butter, not the pretend butter that goes in the fridge. Real butter stays out of the fridge, or it goes hard, and you need somewhere to keep it away from the flies and whatnot I guess.

I think I know another American saying...a dime a dozen...it’s like saying something is very common. I guess our equivalent is two a penny?

Thanks again for sharing all those

Dragonslayer

@66Mustang A bird pooing on you is certainly not good luck. Not in my book any way 😢
I think people say it to make the person getting pood on feel better. 😊

Ross_Scope

I'm not sure I would ever feel lucky if a bird did that to me  

66Mustang

That’s a good point  

I wonder if there are any other bad things which are seen as supposedly good luck?

OverlyAnxious

A lucky rabbits foot wasn't very lucky for the poor rabbit.

leeCal

I took down a lucky horseshoe once and whilst doing so it fell on my head. My family thought it was most amusing.

Ross_Scope

66Mustang said:

That’s a good point  

I wonder if there are any other bad things which are seen as supposedly good luck?

The phrase "break a leg" has never made sense to me. Does that count?