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Disappearing words.

Pejorative
Amalgamation - in language where "Portmanteau" has become the popular standard
Palatable
Estranged
Habitual

Anorak - in reference to a geek, or even the jacket!
Stalwart - in reference to a person long associated with an institution
Crony
Jezebel

^I hear "Crony" used rather a lot these days, often when people are discussing Washington, DC.
 
When I was a teenager, every kid had a tranny. We used to hide them under the bedcovers to listen to pirate radio (208!). It was short for 'transistor radio'.

These days I mostly hear it used as an affectionate term for someone who's had gender reallignment.



I still have a 'corded' phone - very important if you live somewhere liable to power cuts. The cordless is dependent on a power supply. And almost every home has a 'landline' - mobile signals are far from dependable, and pretty useless if your house is built of granite.

I'm more interested in the changes in non-technological language though. Other suggestions?
 
Three slang words, that were frequently used in Tasmania during my childhood, have almost died out


Rummin (or rummen). Orginally 'rum one', - meaning a little peculiar or a bit odd,or gets up to mischief. "He is a rummin".

Nointer - as in 'he is a little nointer' - a brat, an imp etc, Properly from annointed meaning christened.

Yaffler - someone who talks on and on about nothing.

Though this words were once used in parts of England it seems that they mainly died out there but managed to last longer in Tasmania.
 
Which we Yanks call a smog check, or getting your car "smogged."

We always called it an "emissions test." Smog isn't really a thing in the midwest.
True. First I ever heard of a "smog check."
Do people still use dustbusters?
I've heard people refer to a hand vacuum as such, even if it's branded as something else (kind of like how some people will refer to a gelatin desert as Jell-O/jello, even if it's really a different brand by a different company).
 
gay (When did you last hear it used to mean merry or happily excited?)
Well it's in the Flintstones Theme so its never vanished totally.
And how often do you see The Flintstones nowadays? :(

As to shortening words and sentences, that is inevitable in a culture that values time and efficiency as much as we do.
Actually, I think it's inevitable in a culture that is fast becoming inherently lazy.
 
When I was a teenager, every kid had a tranny. We used to hide them under the bedcovers to listen to pirate radio (208!). It was short for 'transistor radio'.

These days I mostly hear it used as an affectionate term for someone who's had gender reallignment.

There is an auto garage near my house, they used to have a sign outside advertising transmission repair. It said:

TRANNY SERVICE SPECIAL
 
Yaffler - someone who talks on and on about nothing.

Though this words were once used in parts of England it seems that they mainly died out there but managed to last longer in Tasmania.

A Yaffle is a particular kind of green woodpecker with a loud call (immortalised for my generation by the eponymous woodpecker professor in Bagpuss). I can see how having a loud call would evolve into meaning going on and on.

And so their work was done.
Bagpuss gave a big yawn and settled down to sleep
And, of course, when Bagpuss goes to sleep,
All his friends go to sleep too.
The mice were ornaments on the mouse organ.
Gabriel and Madeleine were just dolls.
Professor Yaffle was a carved, wooden bookend in the shape of a woodpecker.
Even Bagpuss himself, once he was asleep, was just an old, saggy cloth cat,
Baggy, and a bit loose at the seams,
But Emily loved him​

*sniff, sniff* ;)
 
And so their work was done.
Bagpuss gave a big yawn and settled down to sleep
And, of course, when Bagpuss goes to sleep,
All his friends go to sleep too.
The mice were ornaments on the mouse organ.
Gabriel and Madeleine were just dolls.
Professor Yaffle was a carved, wooden bookend in the shape of a woodpecker.
Even Bagpuss himself, once he was asleep, was just an old, saggy cloth cat,
Baggy, and a bit loose at the seams,
But Emily loved him​


*sniff, sniff* ;)

*Sniff* Indeed.
 
Which we Yanks call a smog check, or getting your car "smogged."

We always called it an "emissions test." Smog isn't really a thing in the midwest.
True. First I ever heard of a "smog check."
Do people still use dustbusters?
I've heard people refer to a hand vacuum as such, even if it's branded as something else (kind of like how some people will refer to a gelatin desert as Jell-O/jello, even if it's really a different brand by a different company).

Well in the UK and some of the Commonwealth countries they would be called Jelly.
 
Do people still use dustbusters?
I've heard people refer to a hand vacuum as such, even if it's branded as something else (kind of like how some people will refer to a gelatin desert as Jell-O/jello, even if it's really a different brand by a different company).

Well in the UK and some of the Commonwealth countries they would be called Jelly.
Which typically means something slightly different in the US (a fruit spread that's usually put on toast or in a sandwich).
 
I've heard people refer to a hand vacuum as such, even if it's branded as something else (kind of like how some people will refer to a gelatin desert as Jell-O/jello, even if it's really a different brand by a different company).

Well in the UK and some of the Commonwealth countries they would be called Jelly.
Which typically means something slightly different in the US (a fruit spread that's usually put on toast or in a sandwich).

That'd be Jam. Or conserve. Or just possibly jelly but only if it's been strained.
 
^Well conserve tends to refer to the premium market Jam's. Whilst about the only Jam flavour labelled as a Jelly is Bramble.
 
Having achieved the final construction of my building, I proceeded to official talks with a beautiful woman, the act of congress eventually concluding with my uttering of a brief prayer.

I died a little inside. :(
Reminds me of the story about the parents who were shocked to discover that their daughter's college allowed male and female students to matriculate together -- and that the dean had to look at every student's thesis!

When I was a teenager, every kid had a tranny. We used to hide them under the bedcovers to listen to pirate radio (208!). It was short for 'transistor radio'.

These days I mostly hear it used as an affectionate term for someone who's had gender realignment.
For American car buffs, "tranny" is also short for "transmission."

Which we Yanks call a smog check, or getting your car "smogged."
We always called it an "emissions test." Smog isn't really a thing in the midwest.
True. First I ever heard of a "smog check."
Must be a California thing, then.

gay (When did you last hear it used to mean merry or happily excited?)
Well it's in the Flintstones Theme so its never vanished totally.
And how often do you see The Flintstones nowadays? :(
About as often as I see a Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musical.

37553066.jpg
 
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By definition, Jam becomes jelly if it's strained. There are others out there apart from Bramble, though that's the best known. And you can find it home made. I'm rather partial to crab apple jelly, for example. Hugh watsis name suggests a range of possible 'hedgerow jellies': http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2006/oct/21/recipes.foodanddrink

True, I had forgotten about that one. But as you say those Jam's labelled as Jelly tend to be more home made than mainstream types you would find in your local supermarket.
 
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