I dislike the highjacking of our language.

Exactly, Trade. Languages have always been hi-jacked, changed, re designed and will continue the evolution, as long as humans exist.
 

Wow. Yooper made it into Merriam-Webster! Don't believe everything you read, though. I'm a native Yooper, born in 1940, and as far back as I can remember, we referred to ourselves as Yoopers. According to M-W, Yooper came into existence somewhat later than that. However, we didn't start referring to the unfortunate souls in the Lower Peninsula as trolls until the bridge was built.
 

GeorgiaXplant said:
Wow. Yooper made it into Merriam-Webster! Don't believe everything you read, though. I'm a native Yooper, born in 1940, and as far back as I can remember, we referred to ourselves as Yoopers. According to M-W, Yooper came into existence somewhat later than that. However, we didn't start referring to the unfortunate souls in the Lower Peninsula as trolls until the bridge was built.
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I learned something here. "Yooper"! :)
 
Falcon said:
"Tits" is still good in my crowd.
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This is no lie, Falcon. Back in our twenties, a bunch of us went to the all night diner where all good drunks went after the bars closed on Friday nights. One of the guys in our booth was pretty drunk. When the waitress asked him what he wanted to order, he yelled out:

"Tits and beans!" as loud as he could. The waitress laughed as hard as we all did.
 
icaremystic said:
How about these words:
- Gizmo
- Paingry
- Phablet
- Fauxhawk

Language does evolve. :D
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The last 3 are new to me! Thanks.

Paingry- in pain and angry about it.

Phablet- device size between a phone and a tablet.

Fauxhawk- a less dramatic take on a Mohawk; the sides are clipped shorter than the strip of hair on your head, but there is not a great distinction between them.
 
ClassicRockr said:
Wife and I use the word "cool", but the rest of the sayings can be offensive to some or many while to others they are very humorous. TV sure seem to say all of them and it can become rather disgusting hearing them. Actually, our idea of a "nice rack" is when looking at an older Bull Elk.

One thing is for sure, most people who attend church, young and old/older don't say these words. I've been to church functions where I've never heard any of them. In fact, our niece and her husband don't allow their 16 daughter to watch any tv as they don't either. There is no tv in the home. They pay to have her go to a Christian school, so she doesn't get around today's offensive language. All of her friends are church-going young folks, like her, with very nice personalities.

Actually, nobody in either of our families say these kinds of words.
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It's very interesting that Christian schools are still sticking to old-fashioned decent standards, whereas the modern secular schools are encouraging the current descent into vulgar degeneracy.
I wish the British would stop copying the Americans....they don't set a good example.
 
For the most part, I still use the English language as I learned it while growing up. If someone has a problem with that, the problem is theirs, not mine. I do adopt some newer words and usages but seldom give up the more traditional ones. (Is that a sign of being old? :playful:)

New slang usages create problems when an important, well-defined word is co-opted by poorly informed people in a way that can result in lack of clarity for those who are better informed. An annoying example of this is the co-opting of the word "technology" to mean specifically "computer technology". Apparently this isn't problematic for people in the computer field, but for professionals in ... say, medical technology, food technology. industrial technology, the trend is decidedly not helpful.
 
gumbud said:
where did the phrase " I 'm a yankie doodle dandy" originate from - I vaguely recall it being sung on an old film?
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"Yankee Doodle Dandy" was a 1942 movie about the life of composer George M. Cohen. You're likely referring to the title song.

The original song "Yankee Doodle" was a creation of British soldiers in the American colonies during this country's pre-revolutionary period. It was originally meant to be purjorative, but was adopted by the colonials as they were throwing the Brits off our shores.

:hatlaugh1:
 
AZ Jim said:
I suppose "tits" might adequately describe the appendages but it seems a might crude to me and I am very liberal.
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I was waitin' for someone to post that one. No one says it any more. The last time I heard it was in a movie a few years ago - "Four Brothers." Mark Wahlberg & his three brothers were investigating the murder of their mom who adopted them & the police knew they were troublemakers from their criminal past in that city, so the detective told them not to interfere & cause trouble because "We'll find the people who did it." Mark said, "Oh, please....you cops couldn't find tits in a strip joint."
 
Falcon said:
Oh Yeah. I've heard some women calling them "The Girls" Funny.

However, I believe that now, BOTH men & women refer to womens' breasts as boobs and think it's OK.

BTW It's better than calling them "mammary glands". That's gotta be quite a mouthful.

OOPS.. What I said ! My bad.

I hope you've noticed that BOTH women AND men have nipples! How'd that come about?
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Well, I've heard men call two parts on us, "The Twins."
 
RadishRose said:
I think the British make up their own minds as to what they want to do, and copy no one!
You insult your own people as weak copycats and have some nerve insulting Americans without any provocation!
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hear hear! the english [british shall we really say] has changed dramatically all over the small isle and islets! - the scots; irish and welsh talk a language in english but almost indecipherable with there own dialects and that's without speaking past language!

same with the cornish - many of the youth in the cities of UK - right down the middle speak 'jargonistic languages that we elderly just don't get. Listening to yorkshire people; lancashire and all other parts of the empire is also almost indecipherable. In many instances the Americans speak better and more decipherable english than the english.

I think some people insult the Americans for their use of english but there are many underlying reasons that do not emerge related to how the Americans present to the rest of the world in general. So yes I agree in a long winded way with the above poster. get your own house in order before criticizing others!

[do I surprise you radishrose? ]
 

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