Does "ten-cent store" make me look old?
Nov. 13th, 2010 02:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gozerFrom sheafrotherdon:
This is possibly the cutest thing ever: the Oxford English Dictionary is trying to get people to adopt one of the many words that's falling out of use in the English language, and promise to use it as often as possible to get it back in the cultural lexicon. I love it!
http://www.savethewords.org/
I love it too! "PICK ME, PICK ME! YES, YES, ME!" is love!
The first word it gave me was "ten-cent store", which is a problem as the reason it's fallen into disuse is that we all say "dollar store" now. So, IMO, the phrase has not so much fallen into disuse -- it has merely inflated. Perhaps as wages fall, we'll all start using "ten-cent store" again spontaneously? A depressing thought! Also, to be honest, I've only ever used the phrase "five-and-ten-cent store" or, more colloquially, "five-and-dime". There used to be a five-and-dime in every neighborhood in Brooklyn when I was a kid, and I could easily spend an afternoon shifting through the dusty bins and checking out the shelves. I used to find the most awesome crap there, thus inexpensively sating my shopping jones despite having only a pittance of an allowance. (Little did I know I was just waiting around for eBay to spontaneously come into being.) I must have missed the decade when the "five-and" prefix was dropped.
I requested another random word and got "occulcation"; much better! The site's definitions are very saucy: occulcation, the act of treading on or stomping. Use: He explained to his wife that the masseur was simply occulcating his back when she slipped and fell on top of him.
Well, forgive me, Oxford English Dictionary, I thought "she" would be a "masseuse", not a "masseur"! I do believe I have caught you out!
Here is an online dictionary's definition: occulcation, n, 1656 -1656. act of treading on or trampling. Use: Repeated occulcations of this field by soldiers have left it useless for agriculture.
If there are any tea-baggers reading this, I would like to see you walking around with a sign that says, "DON'T OCCULCATE ON ME!" at the next town meeting. It'll make you look less stupid and you're sure to get on Fox News.
sheafrotherdon:This is possibly the cutest thing ever: the Oxford English Dictionary is trying to get people to adopt one of the many words that's falling out of use in the English language, and promise to use it as often as possible to get it back in the cultural lexicon. I love it!
http://www.savethewords.org/
I love it too! "PICK ME, PICK ME! YES, YES, ME!" is love!
The first word it gave me was "ten-cent store", which is a problem as the reason it's fallen into disuse is that we all say "dollar store" now. So, IMO, the phrase has not so much fallen into disuse -- it has merely inflated. Perhaps as wages fall, we'll all start using "ten-cent store" again spontaneously? A depressing thought! Also, to be honest, I've only ever used the phrase "five-and-ten-cent store" or, more colloquially, "five-and-dime". There used to be a five-and-dime in every neighborhood in Brooklyn when I was a kid, and I could easily spend an afternoon shifting through the dusty bins and checking out the shelves. I used to find the most awesome crap there, thus inexpensively sating my shopping jones despite having only a pittance of an allowance. (Little did I know I was just waiting around for eBay to spontaneously come into being.) I must have missed the decade when the "five-and" prefix was dropped.
I requested another random word and got "occulcation"; much better! The site's definitions are very saucy: occulcation, the act of treading on or stomping. Use: He explained to his wife that the masseur was simply occulcating his back when she slipped and fell on top of him.
Well, forgive me, Oxford English Dictionary, I thought "she" would be a "masseuse", not a "masseur"! I do believe I have caught you out!
Here is an online dictionary's definition: occulcation, n, 1656 -1656. act of treading on or trampling. Use: Repeated occulcations of this field by soldiers have left it useless for agriculture.
If there are any tea-baggers reading this, I would like to see you walking around with a sign that says, "DON'T OCCULCATE ON ME!" at the next town meeting. It'll make you look less stupid and you're sure to get on Fox News.
