Several weeks ago, Charlotte and I were chatting over email and I happened to slip in the word “tomfoolery.” I can’t even remember in what context it was discussed but it ended up making us laugh a lot. I flipping love this word. It makes even the most suspicious of acts sound like a harmless bit of mischief. In my opinion words such as “tomfoolery” and my new favourite, “shenanigans” are neglected words in the English language and we should be popping them in to sentences left, right and centre.

There are also so many phrases that have gone out of fashion. Being a Northerner I was frequently told by my Grandpa that it was “a bit black o’er Bill’s Mother’s.” For those of you unfamiliar with the phrase, it means that you should grab your umbrella because it’s about to bucket it down. As a child I was often puzzled about who Bill was. He definitely wasn’t part of our family and no one else seems to know who he is either. Whenever I’ve said the saying further down south, I get a very blank expression.
At family celebrations we frequently raise a toast with the words, “May these be the worst of our days.” This was apparently a favourite saying of my Great Grandmother and I’m pleased to say that I’ve managed to chink glasses with so many other people that the phrase has entered the vocabulary of many a family friend too.

Away from the words and phrases that we want to bring back out of the linguistics closet, there are the new abbreviated words that have emerged over the last few years. It was a while before I realised that my colleagues weren’t swearing at me when they abbreviated “working from home” to “WFH” and a good ten seconds before I worked out someone mentioning “OOO” in an email subject line wasn’t trying to share something exciting with me, just they were “out of the office.”
Clearly I’m not one for text speak. Gone are the days when we had a character limit on our Nokia mobiles so you’re unlikely to find me OMGing or LOLling on my phone. In fact thanks to iMessage I frequently write a whole novel in one text message. I do confess though that I have uttered “ohemgee” out loud several times in the past and I believe the word “amazeballs” was invented by my friend Melissa.

As bit of light-hearted Friday fun I thought we should all mention a few of our favourite phrases, quotes, and words that we’d like to bring out of the linguistic closet. Alternatively are their any words you believe you’ve invented amongst your circle of family and friends?
Feel free to comment on any you find particularly irritating too. I heard someone utter “Can I phone a friend?” the other day. People are STILL saying this phrase. Is anyone else with me that it should be banned or at least carry a heavy fine?