Having being lurking around in certain areas of the forum and seen a somewhat lively debate about things like the word "hence" and "while vs whilst", it got me thinking about archaisms: words or phrases that may be considered "old" or "outdated".
Who here uses them, either in erotica, or everyday life? I do, quite a bit. Should we use them? Do they detract or add to the story or however you use them? It would be nice to see some opinions on this because I think archaisms rool! Also, how old, in your opinion, does a word have to be before it's considered "archaic"?
Fire away, archaism lovers or haters!
I too enjoy using made up words - it's one of my favourite things about the English language. I remember one time this awful nasty bully was trying to intimidate me and I simply confused him, thus making him run away, buy saying "get thee back from whence you have come." Suffice to say that particular archaism saved my bacon.
I'm always being told not to use "big words" (the like of which, I can't remember just now and this is how I'd speak if I was having a conversation, I'm not just using the archaism or unusual turn of phrase to make a point, I genuinely speak like this) but I usually just politely explain what the word means and usually they're ok with it.
I personally see nothing wrong with using old or uncommon words, it keeps this beautiful language alive and I think that it actually helps in the creation of new words or phrases. The word "the", for example, is as old as the hills and everyone uses it, knowing full well what it means. The misspelling if "the" ("teh"), however is pretty new and accepted as an alternative, so using archaic words, in my opinion, is a wonderful thing.
I like archaic words and phrases, but seldom use the King's English either in writing or speech. If I did, I suppose I'd use it correctly, having studied Shakespeare and other texts of that era. I do, though, use whilest by choice, when appropriate - a gift from my great-grandfather, I suppose, passed down through the generations.
I love using Shakespare English. It confuses people but then again I am from a small town and any intelligent jokes with wit and banter that uses old fashioned or words that go over the top of the people's minds makes them look like morons.
To me anyways, they think I am eccentric.
Go figure.
I love being unconventional ;) Makes things interesting. lol.
For years I followed the convention, which states that when making a simple declarative statement, or when one wishes to show one is taking into consideration the other person’s wishes, one should use "will."
E.g. “If you plan to be home tomorrow I will come for a visit.”
However, to demonstrate determination, or when the wishes of the other person is not being considered, one should use "shall."
E.g. “Come hell or high water, I shall be there.”
Unfortunately, using uncommon or beautiful words when writing advertising copy for radio or television -- which I did for over a decade -- can garner one much criticism for one's “archaic word choices” and “unnatural speech patterns.” To continue earning a living, I cured myself of following that convention and have all but eliminated “shall” from my vocabulary.
To compensate, I am very harsh with people who don’t observe the difference between flotsam and jetsam.
Always drink upstream from the herd and never miss a good chance to shut up..
I love the word shall. It's so much more definite than will. I use it a lot and when I want to show that I'm even more definite I say indeed at the end. Also I like using indeed. I suppose that's pretty archaic.
I've never used these types of words other than a few times in life.
Believe it or not, I felt dirty afterwards. I'm just not comfortable using them.
Not that there's anything wrong with them, It's just not my style.
It makes me feel like I'm trying to be somebody that I am not.
If one was to write an old style story, I think it's fine though.
It's not about whats be-twixt your legs curly boy
Every tough ass girl has a set, or would like to.BbTiaYin26SBEkAs
One interesting thing about the use of "thee" or "thou" is it is the last example of a formal mode of speech "you" being the formal you used for strangers and your so called social superiors. and "thee" and "thou" for the familiar. Consequently you could subtly insult someone by the mode of speech you used which can still happen in many other European languages. Another interesting and perhaps surprising fact is that US English is more archaic than the UK's.
Archaisms are pretty cool. Of course my brain chooses this very moment to fart, so I can't even type out the ones I use on a regular basis. But I will say this, my speech/typing pattern in general always makes people think I'm much older than my 23 years...but I don't mind. It just gets weird online when everyone is already generally untrusting of everyone...so I find myself insisting upon my age more often than not.duslYqCRPQcKl6QJ
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I just came across a good one when I was Googling random words (I do that sometimes, along with reading dictionaries). Wame: it's an old Scottish word, meaning belly and a form of the word womb. It's first documented use goes back to about the 1500s and seemed to die out sometime in the 1800s. I like leaning new things, makes me happy.
I love them. Love, love, love, love, love them!
I use them especially when I'm talking, but some of my favorites are "henceforth", "verily", and "forsooth" - which I have started a thing amongst some folk (ooh, "folk") I know converting it to mock gangsta speak "fo sooth!".
I use lots of others also, and I'm sure I'll be back to this thread when I've given it more thought, but right now I'm having a kind of an attention-deficit sort of a night. Cheerio!
