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My grandparents on both sides were immigrants and did not have a very good command of the English language. Therefore, there really are no words that I am aware of that they used that are passe. However, words that I have seen that were popular during that era (late 1800s and early 1900s) include:
Hey! We say pocketbook all the time. In the stores the signs even say pocketbooks. I was in the ER yesterday and there was a sign about taking your pocketbook with you. Purse sounds pretentious to me or it's something an effiminate man would say. Even Oprah says pocketbook.
I still say "pocketbook" too. I'm only 33. My mom used to say "pocketbook" all the time and it's not strange or old fashioned to me. However, the last time I used that word, I got a raised eyebrow and a chuckle.
omg--i still say some of those words-----how bout--beer garden,corpse house,knickers,beer belly,knothead,hankerchief(nepa lingo),rubbers(the ones for your feet),brassiere,truant officer,constable--i could go on
My grandmother always called it the frigidaire too. She had a Philco. My Dad always called his wallet a purse, and I remember several relatives who called an umbrella a "bumber". I remember reading old letters from a hundred years back where they often would start a sentence with the word Oyes.
commode
lavatory (my primary grade school teachers said that instead of restroom)
mango in regards to a hot pepper
"lavatory" reminds me that my elementary teachers called the coat closet...the "Cloak Room"......and sweet green peppers were called "mangoes" in cincinnati.
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