Battenberg and gobbledegook...

So yesterday my colleague came out with the word 'sprightly'... as in "I'm feeling rather sprightly today", which made me laugh "are you 60 years old or something?! No one uses that word anymore?!"... apparently his boyfriend accused him of being an old woman because of his love of battenberg cake and marmalade (I'm hoping not eaten together). He defended his use of prehistoric confectionary and vocabulary by saying he was not an old fart (he is 25 by the way) and merely retro-cool. This led to yet another random conversation on old fashioned language and words we could try and resurrect in the name of retro-coolness... (and a brilliant wikipedia entry on the difference in language between the States and UK)

We came up with:

• Sprightly
• Gobbledegook
• Qualms
• Baloney
• Crikey
• Tomfoolery
• Hullabaloo
• Poppycock
• Balderdash
• on the 'blower' (phone)

As well as a whole new thread of thought from either my tummy or my brain (I'm not sure which is speaking to me right now) on near extinct foods (or cakes to be more precise) which I am now craving...

• Battenberg cake
• Cherry bakewells
• Victoria sponge
• French fancies
• Jammy dodgers
• Bourbons / Custard creams
• Strawberry tarts
• Jam tarts
• Bon-bons
• Peardrops

And then I spotted a wealth of bygone era-esque phrases from Stephen Fry's twitter feed. He uses such quirky exclamations...

Lawks a lummy!
Heigh ho
Bah and pah and bother

I am now on a quest to include as much retro-coolness in my every day speak. Raised eyebrows ahoy! haha... (thanks to A for your additions to today's post!)