29 Outdated Words And Phrases Older People Use That Some Of Us Can't Digest Today

Someone once told me not to burn the midnight oil, leaving me confused, because what's midnight oil, anyway? smh.

Lakeisha

• Published in Funny
• April 6, 2022

Seniors and older people are full of secrets you can't fully understand. The lives they've lived, or better put, their way of living, is completely different from how we live now.

Things like "groove" and "break a leg" transformed into "crunk" and before we know it, it'll be something else altogether.

The first time my uncle told me not to "burn the midnight oil," I was confused. Wouldn't you be too?

We were talking about someone when, out of the blue, he asked me not to burn the midnight oil. Since he was staying with us for the holidays, I thought I was burning something in the night that irritated him.

Instead of asking him what he meant, I stopped lighting my candles in the night, thinking that was probably what he went. The next day, he said the same thing to one of our neighbors.

Instead of taking the hint, I asked him how our neighbor's midnight oil mattered to him. It's safe to say that, years later, my family still talks about it.

Not only did my uncle laugh his heart out, my neighbors too had the time of their lives at my expense.

I was little. That was my excuse.

Anyway, here are 29 ancient words and phrases you might have heard that may have confused you too!

1. Frying wishes doesn't sound great.

2. Makes sense.

3. The visuals are traumatising, though.

4. LOL.

5. I've heard Geez Louise.

6. That's horse feathers.

7. That's weird.

8. Well, it sounds gentleman'ish.

9. It means for sure my ...

10. ROFL.

11. That's cute!

12. What is this supposed to mean? I mean, I get I'm the pencil, I guess.

13. I've heard a few people saying that too.

14. I say cool beans. Wow, I'm old.

15. Aww, cute!

16. How is this even possible? I can't even visualise it.

17. Still better than "Whazaaaap!"

18. That's what we call the Generation Gap.

19. You're not alone.

20. Never heard this, but oh well.

21. No sir, I most certainly can't.

22. That's a tough gentleman.

23. Oh boy, this brought back lots of memories.

24. It is kind of cute.

25. I guess this meant "Not my problem."

26. Didn't Sheldon use this in an episode of The Big Bang Theory? I could be wrong.

27. Um.

28. Well, ice cream does turn me on, to be honest.

29. That's an epic phrase we should all adopt.

In Summary...

The generation gap is so evident in these archaic phrases and words, don't you agree? I bet things we say today won't make sense a few decades in the future too.

I'm curious to know what the future will talk like, honestly. Seeing that we half normal words today, I think a few decades later people will probably talk in digits.

Things like, "I'll be right back" became "be right back"

But that's only when you're asking someone physically. If you're texting, it's "BRB." Maybe the future generation will talk in acronyms.

Truth be told, I'd rather travel back in time when language made more sense than learn acronyms.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments!

Lakeisha