[MunchingonHay]

a dresser.


but I always call it a chest of drawers

Hey, what else do you call a chest of drawers? A bureau?

[mvp]

A swivet: upset, extreme agitation "Don't get in a swivet over spilled milk!"

Thanks! I had never heard the term, and I thought I had heard 'em all. Perhaps I missed swivet because my family used "snit" as a synonym.

[Eye in the Sky]

Chiffarobe and Chest of Drawers are 2 of my favorites

Um, I use these everyday….am I an antique?

[Lin]

Most of these are familiar to me, therefore not archaic enough to be funny. Just interesting

[WaningMoon]

Oh my,really ? Everyone here in my neck of the woods has supper. And the senior citizen dinners are at noon. So for ppl having dinner at noon, what other than supper, could the evening meal be?

[Houndhill]

Not sure whether this is southern or old, but "cattywompass" for "catty corner"?

[Houndhill]

Brit expression I think, but "Whiddershins" for "counterclockwise".

[jetjocky]

I learned that one when I read To Kill a Mockingbird. Is it an old expression, a Southern one, or both?

What about hassock?

If it's not a hassock, what is it?

[Over the Hill]

If it's not a hassock, what is it?

an ottoman

[Houndhill]

Don't eat so fast, you'll get the collywobbles. If you didn't get your flu shot you might get the grippe.

[Houndhill]

Your teacher would be cross if you were bold or fresh. She might have motored to school in her machine.

[bumknees]

With the exception of a few I still use these words.
Half past, Quarter Till, 5 till, 5 after and so on. learned that in Ohio.
A Davenport was a special not always sat on sofa or at least that is what I made it out to be.
My kids know these words because I use them sometimes I do admit I have to explain them my DH because they are regional to the area I grew up in and he has a habit of using can instead of may.

[up-at-5]

I still call the remote for the tv a converter. I used the word cantankerous at work to describe an older gent who was complaining, and no one knew what it meant.
Ne'er do well is not a saying I hear often, either.

[Anne FS]

She would never say 10:30 or 10:45 for example. If it was 10:30 it was "half past" 10. 10:45 would be "a quarter to" 11. I don't recall that she ever narrowed it down closer than that. She took the closest 15 minute interval and went with it.

Everybody did that back then. Once digital clocks came in, however....

[Anne FS]

Brit expression I think, but "Whiddershins" for "counterclockwise".

It's "widdershins," and don't ever run widdershins around a church. It's bad luck.

[ReSomething]

I must be old, I've used cattywompus and catty corner lots of times - cattywompus is crooked and catty corner is diagonally across. My co-worker is younger than I am but hails from deepest Appalachia, where old Scots and English songs and language are well preserved. She says "what do we lack?" as in "what haven't we done yet?" Jack means money, there's a couple others.
You can actually buy chifferobes on CL here, next to wardrobes, they are usually a wardrobe half with a chest of drawer half, and maybe a mirror.

[Anne FS]

A while back I got on an English and Russian literature kick, and read everything Tolstoy, Dostyevsky and Somerset Maugham wrote.;D

I love you.

The Razor's Edge is one of my favorite books. Have you tried Pushkin? Eugene Onegin (in a good translation).

"Make love" meaning to court, no touching involved.

[chism]

To answer the hassock question, it's a piece of furniture that goes in front of a chair to rest your feet on, usually matches the chair in question.

I grew up hearing "ice box" and "shan't" as in " I SHAN"T speak again!! I grew up in Florida, pretty sure ice box is a southern thing, not sure about the shan't..
My mother in law was born and raised in western Mass and she uses the word "cunning" to describe something that's adorable or cute, such as "She's so cunnin" (usually dropping the "g" in pronunciation), had never heard that one before.. This thread is timely, my husband used the word "flummoxed" in conversation just the other day and we had a similar discussion about words that you don't hear much anymore.

[sk_pacer]

I still say half past, quarter past, quarter to for time. Dinner is at noon, regardless what the meal is, supper is the evening meal. I have feed, water and utility pails in the barn - if it has a single bale and can be lifted it is a pail, if it holds more than one can lift it is a bucket as in muck bucket or those giant heated water buckets that hold 18 gallons. I have a chesterfield despite the best efforts of The Brick and Leons with their drive to sofa-ise me. I remember neighbours having ice boxes or propane [pwered refrigerators as there were areas close by that did not have electricity until the late 60s. I don't percolat coffeem but make drip coffee

How about dressing table? A two pedestal dresser with either two or three drawers on each side and a kneehole and at least one mirror; fancy models had three mirrors with the two side ones set at an angle to the large centre one.

Here, a piss ant is an actual insect, most often a real flying ant but the term can be applied to any small, flying insect that gets into one's eyes.

[hoopoe]

most of these words are regional and some have been diluted by the invasion of international speak. It use to be we were more isolated and only heard Standard American English on the TV or Radio.

Growing up we had a neighbor who called the sofa a Davino. I am trying to remember but I think sofa couch and davenport were used interchangably at home. I use couch and sofa interchangably, though I think sofa coems out more.

Lunch and dinner, not dinner and supper.

To me a hassock is a small upholstered stool or backless chair, much like would be at the end of a bed or in front of a dressing table. Often opened to store things inside.

Chifferobe shows up a lot in crossword puzzles

Icebox was a hold out when I was a kid as many older folks did live in the day when you put an ice-block in the box.

and chest-o-drawers had no other name

A word that is truly not used like it use to be

Gay.... Carefree happy lively.