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14 Words We'd Like To Make A Comeback

14 Words We'd Like To Make A Comeback, From Piffle To Wally
The Huffington Post UK
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British Actors Lennard Pearce; David Jason And Nicholas Lyndhurst Stars of the BBC TV comedy series 'Only Fools and Horses'. (Photo by Photoshot/Getty Images)
Photoshot via Getty Images

Things these days might be so good, they're 'sick'. Or people might be so keen to disrepect someone that they'll 'throw shade' at them. Presumably if what they're doing isn't 'sick'.

But what about the good ol' slang words of the Seventies, Eighties and 1800s?

Yes, we think it's about time to revive the following phrases, and to do so without irony. Because we miss calling someone a wally, we miss going for a boogie - and the whole thing is, frankly, a real bummer...

14 Words We'd Like To Make A Comeback
Wally(01 of14)
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An idiot. This was a particularly popular British insult in the 1980s, due in no small part to 'Only Fools And Horses'. (See also: 'plonker'.)
Pillock(02 of14)
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A wally. And again, a British '80s favourite.
Boogie(03 of14)
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Remember when we didn't dance, we 'boogied'? Or indeed, 'had a boogie'?
Bummer(04 of14)
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Not in its insulting form, but its 1970s misery form. Why aren't things 'a bummer' anymore? Are they just not as bad as they used to be in the '70s?
A blast(05 of14)
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Of course, before we were having a bad time in the 1970s, we were having 'a blast' in... well, ever since the 1950s, thanks to our American cousins.
A gas(06 of14)
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But before we were having 'a blast' we were having 'a gas' - thanks to everyone from James Joyce ('The Dubliners', 1914) and The Rolling Stones ('Jumping Jack Flash', 1970).
Bonking(07 of14)
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Quite possibly the most popular slang word for sex in the 1980s, at least in Britain, and at least around the time that Boris Becker was caught in a broom cupboard.
Piffle(08 of14)
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Originating in the 1800s, this was quite possibly created by combining 'trifle' and 'piddle'. (Or that could just be a load of piffle.)
Bogus(09 of14)
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And we mean using this in its 1990s slang form, of course - ie. in the style of Bill and Ted. And speaking of Bill and Ted...
Dude(10 of14)
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...because we should all just party on, dudes.
Snazzy(11 of14)
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Another hat-tip to our friends across the Pond, who came up with this combination of 'snappy' and 'jazzy' in the 1930s. Snazzy!
Heavy(12 of14)
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Not in its literal sense, of course, but it's 1960s hippy one. Which is, like, heavy. Man.
Nincompoop(13 of14)
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A word first noted in the 1670s - and criminally underused today. In fact, we'd be nincompoops not to bring it back.
Brill(14 of14)
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Fact: anything that was any good in Britain in the 1980s wasn't cool or wicked or sick. It was brilliant. And even more than that: it was 'brill'.

SEE ALSO: 15 British Phrases That Confuse Americans

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