The British phrases getting ready for the knackers yard

By Alice Wilkinson

A recent survey published by Perspectus Global revealed a list of 30 phrases that under 50s were no longer using, based on a nationally representative sample of 2,000 adults, aged between 18 and 50.

The results of the survey have been taken to be indicative of those sayings that will soon be extinct. Bad news for the phrase “casting pearls before swine”, meaning to waste your time by offering help to someone who won’t appreciate it, which topped the list of little-used phrases.

The top ten phrases on the list were:

1. Pearls before swine - 78% of under 50s never use the phrase
2. Nail your colours to the mast - 71%
3. Colder than a witch’s tit - 71%
4. Pip pip - 70%
5. Know your onions - 68%
6. A nod is as good as a wink - 66%
7. A stitch in time saves nine - 64%
8. Ready for the knackers yard - 62%
9. I’ve dropped a clanger - 60%
10. A fly in the ointment - 59%

71% of those surveyed never use the phrase “nailing your colours to the mast”, which means stating your beliefs openly, and refers to the 17th century, when flags were lowered as a symbol of submission in battle. Likewise, 68% don’t use the phrase “know your onions”, meaning that one is experienced or knowledgeable about a particular topic.

Meanwhile, 64% never say “a stitch in time saves nine”, which means that it is better to solve a problem right away, to prevent it becoming a bigger one. Last year, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced additional lockdown restrictions, saying "we must take action now because a stitch in time saves nine", Google saw a spike in people searching for the meaning of the phrase. That people under 50 are not using the saying is therefore not particularly surprising.

But lower down the list are phrases like “cool as a cucumber” (51% of those surveyed do not use this phrase), “it’s gone pear shaped” (51%), “it costs a bomb” (51%), “pardon my French” (48%) and “a turn up for the books” (45%). Unlike the less familiar phrases at the top of the list, these sayings seem – to me at least – to be used fairly regularly. If anything, “it takes the biscuit”, apparently unused by 50% of those asked, seems to be experiencing something of a revival.

The Perspective Global survey demonstrates just how fluid the English language is. Not so long ago, phrases like “it’s raining cats and dogs” were characteristic of Britain and its eccentricities, but today the saying is unused by 51% of people under 50. Soon, the phrases on this list may seem as curious and whimsical as words like crinkum-crankum, an elaborate decoration or detail, and dandiprat, meaning a young or insignificant person. But, though “a nod is as good as a wink” is falling out of use, new phrases and words are constantly being introduced.

For instance, in 2021, the Oxford English Dictionary added haggis-headed, an adjective describing a person that is stupid or foolish; meet-cute, referring to an amusing or charming first encounter between two people that leads to a romantic relationship; woofling, a word used to describe a low snuffling, snorting, or growling sound; and zombocalypse, an imaginary event in which the world is taken over by zombies. The formal entry of these word into the English language is surely something to be celebrated.