(WYTV) – There are a lot of different ways to tell a person you care, but some terms have fallen out of fashion. This Valentine’s Day might be a time to bring them back.
Bughouse: This is the way early 20th century Americans said they were hopelessly in love. You were “bughouse.”
Buss: This is a very old fashioned synonym for kiss. It originated around 1570, more than 400 years ago.
Dainty Duck: This is from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Pyramus refers to his lover, Thisbe, as a “dainty duck,” another old term of endearment.
Dimber: It meant someone attractive or pretty and it was gender neutral, used to describe a man or woman in the 17th century.
Face made of a fiddle: It meant irresistibly charming, a face and smile so wonderful and attractive that it reminds you of the curves of a fiddle. It was used in the 17th century and led to the phrase “fit as a fiddle.”
Jam Tart: This comes to us from England and it means your heart. It’s Cockney slang.
Prigster: You’re a man fighting for the heart of the woman you love around 1670 or so, and you call your competitor for her hand a “prigster,” a rival in love.
RILY: Telegrams sometimes contained the acronym RILY for “Remember, I love you.” Your grandmother or great-grandmother might remember this from the mid-1940’s. It was shorthand long before we began to text.
Spoon: This is the way we said flirting in the 19th century.
Sugar Report: This came from World War II as a slang term for the letters that soldiers got from their wives and girlfriends back home
