Sozzled and kerfuffle among list of words which could die out within years, research finds

29 September 2020, 15:58 | Updated: 2 October 2020, 08:46

These words could die out in the next generation. Picture: Getty Images

A new survey has revealed a list of 20 words which could go extinct in the next few years.

With the growing use of social media, there are hundreds of new words and phrases emerging every single day.

But now researchers have found that some of the old ones could be dying out.

In fact, researchers have discovered a long list of words which young people have never heard of before.

According to the data found by Perspectus Global, 40% of 18–30 year olds have never heard 'sozzled’ used to describe someone who is very drunk.

Many words are dying out in the English language. Picture: Getty Images

37% also had no idea that a man who behaves badly was once described as a ‘Cad’.

In the survey of 2,000 members of the public, many had never heard of the word ‘bonk’ was used to describe having sex, while 37% percent of under 30s weren’t aware ‘wally’ is sometimes used to describe a silly person.

While most adults will have used the word 'boogie' in their time, 28% of youngsters asked didn’t know that it meant to dance.

Other outdated words include Tosh (23%), Henceforth (26%) and Lush (23%).

In the research, it was also found that a third of participants think many words aren’t relevant today

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Evie Porter, from Perspectus Global who commissioned the research said: “Our research shows that many words are simply losing favour, with millennials having no idea of their meaning.”

See the full list of 20 words which younger Brits have never heard of:

Sozzled (40%) – Very drunk

Cad (37%) – A man who is dishonest or treats other people badly

Bonk (37%) – Have sexual intercourse

Wally (36%) - A stupid person

Betrothed (29%) – Engaged to be married

Nincompoop (28%) – A stupid person

Boogie (28%) – Dance to pop music

Trollop (27%) – A woman who has many casual sexual encounters or relationships

Bounder (27%) – A dishonourable man

Balderdash (27%) – Senseless talk or writing; nonsense

Henceforth (26%) – From this or that time on