Do you ever find yourself bored with using the same old words and expressions? I do. One of the joys of teaching a recent short course in "Golden Age Mysteries" was discovering words and expressions not common to modern American English.
The Golden Age of Mystery writing occurred approximately between the two world wars of the 20th century, so the language used by Golden Age writers is almost a century old. In these writings, language change as a gradual process is readily observable; after all, we can still read old mysteries with ease. But a few delightful words and expressions pop up in the writing that remind me that I am reading British literature of the early 20th century. And I may decide to incorporate some new ways of speaking into my modern American English, just for the novelty of it.
"Beastly." What a potent adjective to describe our dislike of something or someone. In Edgar Wallace's The Daffodil Mystery, Thornton Lyne is trying to seduce Odette Rider by referring to his poetry book. "Most of it was written before I came into this beastly shop...." I may find "beastly" useful in complaining about the very unpleasant spring dust storms in my home town, and, even more important, the expression may satisfy my need to use a stronger, less ladylike adjective.
"Rotten little bounder." Agatha Christie, in her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles," has John Cavendish so describe Alfred Inglethorp, an interloper who has married John's wealthy seventy year old stepmother. Surely I can use "rotten little bounder" often to describe someone in my life who has done something I don't approve of.
"Peckish." Now that is a word I'm sure I will use to describe my snacking habit near bedtime. The memorable character Mr. Lugg in Margery Allingham's Look to the Lady offers food to Val Gyrth, a down and out young man, adding, "I always get peckish about this time o'night myself."
"Sacked." A strong alternative to "fired from a job." Author Anthony Berkeley in Trial and Error has Ferrers tell Todhunter how morale is down in his publishing company because of many recent dismissals of personnel. "Sacked! Poor old Ogilvie's been sacked, to put it frankly...," And Todhunter is so impressed that he plans a murder!
"Pinch." A descriptive word for the crime of stealing. "Pilfer" would be a synonym. Dorothy L. Sayers makes humorous use of multiple meanings of pinch by having Pym's Advertising Agency reject the advertising slogan to accompany the image of a girl moving a cushion in a train compartment with the warning, "Don't let them pinch your seat."
Language offers infinite possibilities to express ourselves in speaking and writing. Why should we be confined to language of our present decade? Creative use of language, drawing from many sources (yes, even slang) , encourages our minds to travel to new places and different eras.
