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Nincompoop, sozzled and cad among words young people don't understand, survey reveals

'Bonk', 'wally' and 'balderdash' among several terms unfamiliar to many Brits aged 18-30 years old, new survey suggests
Millennials may think of the term 'sozzled' as 'balderdash', except they're unlikely to call it that
David Child
30 September 2020

A new survey has revealed a list of 20 words that could go extinct in the next few years after going out of fashion among Britain's youth.

Among the words apparently at risk are sozzled, cad and bonk, the polling conducted by research firm Perspectus Global suggests.

The company's survey, conducted this month, saw it provide some 2,000 adults with a list of words and ask which ones they had never heard before.

It revealed that among the 300 respondents aged 18-30, 40 per cent did not know what sozzled, a euphemism for drunk, referred to. Cad, meaning a man who behaves dishonourably, and bonk, a euphemism for sex, were also unknown by 37 per cent of respondents in the same category.

Other terms unfamiliar to participants aged 18-30 included wally, unknown by 36 per cent, and betrothed, which fell outside of the vocabulary of 29 per cent. Nincompoop and boogie were meanwhile both declared unfamiliar to 28 per cent of respondents respectively.

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Exposing the apparent decline in certain words' popularity, only 24 per cent of a further 1,700 participants in Perspectus Global's survey aged 30 or over said they were ignorant of the term sozzled. Bonk was meanwhile familiar to all but 19 per cent of the older age bracket.

Other disparities included just 10 per cent of older people expressing unfamiliarity with the term disco compared to 17 per cent of under-30s and balderdash, an expression of disbelief, being unknown to 27 per cent of the younger age bracket compared to 14 per cent of those aged 30 and over.

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

According to the Times, the decline in usage of certain words hinted at by Perspect Global's study has also been corroborated by Collins dictionary experts.

Using a database that tracks word usage over time, the dictionary's experts found that instances of sozzled in media sources had plummeted by 90 per cent in the past 30 years, the newspaper reported.

Bonk and cad were reportedly harder to track because of the terms' multiple meanings, but use of other words such as bounde, swot and yonks had fallen by 84 per cent, 77 per cent and 60 per cent respectively.

However, bucking the trend, nincompoop was 373 per cent more popular now than 30 years ago due to its widespread use as an insult on social media.

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