Yonks

[mkenuk]

Now, there is a word I haven't heard for yonks. I would be surprised if anyone who is not a Brit has ever heard it.
I remember it being schoolboy slang when I was a schoolboy. That was a long time ago.

I did actually see it while playing the game and immediately rejected the idea of entering it, not least because COD labelled it British, informal.
To be honest, I didn't even think it would qualify as 'rare'.

It surely, however, gives us a new record low - played by a grand total of 4 from 276 (0.14%).

ps
I would be surprised if anyone who is not a Brit has ever heard it

 It would appear from Jacki's post that the word is known outside UK.
I stand corrected

[Hobbit]

I use yonks a lot Mike.  Have done for yonks

[Ozzyjack]

Hi Mike,

I am quite familiar with it but I haven’t used it for yonks.

Probably the reason for being so well known in Australia is the large number of UK migrants who enrich our country and its vocabulary.

[Dragonman]

I missed it to, a head banging word when I saw the solution

[Calilasseia]

And another word brings back memories of 1970s schooldays. Though for a change, not a word whose usage today would invite severe opprobrium ...

[rogue_mother]

Speaking as a non-Brit, I have never heard this word.

[Alan W]

Speaking as a non-Brit, I have never heard this word.

Evidently you haven't been reading the forum assiduously, RM, because the word's been used by forumites about 17 times over the years. Mainly by technomc, but also by bobbi, Mancklin, cb, Ozzyjack and Hobbit.

Of course this doesn't necessarily make it a common word. The fact that all of these forumites are, I think, of British or Australasian origin would suggest that it's not. I'll look into it a bit more closely in due course.

[rogue_mother]

Evidently you haven't been reading the forum assiduously, RM, because the word's been used by forumites about 17 times over the years. Mainly by technomc, but also by bobbi, Mancklin, cb, Ozzyjack and Hobbit.

You've got me there, Alan. While it is true that I currently do not read the forum assiduously, apparently I have seen the word in the forum at least once in the intervening years twelve years since I signed on to Chihuahua. I must say, however, that I have never heard the word anywhere outside of Chihuahua (to the best of my recollection), and certainly not by native speakers of American English. That is why it never stuck in my brain, I'm sure.

[Alan W]

I suspect that quite often when we think we've never seen or heard a word before, it's not quite true. We possibly have encountered the word but not registered it. This might account for the feeling that once you hear of a word you see it repeatedly in the following weeks - perhaps you were seeing the word before but not noticing it.

Recently I accepted sesh as a rare word, its main usage being as a British colloquialism for a drinking session. I said at the time that I'd not noticed the word before. Then a couple of weeks later I saw it in a British crime novel. But, as MK pointed out, the word had been used by Ian Rankin in one of his crime novels - one which I have read. So I had previously seen the word at least once, but possibly several times.