Golly! Words we’ve said ‘ta-ra’ to

THEY are the words that show – every bit as much as fashion and hairstyles – how times have changed.

For many terms that were commonplace 25 years ago are now hardly ever heard in conversation, research shows. Replacing them are words that did not exist in the early 1990s.

We have said goodbye to ‘ta-ra’ and are surprised if someone says ‘golly’ or calls us ‘matey’. But thanks to the computer age we are familiar with terms – such as email, iPad, Facebook, Google and Twitter – that would have drawn blank looks just a quarter of a century ago.

Researchers from Lancaster University and the Cambridge University Press spent three years collecting taped conversations between groups of friends across the UK. They then analysed them to see how our language is changing. Yoga has become an everyday word, while we no longer speak of having permed hair or using a cassette.

People say ‘marvellous’ less often and Avon – known to previous generations from the TV advert slogan ‘Ding dong! Avon calling’ – has an unfamiliar ring today. ‘Twenty four’ is common because of the use of the term 24/7.

Lead researcher Robbie Love said: ‘The stuff from the 1990s can’t be treated as present-day English any more. I can’t say whether any of these word changes is good news or bad news. Some people think language is being ruined by technology. I don’t see this. It’s just change.’