‘Golly’, ‘cassette’ and ‘croquet’: the words we no longer use

A new study sheds light on how the English language is changing - but what shapes the vocabulary du jour?

A huge ongoing study by Lancaster University and Cambridge University has discovered what, in fact, we probably knew already: that word-usage changes continuously under the pressures of historical malaise, new sensitivities, the new machineries of life and fashion.

"Golly" is fast going. No need to ask why. Good thing, too. And "gosh" is long gone; it's one of those euphemistic items of religious vocabulary (along with "blimey" and "gadzooks") that we largely godless people don't see the point of any more. "Gee!" I rarely hear any more. Jesus weeps.