‘Know your onions’ Elderly Britons ‘feel loss’ as traditional English sayings go extinct

Elderly Britons bemoaned the loss of traditional English phrases as a “great shame”. This comes as new research has identified the top 50 phrases most at risk of dying out in the English language. Speaking to ITV News, older Britons admitted they can feel “a bit embarrassed” to use the expressions, against the backdrop of cancel culture in the UK. 

Top on the list of endangered phrases was “pearls before swine,” with 78 percent of Britons never using it in conversation.

The term, which originally came from the Bible, means don’t offer help to those who won’t appreciate it.

ITV News reporter Lucy Watson said: “Those with a fondness for the old ways feel nostalgic for the loss of a lexicon.”

One older man, based in Battersea, told her: “There were lots of phrases that used to be used, but now you feel a bit guilty or embarrassed to use them.”

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A woman added: “They can be a bit daft, can’t they? Some of the phrases make you laugh.”

Another man told ITV News: “It’s a shame, really, I would like to see them keep going.”

Professor Lynda Mugglestone, from the University of Oxford, said: “These are all vital parts of a living language.

“That is the great thing about English – it is always changing.

Other expressions at risk of being lost from the English language included ‘nail your colours to the mast’ – meaning to speak out openly about your beliefs – with 71 percent of people not using it.

Similarly, 68 percent of respondents did not know the meaning of the phrase ‘know your onions;’.

The survey, carried out by Perspectus Global, asked more than 2000 people aged 18 to 50 if they understood or used a list of quintessential British phrases.

73 percent of those asked said that it was a shame when these traditions of British culture died out.