ye olde
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English
Etymology
From Middle English ye olde, a spelling variant of þe olde (literally “the old”).
Pronunciation
- (properly) (UK) IPA(key): /ðiː əʊld/; (US) IPA(key): /ði oʊld/
- (commonly) (UK) IPA(key): /jiː əʊld(i)/; (US) IPA(key): /ji oʊld/
Phrase
- Faux-archaic form of the old.
- I'm not wasting my time going to lectures given by ye olde professor Jones.
- Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe
- 1955, Joyce Cary, Not Honour More, New Directions Publishing, →ISBN, page 98:
- All this time waiting at door. At last young fellow in a white jacket condescended to answer my bell—and asked me to wait some more in the porch. But I didn't see it and walked into ye olde tyme lounge hall, panelled in Elizabethan linen-fold oak made out of chewed paper painted olde shitte colour.
- 2012, Richard Marcinko, Seal Force Alpha, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:
- Judging from the panicked look and white pallor on Pinky's face, I'd just put him between ye olde rock and ye olde harde place. Not my problem.
- 2024 April 27, Michael Hogan, “Did five frightened horses bolting through London really mean the end was neigh?”, in The Observer, →ISSN:
- The saga of the fugitive nags gripped the nation. All day, #horses was a trending topic on social media, as if this was ye olde days.
- Pseudo-archaic, pertaining to a historically inaccurate invocation of pre-modern times.
Usage notes
- Jocularly added as an adjective to modern nouns to indicate that something is either outmoded or comfortably old fashioned. See ye (“the”) for more on how the spelling arose.
