Discussions
Back to Discussions

is the word “Traipsing” commonly used?

toumingjiao1
learned this word from a TV show, but it was from an old witch's line, so I'm not sure if it sounds strange or outdated in real life Thanks in advance!(btw is it natural to say 'thanks in advance' in this situation?)

23 comments

Mental-Bowler2350
Pretty common in US South.
lithomangcc
Traipsing around all day, is common phrase
zebostoneleigh
Commonly? Not really. But I would expect every adult to know the word. It's not specifically witch related. I really don't know if I've said it in the last year or two. I've probably heard it.
CODENAMEDERPY
Not common in US. But the majority of adults should know it.
mothwhimsy
I must have liked this word as a teenager because I used it all the time. I haven't heard someone use it in years though. It's common enough to recognize but most people would probably use "trudging" or "dragging their feet" or something else instead
Weskit
I wouldn't say it's ***un***common, but it's not as common as it used to be.
OSUStudent272
Never heard it irl, only once in the She-Ra reboot. I live in the Midwest US for context.
SquiggleBox23
I say it sometimes, in kind of a joking way.
smileysarah267
I’m from PA, USA, and I have never heard that in my life (I’m 27)
mossryder
Sure is. Not super common, but common enough that you'll never get the side eye by saying it.
-qqqwwweeerrrtttyyy-
I've heard people say 'traipsing all over town' but to be fair, I've heard more people say 'schlepping all over town' - even though they have different connotations 
Pillowz_Here
No.
calirodanram
My first time hearing that word tbh. I’m from California. I feel like the majority of English speakers couldn’t even pronounce it.
BobbyThrowaway6969
It's not common but I just understand it as "tiptoeing around".
tawandagames2
I would use it like "traipsing all over town" in the sense of a more time consuming set of errands than I wanted to do - like I had to go to 4 stores to find what I wanted and I was tired after traipsing all over town. You hear it reasonably often.
PeachBlossomBee
Not unless you’re storytelling. “And here goes little ole me, traipsing along my merry way (or, to ruin everything)”. It is now hyperbolic or for exaggerating effect
TwunnySeven
I'm surprised by these comments, I don't think I've ever heard this word before and yes, "thanks in advance" sounds perfectly fine the way you used it
iwaalaimaka
Born and raised in Hawaii; I have only heard this word maybe once or twice and always on TV. Iʻve never heard it used or spoken it before in conversation.
bright_shiny_day
[Traipse](https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/traipse?q=traipse) isn't outdated (or strange) in Britain or New Zealand, but it's not particularly common from my perspective – I perceive it as one of the words that is slowly dropping out of use conversationally as the generations pass. Having said that, [Google Ngram doesn't back me up on that, at least in relation to the British corpus](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=traipse&year_start=1900&year_end=2022&corpus=en-GB&smoothing=3&case_insensitive=false)! I don't think the use by a witch in the TV programme is any indication of limited usage – it could be used by many characters in a TV programme; not just a spooky or odd character. To me, the character would need to seem at least moderately intelligent or educated (in English) to use the word. It's not a word that would be expected from a child or someone else who presents as a "simple" character. I think an American (Yiddish origin) counterpart is probably [schlep](https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/schlep_1?q=schlep), but I would leave that to confirmation by Americans. BTW, yes, absolutely, it's natural to say "thanks in advance" in this situation. And you're welcome!
AnInfiniteArc
I use it and have heard it used many times in California and Oregon. Definitely in the “not common but not uncommon” bucket.
ExistentialCrispies
Yes it's fairly common. To traipse upon something means to venture into (or edge of) an area/subject that you may not intend or are unprepared for. Could also mean literally stepping on something accidentally but IME that's a less common usage. Example: "You're traipsing upon my area of expertise" (you're trying to talk about something I know more about).
JohannYellowdog
It’s a common enough word in Ireland
prustage
My parents used it a lot and I use it occasionally. But I am not sure if younger people use it all today. It may be very regional, I am from the North West of England