the.com/oldie
A song old enough to be loved, young enough to still get requested.
means A song, film, or person from an earlier time that's still fondly remembered and enjoyed.
from Simply 'old' plus the informal '-ie/-y' suffix English loves to tack onto adjectives to make them cozy and noun-like (compare 'goodie,' 'softie,' 'cutie'). The diminutive ending softens 'old' into something affectionate rather than dated — first popping up in the 20th century, especially in radio and music culture, where DJs needed a warm word for yesterday's hits that people still wanted to hear.
- origin
- first printed use traced to the 1920s
- radio format
- entire stations built solely on this word
- relativity
- today's oldie was once this decade's new hit
- pairing
- almost always followed by but goodie