It is sad how few words see regular use anymore. I am certainly guilty of this myself. I like being lazy. Also, it makes for easier conversations in a lot of cases since other are lazy as well.

I recently read a book by Charles Stross in the Laundry Files series. part of the book took place in the 1850s somewhere, (I think). It was filled with words and slang I didn't know. Presumably Stross did some research on English back in those days.

In a completely different context, I have read various letters that date from somewhere 1800 somewhere 1930s. More on the older side.

I am surprised by how eloquent they were. Thet had a much larger vocabulary than we see these days. I think helped by snail mail being a bit more formal and a lot slower process than banging away and emailing on a laptop. It gave the writer more time and more impetus to the writing process.

It may be skewed by the fact that the leter are mostly from the upper middle class.