old-fashioned words

[Joe]

I often come across "old-fashioned" words in dictionaries. Not knowing "how old" they are--that is, to what degree they are acceptable to native-speakers--I'm not sure what to do with them (Should I memorize those possibly out-dated words or should I just not bother to deal with them?) Maybe it is really hard for you to give me a general idea or suggestion. Let me give a "for instance". "Go together" goes:

go together: (old-fashioned) if two people are going together, they are having a romantic relationship.

My question is, how acceptable "go together" is nowadays. Is there any possibility of communication difficulties if I use this phrase? Thanks for explaining.

[Mister Micawber]

Sorry, Joe-- it's not old-fashioned at all in my vocabulary. Young couples, when they are still innocent, I still describe as 'going together', even though the age of innocence has lowered steadily over the years.

I am afraid you will have to learn each 'old-fashioned' word just in case. I just finished dealing with a post asking about 'methinks', which is about as old-fashioned as you can get while remaining intelligible-- and yet it still pops up in conversation occasionally, albeit usually in a jocular manner.

[Joe]

Sorry, Joe-- it's not old-fashioned at all in my vocabulary. Young couples, when they are still innocent, I still describe as 'going together', even though the age of innocence has lowered steadily over the years.

I am afraid you will have to learn each 'old-fashioned' word just in case. I just finished dealing with a post asking about 'methinks', which is about as old-fashioned as you can get while remaining intelligible-- and yet it still pops up in conversation occasionally, albeit usually in a jocular manner.

Thanks for your careful suggestion, Mister Micawber.

May I ask another question by the way? "Innocent" people are those who have not had sex, in the context you have used it, right?

[Mister Micawber]

Yes, presumably. 'Going together' has a strictly romantic aura, compared to 'sleeping together' or 'living together'.