As a native English speaker, what's your opinion of "many a" expressio

Hi I'm having English as my second language and I wonder what modern natives speakers think of "many a" constructions. For example:

Sir Charles was a retiring man, but the chance of his illness brought us together, and a community of interests in science kept us so. He had brought back much scientific information from South Africa, and many a charming evening we have spent together discussing the comparative anatomy of the Bushman and the HottentotSir Arthur Conan Doyle

When I first saw this construction I thought it must have been a typo. Then I looked it up and thought: "this sounds retarded" and now I find it quite neat. As a native what's your opinion? Do you use it often?

I love such quirky outdated turns of phrase myself and use them often.

I'm rather special like that though :(

It shouldn't sound odd to you at all if you're actually a native English speaker.

It shouldn't sound odd to you at all if you're actually a native English speaker.Pirate700

I use it if the phrase fits.

i dont even think twice about it. im honestly kind of amused that it interests you so much :PLoG-Sacrament

We were all pwnd by National Agency for Education. And this was after 10 years of English lessons.

Nah I like that sorta thing. Tis quite an expression. :P

I don't use it that often but I have used the phrase from time to time.

[QUOTE="LoG-Sacrament"]i dont even think twice about it. im honestly kind of amused that it interests you so much :PEnsamheten

We were all pwnd by National Agency for Education. And this was after 10 years of English lessons.

It's a pretty neat expression but I rarely use it outside of "many a times ... "Shottayouth13-

nope, not a very odd thing to say.

Love it. If you want to see a strange way of speaking, read Game of Thrones and how they have their dialogue. Especially Tyrion. It's supposed to model middle ages speak. I love it. You don't hear many older turn of phrases and it's actually getting worse with all of the messaging and texting and abbreviating everything I have read. Grammar and older turns of phrase are either getting phased out or worsened.

[QUOTE="Shottayouth13-"]It's a pretty neat expression but I rarely use it outside of "many a times ... "markop2003

Many a post, I never use "many a."

I like it as part of sentences like "I've had many a gay outing" ... but beyond that it doesn't flow too well in sentences.