Britishisms

[MichaelB]

I'm familiar with most, but I worked (and drank) with quite a few Brit expats back in the day. Some of those terms I use now. New for me are sussed, numpty, muppet, chav.

 

[MichaelB]

Just a difference in outlook. I've always thought it was offal good.

My favorite offal is heart (beef or chicken), but chicken gizzards is also a favorite snack around my house. Liver and onions or bacon has also always been a treat. Kidneys are very good as well. Does tongue count? That's a delicacy in my book.

+1

Had tongue and brains (tacos) yesterday for breakfast.

 

[Purron]

Never Mind the Bullocks! Sorry to post this again so soon. No, I take that back. Not sorry at all. Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen (Studio) - YouTube

 

[Nemo2]

Double post.....oops.

 

[Nemo2]

Never Mind the Bullocks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z2M_hpoPwk&feature=player_embedded

Bullocks? Or?

 

[obgyn65]

Bloody hell

 

[kumquat]

Anybody spare me a fag?

No, not someone with an alternative sexual preferance. This is one of those words who's original meaning and useage died during my lifetime. Why can't those Brits have a static language?

 

[pb4uski]

I spent a lot of time in the UK for work and picked up some of their expressions but I use very few that are on the list.

My favourites are "sort out" and "keen". It seems much more polite to say I am "not keen" on something vs "that's bullsh*t".

 

[Koogie]

I spent a lot of time in the UK for work and picked up some of their expressions but I use very few that are on the list.

My favourites are "sort out" and "keen". It seems much more polite to say I am "not keen" on something vs "that's bullsh*t".

Yeah, yeah.. don't get your knickers in a twist... ;o)

 

[Bestwifeever]

We had a high school girl from England stay with us for a week or so about 15 years ago and she described some chocolate chip cookies as "gorgeous." Which makes sense in terms of something one would gorge on and not a compliment to their appearance, as I would use that term (now we like to use it as she did when we see cookies, or biscuits as she called them).

 

[Donzo]

I lived in England for a while I always liked


put some wood in the hole = close the door

plimsoles = sneakers

wooly cartigan = sweater

wancker = fool, stupid, silly, and may other things

fancy dress party = costume party

chicken choker = yup, that

wellies = rubber boots

 

[Nemo2]

wooly cartigan = sweater

Actually 'Cardigan"...named after the guy who 'led' the Charge of The Light Brigade.

 

[W2R]

Actually 'Cardigan"...named after the guy who 'led' the Charge of The Light Brigade.

Yes, and we Americans also call sweaters that button up the front Cardigans. If I needed a warm wool Cardigan, I would call it that as well (well, maybe not "wooly Cardigan" but "wool Cardigan". So I am thinking that maybe that is not a Britishism.

 

[BigNick]

My comments in blue:

I lived in England for a while I always liked
put some wood in the hole = close the door I'm a 51 year old Brit, and I've never heard that one - I suspect it may be regional. Speaking it in my head, it sounds like it could be from further North than where I grew up.

plimsoles = sneakers Not sure about this - to me, plimsolls are more like thin gym/ballet slippers. Sneakers are "trainers" in the UK.

wancker = fool, stupid, silly, and may other things Spelt "wanker". Not acceptable on TV before 9pm; calling someone a wanker to their face in any context other than banter is fighting talk. Brits wet themselves laughing when they get to Pennsylvania and see Wanker beer on sale, and they (and the Irish, in the case of this image) will make substantial detours on trips of Bavaria to get a picture at the Wank city limits sign. "To get wankered" is also occasionally "to get drunk".

wellies = rubber boots Yes, they were allegedly invented by the Duke of Wellington, of beating-Napoleon-at-Waterloo fame. Green wellies are considered upper-middle class; wear black ones to avoid social commentary. "The green welly brigade" was a popular way to refer to well-to-do Range Rover drivers 20 or so years ago, although this is now going out of fashion.

 

[W2R]

We had a high school girl from England stay with us for a week or so about 15 years ago and she described some chocolate chip cookies as "gorgeous." Which makes sense in terms of something one would gorge on and not a compliment to their appearance, as I would use that term (now we like to use it as she did when we see cookies, or biscuits as she called them).

That's true - - some meanings of the word are falling out of favor in the US. The dictionary.com definition is

"gor·geous [gawr-juhs]adjective
1. splendid or sumptuous in appearance, coloring, etc.; magnificent: a gorgeous gown; a gorgeous sunset.
2. Informal . extremely good, enjoyable, or pleasant: I had a gorgeous time."

So, I guess that second definition is the one she used, and that is falling out of favor.

 

[MichaelB]

Quite Nice

What does it really mean

Quite nice = I like, it's good
Quite nice, really = meh, nothing special
Quite nice, really, if you like that sort of thing = don't bother me again with this

 

[Chuckanut]

No doubt about it, this thread has 'sexed up' this site!

 

[Koogie]

""wancker = fool, stupid, silly, and may other things Spelt "wanker". Not acceptable on TV before 9pm; calling someone a wanker to their face in any context other than banter is fighting talk. Brits wet themselves laughing when they get to Pennsylvania and see Wanker beer on sale, and they (and the Irish, in the case of this image) will make substantial detours on trips of Bavaria to get a picture at the Wank city limits sign. "To get wankered" is also occasionally "to get drunk".""

And the Brits also kill themselves laughing when American tourists refer to their little waistbelt carrybags as "fanny packs" fanny being a british euphimism for "ladybits"

 

[Nemo2]

Going a little further afield, (after all, threads do develop a life of their own)........the first time I was in South Africa my late wife & I rented a small camper and set out from Jozi towards Kruger Park.....looking to find the highway I pulled over and asked a guy for directions.

In a fairly heavy Afrikaans accent he said "Turn right at the first Robot and then left at the next Robot".

Puzzled, I thanked him and continued driving........a little further along, painted in white on the roadway, it said "Robot Ahead".....Traffic Lights!



Years later I related this story to a South African woman in Vancouver...she gave me her version:

When she first arrived in Vancouver, she was walking downtown in the evening.......she asked a cop for directions and was told to "Turn left at the lights"........she looked around her and thought "There's nothing BUT lights".

 

[BigNick]

That's true - - some meanings of the word are falling out of favor in the US. The dictionary.com definition is

"gor·geous [gawr-juhs]adjective
1. splendid or sumptuous in appearance, coloring, etc.; magnificent: a gorgeous gown; a gorgeous sunset.
2. Informal . extremely good, enjoyable, or pleasant: I had a gorgeous time."

So, I guess that second definition is the one she used, and that is falling out of favor.

I have heard Texans use the word "gorgeous" in the second sense, although it's more used to describe physical things. The most common use would be "a gorgeous girl", a phrase that can be used equally by a man or a woman, followed by food - typically food that one would expect to find gorgeous anyway (that is, it met high expectations; you can't really say "surprisingly gorgeous", but you can say "surprisingly nice", which is of course not quite the same as "nice, surprisingly").

Quite nice = I like, it's good
Quite nice, really = meh, nothing special
Quite nice, really, if you like that sort of thing = don't bother me again with this

See also:
Quite good: Better then expected
Quite good: Less good than expected

 

[Alan]

I lived in England for a while I always liked


put some wood in the hole = close the door

This is a common phrase in the Black Country and parts of Lancashire that I first heard when I went to college in 1973 and students from those areas would say, "put wood int 'ole lad" if ever I left the door open

I certainly do love to gorge myself in the gorgeous cheeses from the Cheshire Gorge

 

[haha]

Can any British people help on a word meaning? "Lights." I have a Maltese recipe for rabbit that mentions sauteing the rabbit along with its liver and "lights." Kidneys?

Lung. To me it is not British, my Scots-American grandmaother used it 60 years ago. ANd she hadnt ever seen the old country, nor likely had her grandparents.

Ha

 

[bssc]

Some of the words, like Mate, I hear more from my Aussie cow-orkers. Of course, they got them from the British. I recognized all but one but then I w*rk in an International MegaCorp.

 

[WestLake]

"Brilliant" is as overused by the Brits as "amazing" and formerly "awesome" here...

 

[kumquat]

Does 'fag' still have a much different meaning than the US version?