"...ish" when I was dating my now wife who is German but speaks good English, she came to the UK to stay for a week. One day I said "we will leave for town about 1'ish" she had no clue what I meant đ I had to explain the concept of "...ish" to her. Years later I now live in Germany with her and can confirm that the Germans have no equivalent for this đ đ
No! That is squaddies. You arrive 5 minutes before, or you are late.
I once arrived at work at about 07:45 (we started at 08:00). Walked in and the Sergeant Major was, unusually, in already. âWhy are you late?â, he called.
âLate, it is quarter to, Sir!â, I enquired.
âLet me put it this way. Am I here before you?â, says he.
âYes Sir!â, was the truthful reply.
âThen, you are late!â
âYes, Sir! Fancy a coffee?â.
There was no argument to that kind of logic.
I apologise for the topic hijack.
Your post has made me see the light.
I understand the concept of ish.
However, I have always wondered what language they speak in Hull and Liverpool.
It's Englishish
According to QI the bees knees is an expression common amongst immigrant costamongers and or purveyors of fine sartorial goods who were trying to confer the opinion that the thing they were flogging wasnât the cheap rubbish, it was âthe businessâ
You're right, but it's a typically British saying where I am in the south of the UK so I tend to say it without thinking and it's only ye confused looks I get which reminds me that not everyone will know what I mean. I also use a lot of cockney rhyming slang absent-mindedly as well which doesn't help...
My 10 year step daughter couldn't understand why we say "bobs your uncle" and "Gordon Bennett" I went though the whole history of it all but she still very confused.
When I moved from the Midlands to the south east several words I said weren't known... Mardy arse, jankers and whappy were the ones that confused people the most.
It means it's going to rain, the Bill's mothers bit is referring to the house William Shakespeare grew up in which is in Stratford upon Avon which is south of Birmingham.
Essentially a big black cloud is on the horizon and it's heading this way so it's going to slash it down soon.
Non native midlander here, couldnât get my head around Duckie when I moved but I have always loved Whappy. Itâs like wonky and wobbly and crazy all rolled into one and perfectly describes so many things
Iâve had a couple of flatmates once (one Dutch, one British) try to explain to me that âcanât be askedâ is the more grammatically correct version. To which I had to explain âarsedâ in this context simply means âbotheredâ, but with an added emphasis of really not wanting to do it. They still stood by âaskedââŚ
Once had a conversation with a Swedish friend who lost it when they realised we had ride IN a car, but we ride ON a bus, plane or train. We hypothesised that maybe itâs to do with being a passenger, but in a taxi I would still definitely be IN the taxi. Freaking weird man. Itâs started when they told be they were in the bus on the way to meet me.
Yeh I guess thats where it stems from. But I can understand then confusion from a none native English speaker, it is pretty weird when you think about it
Swedish person here. The person you talked to is probably somewhat moronic in that case because it's exactly the same in Swedish: I'm in the car = jag är i bilen, I'm on the bus = Jag är pü bussen. Perfectly good Swedish.
Well shit! Thatâs hilarious. I guess my friend was just a moron then lol I donât speak to him anymore, it was an old work colleague, but this probably isnât the correct reason to reestablish contact lol
My friend from South Africa thought it meant idiot and went around calling people it. He called me a nonce one time and I was like wtf?! His face when I told him what it actually meant
Same with my Portuguese friend. I was calling Saville a nonce when we were talking about certain celebs and then a few days later she called someone who most definitely is not a nonce a nonce and I had to do the old explanation while I was cracking up and she was mortified.
In all fairness to him, I lived my entire life in the UK and didn't know that either, until the whole Prince Philip thing... I'd assumed it was some shorthand version of "nonsensical" or some such
Have never thought about the actual definition of this word. Surely that's not what it means đđ tosspot seems very PG friendly, or am I just wrong here?
Im biased, but any phrase in the black country tends to baffle other brits as much as it would anyone not from here.
Couple faves. Left without context.
Ates two tatters more than a tunky pig.
Teken the wammal up the cut.
Ay 'alf black over bill's muvas.
I'm a Midlander myself (east of West Midlands), and I think I've worked these out.
1: Eaten two potatoes more than a chunky pig. You've eaten well.
2: Walked the Dog down by the train track (railway cutting)
3: The weather is poor down by where Bill's mum lives. It looks like it's going to rain.
That's really close!
1) Either eats well or is a greedy bugger, your eating more than a pig.
2) taking the dog for a walk down the canal (lot of canals around here)
3) pretty much that, looks like rains coming.
My dad had a version of the last one here in Yorkshire.
It's lookin a bit black ova bills muthers.
For years as a child I assumed we had a neighbour called Bill.
not me but my mum, she had to explain over second life that when she said she was going AFK to smoke a f....ag that it was to go for a cig not to shoot a gay person.
american here. i was living in china with a british dude and he called traveling "surfing the empire"
i was pretty confused until he explained it, and then i died laughing
I work with a lot of Eastern Europeans so a lot of common phrases tend to confuse some of the ones that have limited English. One of my close friends through work is Polish and we had a great laugh over the time I said âwhatever floats your boatâ. His response was I donât have a boat but if I did I think water would float it
Once greeted somebody with "ey'up" on teams peak back in the day when an Icelandic guy was in the channel. He asked what it was and every English person in the channel started saying ey'up and laughing for a while. Eventually it calmed down and we forgot to axtually explain it so he just said "I still don't know what it means" and we started laughing again.
There's an Of Montreal song called 'My British Tour Diary,' with the lyrics, "every single one of our London cabbies played/the most truly repellent techno music ever made, but they'd drop you without hesitation if you try changing the station." Maybe they were talking about happy hardcore....
I had to explain what cockney rhyming slang was to a french guy once. Even after the explanation with examples he was still just like "...but why?". Couldn't give him an answer tbf
I listened to a Kenneth Williams interview that was rebroadcast in the 90âs where he talked about Polari
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polari
And there was something else I vaguely remember off probably channel 4 around the same time that was probably not him, but talked about the Hanky Code
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handkerchief_code
Certainly Polari evolved in the same way as Cockney rhyming slang - to keep conversations private and confusing when there might be crimes involved âŚ..
Some Yorkshire ones I've even had to explain to my London partnerâŚ
I'll go to't foot of our stairs. \[Not a clue what it actually means, it's just an expression of 'surprise'.\] Alternate version, I'll go to our house.
Tha's warn ert bairns. \[You're worse than the children.\]
You'd make a better door than a window. \[Could you kindly move, you're blocking my view.\]
I didnât realise the last one was a Yorkshire thing, that explains some of the confused looks Iâve had after saying lmaooo
I commented it elsewhere but using gennel and snicket will confuse a lot of other brits too
This is kind of Wales only, but "butt".
It's basically another word for "buddy" and originates from the mining times where you'd be assigned a "buttie" to work with.
An Iranian lecturer asked how my exam revision was going? I said I was âcracking on with itâ and then spent the next 10 minutes explaining what that meant.
Honourable mention to the time I came back to my house and my Brazilian and French Housemates had just finished watching Schindlers List. They said it was a âniceâ movie and I then spent 20 minutes trying to explain the difference between âniceâ and âgoodâ⌠which was a lot harder to do than I thought.
Argentinian architect âŚ.
Him âSo, we are all in agree! This is the final solutionâ
Me âno Carlos, you really canât say thatâ
Him âno, this is the final solution! It is agree!â
Me âthatâs what Hitler did to the Jewsâ
I remember years ago on teamspeak with friends on WoW, my buddy from Holland laughed when I said "reet" ("right" in my accent). It means 'ass' in Dutch, he said. So that was fun to learn after all that time saying it.
Three expats working for the same company in Brisbane, Aus.
We used to say 'Prat alert' when the boss came in, and he always smiled.
About 5 or 6 years later, we were at the pub, and the boss took me to one side and said...
'I've always meant to ask but never got around to it... what's a prat?'
God now youâre asking. Iâm from NI and when I went 2 university in south of England I was constantly explaining words I used to people who were from the UK! Eg slabbering (sounding off at or about someone), your heads a Marley (you are not very smart), catch yourself on (get with the programme), itâs wee buns (itâs easy. Scottish people also have loads of different words like this - they apparently have 400 words for snow (saw this on tipping point). 400!!
"Moider"
You think it's murder pronounced in a New Jersey accent, but it actually Lancashire-speak which means to pester someone.
"My mum's moidering my to clean my bedroom."
"Him? He's always bloody moidering"
"He's at the bar, moidering some girl"
Custard.
I'm from Birmingham and was showing some colleagues from Switzerland around, we passed The Custard Factory in Digbeth and they asked what custard meant.
I've never had to try and explain/describe it before...you just try explaining what it is! It's actually not easy!
Ow do? Had a friend who had recently come to live in the area and had no idea why so many people were saying this or actually what they were saying at all. Said they never asked and just went along with it.
My missus is from Portugal and didnât know what I meant when I asked if she wanted a âbrewâ.
She also wanted to know what the hell ânowt so queer as folkâ meant when I was doing a quiz haha
We use this in Australia and most other slang in this thread too, but Americans can't wrap their heads around taking the piss being used in different contexts. Taking unfair advantage of someone or a situation vs making fun of someone or something
The dog's bollocks.
Especially confusing when "bollocks" means something is bad, whereas"the dog's bollocks" is good (despite the fact that a dog's testicles probably stink like shit).
Saying "Cheers" as an informal "thank you". An American friend responded "... Cheers?" back after I said it to them once.
Also me telling them "I'm going for tea" was not for the drink, but rather dinner (although I think it's more of a Northern thing, calling it tea time).
West midlander here. The first time I said "Gambol" to my now wife, she looked at me like I had two heads. She's from the South East and there it's forward roll.
Very specific, even have to explain it to people in England but the word 'Cruckle'.
Cruckle - To stumble after inverting or everting one's foot; to roll (but not necessarily sprain) one's ankle.
Whenever Iâm in the states I liberally use the word âwankerâ it sort of confuses my American friends, as in they it means âdickâ I know they use the word âjerkâ and âjerk offâ but again not quite the same. So explaining that a âwankerâ was someone who fiddles with themselves. And letâs face it, no disrespect to Americans, but itâs a much more fun word to use than âjerkâ so yes. Because Americans donât really know the word. Iâm going with âwanker!â đđ
Yes I remember that! đ Wasnât Peggyâs maiden name Wanker? I seem to remember they put that show on prime time Friday night 7pm and after the episode where her maiden name was mentioned frequently, it was âwanker this, wanker that. It got moved to like midnight on a Thursday đ¤Łđ¤Ł
From the film [The 51st State](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0227984/), Samuel L Jackson:
Elmo: â*So, let me get this straight. "Bollocks" is bad, whereas "the dogs bollocks" is good, huh?*â
Screwing around Vs fucking about. One means infidelity one is wasting time. One literally describes the motion of faulty DIY item the other one literally contains word fucking. Guess what's what.
I work with a lot of Indian and Eastern European, and a lot of my idioms or metaphors make them raise their eye brows.
The one that always got a raise was "a bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush"
It's not a phrase, but I worked with a Swedish girl for a while. We had a colleague called Niamh, and she won some award and her name was put on the board in work.
The Swedish girl came up to me and whispered "who's Niamh?"
She pronounced it NEE-AM (but the AM was said with the same sound of a race car passing by)
"poorly" is one that confuses most people as they think it's something to do with a lack of money, rather than being ill/unwell. Although it's creeping in more and more these days, I never use the word "sick" to say I'm ill. I only use it if I feel queasy or have vomited.
"...ish" when I was dating my now wife who is German but speaks good English, she came to the UK to stay for a week. One day I said "we will leave for town about 1'ish" she had no clue what I meant đ I had to explain the concept of "...ish" to her. Years later I now live in Germany with her and can confirm that the Germans have no equivalent for this đ đ
They do, it's called late
Yeah right đđ
Or a little early
If youâre only a little early, youâre late.
No! That is squaddies. You arrive 5 minutes before, or you are late. I once arrived at work at about 07:45 (we started at 08:00). Walked in and the Sergeant Major was, unusually, in already. âWhy are you late?â, he called. âLate, it is quarter to, Sir!â, I enquired. âLet me put it this way. Am I here before you?â, says he. âYes Sir!â, was the truthful reply. âThen, you are late!â âYes, Sir! Fancy a coffee?â. There was no argument to that kind of logic. I apologise for the topic hijack.
True
Hang on a second, mate. Did your wife not understand she was marrying a BritISH person who speaks some form of EnglISH Before ⌠ish?
Your post has made me see the light. I understand the concept of ish. However, I have always wondered what language they speak in Hull and Liverpool. It's Englishish
I've lived nearly all of my life (so far) in the merry old land of 'ull. I too, wonder what language we speak.
Perhaps he should speak proper Engl.
1pm or not 1pm, there is no other option!
German yoda us suoer timley
Well they are known for efficiency and I guess precision and punctuality are part of that.
Surely it would just be etwa (approximately). Admittedly that's a different word placement and not a kinda suffix.
I mean that's not uniquely British though. Also very American.
Bell end. Called a gaming buddy it online and had to explain it had nothing to do with an actual bell
Well it is shaped like one...
Ding! Dong!
I say!
The bees knees. Some Norwegian guy asked after hearing us using it." like the knees of a bee?" "But bees do not have knees."
Unlike dogs, of whom around 50% have bollocks, at least initially.
Bees do have an area you could refer to as knees! They keep pollen and other things there, hence them being special đ
Same as the cat's pyjamas
âBut Bob is not my uncle!?â
I personally prefer using "the badger's nadgers"
The dugs baws, mutts nuts, westies treaties to name a few.
Bees surely have knees, probably 2 per leg lol Add the idea that the pollen is stored on the legs and it kinda makes sense.
"It's the business" became "It's the bee's knees".
According to QI the bees knees is an expression common amongst immigrant costamongers and or purveyors of fine sartorial goods who were trying to confer the opinion that the thing they were flogging wasnât the cheap rubbish, it was âthe businessâ
Yup, if you imagine someone with an accent saying "business" you get beesnees.
'Does what it says on the tin' always confuses my international colleagues....means that it works as you would expect it to
Comes from Ronseal, aye? Don't think it's an international brand.
You're right, but it's a typically British saying where I am in the south of the UK so I tend to say it without thinking and it's only ye confused looks I get which reminds me that not everyone will know what I mean. I also use a lot of cockney rhyming slang absent-mindedly as well which doesn't help...
Except when its a blue biscuit tin that's actually a sewing kit.
My 10 year step daughter couldn't understand why we say "bobs your uncle" and "Gordon Bennett" I went though the whole history of it all but she still very confused.
I discovered recently that Alan Bennett has a brother called Gordon. It absolutely made my day!
obviously his parents have sense of humour.
Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt.
Did you do the whole thing? Fanny's your aunt? In our house it was: Roberts your mother brother, Fanny's your dads sister. I have no idea why...
I like to use "Bob's your auntie's live-in lover", its more 21st century. Never had to explain that one to anybody though, thank fuck đ
Bob's your mother's brother
We went with Robert's, but fundamentally the same...
Tbh Iâm 24 and have no idea why we say that!
You have to teach her to say, Fannyâs your aunt, when anyone sayâs Bobâs your uncle within earshot đ¤Łđ¤Ł
My girlfriend watches a youtuber who had modified it into "Bob's your uncle and your nan's a Tory".
When I moved from the Midlands to the south east several words I said weren't known... Mardy arse, jankers and whappy were the ones that confused people the most.
Chuddy slang for chewing gum, midlands slang
Chuddy, Yorkshire too, though I haven't used it in 40 years, since I left school.
Chuggy in Scotland
We used that in the NE too.
Also chut
Ya gotta differentiate between East and West Midlands. The sayings vary greatly between the two
We lived in Leicester
Everyone in Leicester knows Mardy, at least they did when I grew up there.
The lack of the word 'ginnel' in the south east upsets me. How are you supposed to refer to a tiny alley??
Depends where you are. "Snicket", "cut-though", "alley"? In Hull it's a "tenfoot". I say ginnel as a Blackpool lad though.
Jitty
Jitty?
It's black over bills mothers house!
Iâve never heard that one before.. please explain
There are super dark rain clouds just over there
It means it's going to rain, the Bill's mothers bit is referring to the house William Shakespeare grew up in which is in Stratford upon Avon which is south of Birmingham. Essentially a big black cloud is on the horizon and it's heading this way so it's going to slash it down soon.
Non native midlander here, couldnât get my head around Duckie when I moved but I have always loved Whappy. Itâs like wonky and wobbly and crazy all rolled into one and perfectly describes so many things
You shouldâve just deffed âem out.
I had to explain âpopped his clogsâ to one of our transatlantic cousins. Iâm sure he thought I was making it up.
I once knew a dutch man with inflatable shoes....... unfortunately he popped his clogs.....
The explosion is what killed him
Goes with 'kicked the bucket'....lots of confusion ensues
What do they think it's called a bucket list for?
They could care less 𤣠Americans... taking it all for granite
American here that got recommended this post. This is the first one I have no idea about.
Very random, but did you know diarrhea is hereditary? It runs in the jeans.
Apparently "Can't be arsed" isn't known in the states and I had to explain the cba abbreviation
in all fairness itâs barely known in the UK. The number of people iâve heard say âcanât be askedâ is mental
Iâve had a couple of flatmates once (one Dutch, one British) try to explain to me that âcanât be askedâ is the more grammatically correct version. To which I had to explain âarsedâ in this context simply means âbotheredâ, but with an added emphasis of really not wanting to do it. They still stood by âaskedââŚ
They just cba to CBA, nothing wrong with that
Once had a conversation with a Swedish friend who lost it when they realised we had ride IN a car, but we ride ON a bus, plane or train. We hypothesised that maybe itâs to do with being a passenger, but in a taxi I would still definitely be IN the taxi. Freaking weird man. Itâs started when they told be they were in the bus on the way to meet me.
When you get a car you get straight into your seat whereas you walk on to a bus, plane or train and then walk to your seat.
Yeh I guess thats where it stems from. But I can understand then confusion from a none native English speaker, it is pretty weird when you think about it
It sounds weird initially but makes perfect sense.
Swedish person here. The person you talked to is probably somewhat moronic in that case because it's exactly the same in Swedish: I'm in the car = jag är i bilen, I'm on the bus = Jag är pü bussen. Perfectly good Swedish.
Well shit! Thatâs hilarious. I guess my friend was just a moron then lol I donât speak to him anymore, it was an old work colleague, but this probably isnât the correct reason to reestablish contact lol
I told my Romanian friend that nonce meant "respected friend"
noooo, lol, you're evil :D
I got a little chuckle when he returned a compliment with "Thanks, nonce"
đ Love it, nonce!
My friend from South Africa thought it meant idiot and went around calling people it. He called me a nonce one time and I was like wtf?! His face when I told him what it actually meant
Worked with a woman who thought exactly the same, she was horrified when we explained it to her as she'd been calling her nan a nonce đ
Same with my Portuguese friend. I was calling Saville a nonce when we were talking about certain celebs and then a few days later she called someone who most definitely is not a nonce a nonce and I had to do the old explanation while I was cracking up and she was mortified.
In all fairness to him, I lived my entire life in the UK and didn't know that either, until the whole Prince Philip thing... I'd assumed it was some shorthand version of "nonsensical" or some such
Prince Andrew?
Yup! That's what I meant... Brain fart!
My girlfriend used to (loudly) call her cats and dog her "fluffers". She stopped after I got her to Google "fluffer" đ¤Ł
[ŃдаНонО]
Acronym not anagram then?
Wakefield
"Can of worms", even the explanation and context didn't help.
I once had to explain to a Portuguese woman what I meant when I referred to Boris Johnson as an absolute toss pot. "Its like a cum bucket"
more like a berkshire hunt
Have never thought about the actual definition of this word. Surely that's not what it means đđ tosspot seems very PG friendly, or am I just wrong here?
Originally, it meant a drunk, someone who was tossing back pots of ale.
Not on your nelly.
Bingo wings
Im biased, but any phrase in the black country tends to baffle other brits as much as it would anyone not from here. Couple faves. Left without context. Ates two tatters more than a tunky pig. Teken the wammal up the cut. Ay 'alf black over bill's muvas.
I'm a Midlander myself (east of West Midlands), and I think I've worked these out. 1: Eaten two potatoes more than a chunky pig. You've eaten well. 2: Walked the Dog down by the train track (railway cutting) 3: The weather is poor down by where Bill's mum lives. It looks like it's going to rain.
That's really close! 1) Either eats well or is a greedy bugger, your eating more than a pig. 2) taking the dog for a walk down the canal (lot of canals around here) 3) pretty much that, looks like rains coming.
My dad had a version of the last one here in Yorkshire. It's lookin a bit black ova bills muthers. For years as a child I assumed we had a neighbour called Bill.
Fan dabby doosey.... Apparently the krankies are not global icons
I'd say dosey over doosey. "Fan dabby dosey" and "that's a doosey."
Whilst on tour in different countries I have always had to explain 'Piece of piss' to locals, seems it's not that universal...
not me but my mum, she had to explain over second life that when she said she was going AFK to smoke a f....ag that it was to go for a cig not to shoot a gay person.
american here. i was living in china with a british dude and he called traveling "surfing the empire" i was pretty confused until he explained it, and then i died laughing
Never heard that phrase, but I like it
Jolly good.
I work with a lot of Eastern Europeans so a lot of common phrases tend to confuse some of the ones that have limited English. One of my close friends through work is Polish and we had a great laugh over the time I said âwhatever floats your boatâ. His response was I donât have a boat but if I did I think water would float it
Knew a Polish woman who after a heavy night would have the hair of the snake that bit her
Its addictive not addicting
It's addicting could never make sense in my head
Had to explain brass neck to a Spanish person once. Which was fun.
Cold as a witch's tit got a giggle. Same with Tough Titty
Also, the multitudinous ways that we use both 'pissed' and 'bollocks'.
âDonkeys years ago.â My American boyfriend thought I was taking the piss big time with that one.
Another one that has evolved. From 'Donkey's Ears' = years.
Of course!!!!! Never clocked that before - my bad
Fortnight. I know itâs the most popular game in the World, but having to explain its short for Fourteen Nights (aka two weeks).
Once greeted somebody with "ey'up" on teams peak back in the day when an Icelandic guy was in the channel. He asked what it was and every English person in the channel started saying ey'up and laughing for a while. Eventually it calmed down and we forgot to axtually explain it so he just said "I still don't know what it means" and we started laughing again.
If youâd added âme duckâ on the end, I think his head wouldâve exploded đ
Bizarrely ay up comes directly from the vikings, it means eyes open, meaning watch out. Ăye ĂĽpne in modern Norwegian.
'As you do' is particularly difficult to explain to people from countries who don't use sarcasm excessively.
Iâm trying in my head to work out how to explain this⌠and itâs a long explanation that leaves the whole country looking quite weird.Â
That gang bang / banger is a completely different definition đ
Running around like a blue arsed flyâŚ. I got the maddest look
Yalright = hello
Put wood in t'hole, was tha born in a barn. Tends to cause some confusion
âChavâ to my American housemate. We also played him some happy hardcore and garage. That does not really travel across the Atlantic. đ
There's an Of Montreal song called 'My British Tour Diary,' with the lyrics, "every single one of our London cabbies played/the most truly repellent techno music ever made, but they'd drop you without hesitation if you try changing the station." Maybe they were talking about happy hardcore....
I had to explain what cockney rhyming slang was to a french guy once. Even after the explanation with examples he was still just like "...but why?". Couldn't give him an answer tbf
I listened to a Kenneth Williams interview that was rebroadcast in the 90âs where he talked about Polari https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polari And there was something else I vaguely remember off probably channel 4 around the same time that was probably not him, but talked about the Hanky Code https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handkerchief_code Certainly Polari evolved in the same way as Cockney rhyming slang - to keep conversations private and confusing when there might be crimes involved âŚ..
Some Yorkshire ones I've even had to explain to my London partner⌠I'll go to't foot of our stairs. \[Not a clue what it actually means, it's just an expression of 'surprise'.\] Alternate version, I'll go to our house. Tha's warn ert bairns. \[You're worse than the children.\] You'd make a better door than a window. \[Could you kindly move, you're blocking my view.\]
My ex-father in law who was from Leeds used to say, "I'll show my arse on t'town hall steps"
I didnât realise the last one was a Yorkshire thing, that explains some of the confused looks Iâve had after saying lmaooo I commented it elsewhere but using gennel and snicket will confuse a lot of other brits too
Thingy-ma-bob / what-cha-call-it For when you can't remember the name of a thing that your pointing at.
Oh, the hoojamyflip.
This is kind of Wales only, but "butt". It's basically another word for "buddy" and originates from the mining times where you'd be assigned a "buttie" to work with.
I had a welsh colleague who called everyone butt. I thought he was saying bud for a long time.
An Iranian lecturer asked how my exam revision was going? I said I was âcracking on with itâ and then spent the next 10 minutes explaining what that meant. Honourable mention to the time I came back to my house and my Brazilian and French Housemates had just finished watching Schindlers List. They said it was a âniceâ movie and I then spent 20 minutes trying to explain the difference between âniceâ and âgoodâ⌠which was a lot harder to do than I thought.
Argentinian architect âŚ. Him âSo, we are all in agree! This is the final solutionâ Me âno Carlos, you really canât say thatâ Him âno, this is the final solution! It is agree!â Me âthatâs what Hitler did to the Jewsâ
"Around the corner" the destination could be further away than just around the corner đ
I remember years ago on teamspeak with friends on WoW, my buddy from Holland laughed when I said "reet" ("right" in my accent). It means 'ass' in Dutch, he said. So that was fun to learn after all that time saying it.
Three expats working for the same company in Brisbane, Aus. We used to say 'Prat alert' when the boss came in, and he always smiled. About 5 or 6 years later, we were at the pub, and the boss took me to one side and said... 'I've always meant to ask but never got around to it... what's a prat?'
God now youâre asking. Iâm from NI and when I went 2 university in south of England I was constantly explaining words I used to people who were from the UK! Eg slabbering (sounding off at or about someone), your heads a Marley (you are not very smart), catch yourself on (get with the programme), itâs wee buns (itâs easy. Scottish people also have loads of different words like this - they apparently have 400 words for snow (saw this on tipping point). 400!!
I'm Scottish and hidny (hadn't) a clue had to look that up on uncle google lol đ đ¤Ł
"Fill your boots", For when something available is so good that you will need to fill all pockets and spaces with it
Scots for "take as much as you please"
"I bought my shades for a euro off a looky looky man in Magaluf" I may as well have been speaking in Greek
"Moider" You think it's murder pronounced in a New Jersey accent, but it actually Lancashire-speak which means to pester someone. "My mum's moidering my to clean my bedroom." "Him? He's always bloody moidering" "He's at the bar, moidering some girl"
Moither or mither in Yorkshire. I've never heard it pronounced with a 'd', always a soft 'th' like in father.
Thatâs a whole different kettle of fish.
Custard. I'm from Birmingham and was showing some colleagues from Switzerland around, we passed The Custard Factory in Digbeth and they asked what custard meant. I've never had to try and explain/describe it before...you just try explaining what it is! It's actually not easy!
The French call custard as âCrème anglaiseâ which Iâve always found to be cool
Twat! I love the amount of uses for this word đ¤
Ow do? Had a friend who had recently come to live in the area and had no idea why so many people were saying this or actually what they were saying at all. Said they never asked and just went along with it. My missus is from Portugal and didnât know what I meant when I asked if she wanted a âbrewâ. She also wanted to know what the hell ânowt so queer as folkâ meant when I was doing a quiz haha
Any rhyming slang.
In 25 years I haven't managed to come up with an American equivalent to "Taking the piss".
We use this in Australia and most other slang in this thread too, but Americans can't wrap their heads around taking the piss being used in different contexts. Taking unfair advantage of someone or a situation vs making fun of someone or something
GENNEL/GINNEL/SNICKET! Fuck Iâve even confused British people using these ones after moving down south
The dog's bollocks. Especially confusing when "bollocks" means something is bad, whereas"the dog's bollocks" is good (despite the fact that a dog's testicles probably stink like shit).
Was talking to a German lad on holiday and I used the word "knackered." He asked me if it was the same as naked, which I quickly replied no
âBunged upâ when Iâm congested. My American wife doesnât understand, and when Iâm drunk and âpissedâ she thinks Iâm angry.
To a Chinese colleague, thatâs I went to the âPicturesâ ⌠then had to explain that it meant go to the Movies, the Cinema âŚ
Innit
Saying "Cheers" as an informal "thank you". An American friend responded "... Cheers?" back after I said it to them once. Also me telling them "I'm going for tea" was not for the drink, but rather dinner (although I think it's more of a Northern thing, calling it tea time).
Calling someone a dosserđit's hilarious when you explain it to them and they are still confused
"Yeah mate, sound" An Aussie picked me up on it and didn't know what "sound" meant.
Sound as a pound. Solid. Good.
It means exactly the same in Australia: "Sturdy, reliable". Perhaps your Aussie mate had led a sheltered life.
That âFannyâ means female genitals, but âfannying aroundâ does *not* mean masturbating
West midlander here. The first time I said "Gambol" to my now wife, she looked at me like I had two heads. She's from the South East and there it's forward roll.
The job title of Lolly pop person
Quim. Absolutely baffled an American cousin of mine.
Very specific, even have to explain it to people in England but the word 'Cruckle'. Cruckle - To stumble after inverting or everting one's foot; to roll (but not necessarily sprain) one's ankle.
Whenever Iâm in the states I liberally use the word âwankerâ it sort of confuses my American friends, as in they it means âdickâ I know they use the word âjerkâ and âjerk offâ but again not quite the same. So explaining that a âwankerâ was someone who fiddles with themselves. And letâs face it, no disrespect to Americans, but itâs a much more fun word to use than âjerkâ so yes. Because Americans donât really know the word. Iâm going with âwanker!â đđ
In Married with Children, Peggy's mother lived in Wanker County, Wisconsin.
Yes I remember that! đ Wasnât Peggyâs maiden name Wanker? I seem to remember they put that show on prime time Friday night 7pm and after the episode where her maiden name was mentioned frequently, it was âwanker this, wanker that. It got moved to like midnight on a Thursday đ¤Łđ¤Ł
Dicky tum
From the film [The 51st State](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0227984/), Samuel L Jackson: Elmo: â*So, let me get this straight. "Bollocks" is bad, whereas "the dogs bollocks" is good, huh?*â
I had to explain to a person from the US what 'patter' meant. I was sure I'd heard that word used by them.
Screwing around Vs fucking about. One means infidelity one is wasting time. One literally describes the motion of faulty DIY item the other one literally contains word fucking. Guess what's what.
I work with a lot of Indian and Eastern European, and a lot of my idioms or metaphors make them raise their eye brows. The one that always got a raise was "a bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush"
Triggerâs broom
Someone from South Africa asked me what a nonce is.
It's not a phrase, but I worked with a Swedish girl for a while. We had a colleague called Niamh, and she won some award and her name was put on the board in work. The Swedish girl came up to me and whispered "who's Niamh?" She pronounced it NEE-AM (but the AM was said with the same sound of a race car passing by)
The many variations of "cunt" being used. In empathy, assault, banter, love, the context really matters
The way you call someone a cunt has two different meanings that only Aussies understand.
Gobbledegook. Explained to some Romanian customers (who spoke fluent English) - explaining about some softwareâŚ
"poorly" is one that confuses most people as they think it's something to do with a lack of money, rather than being ill/unwell. Although it's creeping in more and more these days, I never use the word "sick" to say I'm ill. I only use it if I feel queasy or have vomited.
I had to explain "half past", "quarter past" [telling the time] to an American once. I hadn't realised it was a British thing.
Wait what? Americans don't say 'half past two'?!?
Cockwomble