It’s what you’ve all been waiting for, admit it.
Here are my favorite British euphemisms that I have acquired over the past 2 months of living in the UK:
mingin’ (adjective) – smelly, dirty, gross, disgusting
minger (noun) – a physically undesirable, smelly, dirty, gross person
Scouse (noun) – someone from Liverpool
Mackem (noun) – someone from Sunderland
Geordie (noun) – someone from Newcastle or Tyneside, and the dialect they speak (which is wicked) — pronounced ‘jordy’
indicator lights (noun) – turn signals/blinkers
mate (noun) – buddy
fortnight (noun) - a period of 2 weeks
mint/lush (adjective) – awesome, cool, fantastic, excellent, wonderful
“The Kooks concert last weekend was proper mint.”
crisps (noun) - chips, like Lays (which is Walkers here in England)
prawn (noun) – shrimp
chips (noun) - French fries
Marmite (proper noun) – a yeast spread, which, true to its infamous slogan: you either love it or you hate it. I opt for the latter — it’s yucky and made from yeast. Grody.
muppet (noun) – doofus, idiot
“Nice one there, ya muppet.”
pitch (noun) – a field
biscuit (noun) – a crisp cookie, like shortbread
In the UK there is a massively clear distinction between biscuits and cookies.
This:
is a (digestive) biscuit. It’s nice and crisp. You can dip this in your tea or coffee.
This:
is a (Great American Big Bite Double Doozie) cookie. It’s luscious and soft. You enjoy this alone. And you don’t share, ever.
pavement (noun) – sidewalk
nappy (noun) – diaper
sweets (noun) – candy
Don’t say ‘candy’ in the UK. They mock you.
bin (noun) – trashcan
bin (verb) – to throw things away
“I just spent the afternoon binning bits of paper and receipts I’d left ’round the office.”
go pear-shaped (phrase?) – to go wrong
“Things went pear-shaped once the children had access to the penny sweets.”
mucking around (gerund? haha) – just kidding
“Aw, mate, calm down — I was just mucking around. I’m sure your mother’s a lovely girl.”
trolly (noun) – shopping cart/buggy
handbag (noun) – purse
purse (noun) – wallet
coppers (noun) – 1 and 2 pence coins, both of which are copper in color
rubbish (noun) – trash/a negative way of describing basically anything/an exclamation of dismay (in place of an expletive)
bin bag (noun) – trash bag
till (noun) – cash register
skiving/skive off (verb) – slacking off/evading work
knackered (adjective) – exhausted
gutted (adjective) – disappointed, upset, bummed, hurt, miffed
“I was absolutely gutted when McFly announced they were breaking up.”
shattered (adjective) – exhausted
ginger (noun/adjective) – a redhead/redheaded
trainers (noun) – sneakers
child minding (noun/verb?) – babysitting
class (adjective) – high-quality/awesome/wicked
“Mate, remember that time I bounced a Minstrel off your head, against the wall and into the glass next to you? Totally class.”
mental – crazy/chaotic
“My schedule this week is positively mental.”
git (noun) – idiot-child, jerk
totally – totally, but pronounced “to’ally” in the NE
trousers (noun) – pants that are not jeans
fit (adjective) – good-looking, hot
“Johnnie Wilkinson is proper fit.”
pants/knickers (noun) - underwearzzz
Knickers is also a fabulously fun card game.
pants – a negative way of describing something/an exclamation, typically used instead of a more offensive expletive
“No one paid me any mind at my youth group, I’ve had nothing to eat, and now it’s raining… it’s been a really pants day.”
“Aw, pants!”
car hire (noun) – car rental
(Basically — you don’t ‘rent’ things here (apart from videos, etc from Blockbuster) — you ‘hire’ them.)
I’ll edit this later, provide pictures and maybe use some of these in sentences. For now, I’m off to Newcastle for the evening! Cheers — love you!!
xx Aimee Cait
that is so cool…this was so much fun with julia when she was here. We loved sharing slang with her. One of the first ones was “blast”. I told her she would have a blast doing something. I forget what it was. but anyway she came back a few days later and said that her german/english dictionary said “to blow up”. we laughed so hard at so many of these. looks like you are having a great time. Keep up the good work!!!!!
pants can also mean something is really bad!!! And also ‘childminding’ originated in the states!!! I’ve never heard it used over here, it’s always babysitting, all my american friends go childminding…..SO THERE!!!