Vocabulary Lesson

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

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