Question about British phrases

[Yorkie]

Originally Posted by sand_man

bol·locks

ˈbäləks/Submit
British vulgar slang

noun
1. the testicles.
2. used to express contempt, annoyance, or defiance.

The Dog's Bollocks is used to describe something that is fantastic as in "that burger was the dog's bollocks"

[recycled sixtie]

Being a displaced Brit sod off comes to mind. It is nothing to do with turf but more in line with liking sex and travel.

[GH85Carrera]

I watched a lot of the episodes of Dr. Who so I am an expert on some of the what passes for language in the UK. The "Kings English" is easy to understand. There were many scenes in Dr Who that I had to turn on the closed captioning when they had some Irish guy talking to a Scottish guy. Some of some of the Cockney is gibberish. Of course they throw in a lot of terms I am unfamiliar with.

They made the show for the UK fans and I really liked seeing the plots that were not the same old tired US plots used over and over and over and over.

[flatbutt]

Turn about being fair play....I worked for a Brit company for nearly 20 years and spent a lot of time in old blighty. Over time I made friends and received many social invites to dinner and to peoples homes. Beer and scotch figured prominently quite often. After a few of these gatherings, after people became comfortable with me I was told that having a conversation with me (after I' had a few) was like watching an episode of the Sopranos. So funny trying to get them to speak in jersey Italian! Bless their cotton socks.

[sammyg2]

I was at the bar the other night with my buddy having some beers. We had been there a while when two large girls came up to the bar and ordered some drinks. I noticed when they ordered they both had strong accents so I said ‘Hi, are you two girls from Scotland?’ One of them spoke up, with quite an attitude and said ‘it’s WALES you idiot!!!’

So I immediately said ‘Sorry, are you two Whales from Scotland?’

[matthewb0051]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I have to assume three British announcers (even if they are for a US broadcast) know the correct term for a British flag.

Leigh Diffey (perpetually in love with Hammy) is actually from Australia.



Gran's apple catchers = rather large granny panties

Fanny = a lady's private area

Gentleman's region or gentleman's sausage = well that goes without needing explanation

[rusnak]

[GH85Carrera]

One of the funniest pronunciations all three of them use is (ass-felt) for what we pronounce ass-fault (asphalt)

That and Leigh Diffey pronounces China as Chin-er and Honda is Hond-er but so does Steve Matchett.

[spuggy]

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

Sounds reasonable.

Also note:

Men don't wear pants. They wear trousers. Pants in GB are panties in the US.
If a guy in the UK asks you for a fag...its a cigarette. No sex wanted...mostly.
In the UK chips are french fries and what the US calls chips are crisps in the UK.
Bangers, mash, and beans. Get some in a GB pub you enjoy.

All true; but there's more to your second point - from possibly the best/most comprehensive repository of British slang ever (warning: zero filtering for objectionable language/concepts): http;//www.peevish.co.uk/slang

fag Noun.

1. A cigarette.
2. A homosexual male. Its use isn't prevalent in Britain. Abb. of '******'. Derog. [Orig. U.S.]
3. A chore. E.g."It was a fag having to drive all the way back home at night."

3 is derived from the historical practice of "fagging" - a freshman assigned to perform chores for upper-classmen in public schools (which, in England, happen to be the exclusive/expensive private schools - clear, huh? ) Think "Tom Brown's Schooldays". Or the Lindsay Anderson movie "If" (1968).

In the UK, the expansion of fag that gets starred out in this forum for being a derogatory term is probably most often used (at least in polite company) for a delicious West Country/Midlands/Welsh dish dish; meatballs made from offal, sometimes wrapped in bacon, but always in a rich, tasty gravy. Wiki has an extensive page on the variations.

For the OP, peevish gives this; y'all guessed right:

welly Verb. To kick forcefully.
Noun.

1. A hard kick.
2. Acceleration. E.g."Quick! Turn left here and give it some welly."
3. A wellington boot. Also spelt wellie. {Informal}

[rusnak]

They don't use articles, such as "the", "an", "a".

Ex: Do you want to go to THE hospital?

comes out as:

Do you want to go to hospital?

[oldE]

If you are staying at an English B&B and the host offers to "knock you up in the morning", it is not an offer for sex, they will give you a wake up call.
If you are trying to arrange a meeting and you suggest you could meet "at their convenience", don't be surprised at their laughter, you just suggested a meeting in their toilet.

Best
Les

[dw1]

Originally Posted by Cooper911SC

Just a WAG here... "Wellies" = Wellington Boots.

Hence "Give it the boot" ?

You've got it sussed.

[stuartj]

Originally Posted by look 171

Last time I was in a bus with 4 Aussies that took over the back. I think they used slang in every one of their sentences. I took me a day or two just to catch up with what they were saying. A little alcohol around dinner, my girl friend (now wife) and I needed a translator.

Geez, don't go Glasgow. By closing time in a Glasgow pub, you might believe you've been magically transported to the Dark Side of the Moon.

So, I was once in an "Irish Pub" in California with a colleague, a Belfaster, who btw was very complimentary about the quality of the Guinness on offer. Best he'd had outside of home, he said. We were sipping quietly in the corner when Sarah Jessica Parker the barmaid came skipping over and informed us that "it was customary to tip the bar". My Irish friend remonstrated in a four pint inspired blast of vernacular that mostly contained the words "fok" "fokn" and "fofokssake". She stared at him, nonplussed then looked at me. I said, "No problem, when in Rome". She looked very relieved and said "Oh, youre Roman."

[matthewb0051]

Taking the piss or taking the Mic (Mickey)

means to wind someone up or give the business

[cairns]

They don't use articles, such as "the", "an", "a".

Ex: Do you want to go to THE hospital?

comes out as:

Do you want to go to hospital?

True but sometimes we don't either. Do you want to go to college? I found the differences in Australian English, British English and Kiwi english fascinating.

I spent a lot of time in the UK and in Australia and was a contracts manager (what they would call a "commercial manager"). One of my favorite clauses was called the "statutory undertaker". It basically required you, when performing construction, to provide access to the electrical/gas/water inspector etc. I learned to love to eat spotted dick too.

They never go on vacation- they go on "holiday". They don't have "carry out" they have "take away." FWIW the wellie isn't called a wellie in Australia. That's referred to as a gumboot. The largest one in the world is found in a town called Tully. Which is also one of the rainiest places in Australia.



Australians refer to Brits as "pommies" or a "pom" . Somewhat derogatory you can imagine it came from the acronym POME (Prisoner of Mother England). But also remember we don't go to England. We go to the UK. Scots, Irish and Welshmen will quickly remind you of the difference.

In Australia males don't wear a swimsuit. They usually wear a "budgie smuggler". I'll let you all figure that one out.

The Brits have marmite. Australians eat vegemite. They both taste like sh *t IMO.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite jokes:

One day an Irishman was visiting London and decided he wanted to be an Englishman. He asked how to do it and was told that it was possible but it required a medical procedure and only one doctor in one hospital in all the world could do it (conveniently located in London of course).

The Irishman made an appointment with the doctor and told him of his wish. The doctor said he could do it but that it required very delicate brain surgery and that half his brain tissue would have to be removed. The Irishman agreed on the spot (or "straight away" as one might say). He had to sign a release and, months later, the operation was performed.

After the operation the patient awoke and when he looked up and saw the doctor and half the hospital staff standing over him. They were crying.

Before he could ask what's the matter the doctor said I'm so sorry the scalpel slipped. Instead of removing half your brain tissue we removed it all. There's nothing we can do to fix it.

The patient looked at them all and then looked at the doctor and said:

"No worries, mate!"

[mid wicket]

The Dog's Bollocks (something special) - also commonly expressed as "The Mut's Nuts"

[scottmandue]

As a aside I heard someone from over the pond being interviewed and they commented about the word c**t (rhymes with punt).

Apparently over there it has a very different meaning.

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

c**t (rhymes with punt).

Apparently over there it has a very different meaning.

not really, they just don't get all worked up about it.

There is no "oh no you didn't" reaction to a word, just for saying it without a bad connotation.. And even if you do use it with bad connotation, people don't get all screwy.

Similar like when somebody in the US uses the Nword, as in a quote.
Y'all have a tendency to go all apesjit over the word beeing uttered, just because it's that word.
Not because of the intention of who uses it and the context in which it was used.

I once read they tried to suspend a student, for singing along with a rap song on the radio, where the rapper used it.. So she just sang along, and they tried to suspend her from school over it.

Freedom of speech doesn't account for sjit if she did end up suspended over that.

[GH85Carrera]

Few if any countries on the planet have a constitutional RIGHT to free speech like we do. We hold it tight as a RIGHT, like the rest of the bill of rights. People are arrested in many "free" countries for saying something bad (even if true) about a Muslim.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Few if any countries on the planet have a constitutional RIGHT to free speech like we do. We hold it tight as a RIGHT, like the rest of the bill of rights.

Unless it's a non-P word, then we looose our jobs and ever penny we've got in legal battles and fines.