Tuesday, July 8, 2014

39 of the best British words

I'm kind of excited that some of the words Tom uses are catching on with me. I secretly (or not so secretly) wish I had an English accent and that I used all of these words all of the time. 



They're not all slang. Most are but I've included a few that I've noticed English people use way more or in a different context. Also, some of these might be pretty specific to Cumbria, the county Tom lives in. I'm not exactly sure which ones are used all over the country and which aren't.

Anyways, here's my list!

1. Knackered: 1. tired, worn out ex. "Just been playing footy and now I'm knackered."  2. broken ex. "I dropped my iPhone and now it's knackered."

2. Shattered: tired, worn out ex. "I'm bloody shattered after that walk through the Lakes."

3. Ace: cool, awesome ex. "That film was ace!"

4. Bloody: really, very (considered a swear/cuss word) ex. "I'm bloody knackered."

5. Mint: good, cool ex. "That outfit is mint."

6. Proper: really, very ex. "That was a proper good meal."

7. Lovely: nice, good ex. "She's such a lovely lass don't you think?"

8. Hiya: hi, hello ex. "Hiya, how ya doing?"

9. Cheers: thank you ex. "That was a lovely meal, cheers."

10. Y'alright?: Hi, how are you? ex. Seeing someone you know (or don't) and saying "y'alright?". I've noticed that this doesn't ever seem to get answered...

11. Mate: friend ex. "I'm just going out with my mates tonight but I could meet up with you tomorrow sometime."

12. Lad/lass: guy/girl, respectively ex. "What a great lad he is!"

13. Fit: good looking, hot ex. "She's proper fit!"

14. Gan on: go on ex. While watching an Arsenal football game, "Gan on, Giroud!"

15. Faff about: waste time, mess around ex. "Quit faffing about, we need to go!"

16. Div: idiot ex. "That woman was a complete div."

17. Summat: something ex. "You wanna grab summat to eat?"

18. Crack: news, gossip ex. "What's the crack?"

19. Tidy/bang tidy: good looking, really good looking ex. "Did you see him? He's bang tidy!"

20. Mental: crazy, insane ex. "You're wearing that in this weather? Are you bloody mental?!"

21. How's it gan?: How's it going? Kind of self-explanatory.

22. Aye: yes, yeah ex. Q: "Are you going to that concert Saturday night?" A: "Aye I am."

23. Fink/fanks: think, thanks Basically you just take any word that has a "th" and replace it with an "f"

24. Us: me ex. "When were you going to tell us that?" (I was confused by this for so long but Tom refers to himself as an "us" all the time... was literally starting to think he had multiple personality disorder or something!)

25. Minging: gross, nasty ex. "Ewww, that smell was proper minging!"

26. Spot on: right on, ideal ex. "That pizza was spot on, mate!"

27. Cuppa: cup of tea (or other beverage, but I think it usually refers to tea) ex. "I'm just gonna have a cuppa then go to bed."

28. Gutted: bummed out ex. "I was completely gutted after that loss to Germany!"

UPDATED 7.09.2014 - I decided I needed to add the ones I left off. I couldn't stop thinking about it! 

29. Whinge/whinging: to whine or complain ex. "Will you quit your whinging already? We're going to leave soon!"

30. Deeks: to look at ex. "Give us a deeks"  (meaning "give me a look")

31. Me: my ex. "Me mum and I are going to the shop later, do you need anyfing?"

32. Toilet: bathroom ex. "Do you need to use the toilet before we go?"

33. Nowt: nothing ex. "I went for a beer in the shop but there was nowt left."

34. Owt: anything ex. "You got owt for us?"  (meaning "have you got anything for me?")

35. Radge: crazy ex. "Brazil lost 7-1 and the fans are gan radge!"

36. Ratch: to search, look for ex. "Let us have a ratch for it later."  (remember, by "us" I mean "me")

37. Scran: food ex. "I'm gan for a scran."

38. Shan: embarrass ex. "That's a proper shan."

39. Smart: dressed up, fancy outfit ex. "Don't you look smart tonight!"

So which of my American friends are gonna help me bring all these terms to popularity???

-teddy x

2 comments:

  1. faff is one of my favourite words ever. also 'blimey' xx

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  2. Faff is one of my least favourite but I think it's because my boyfriend always yells at me for faffing about, haha. I like blimey a lot but I was sort of trying to stick with words him and his family/friends use and I haven't heard any of them use it! x

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Thanks for the feedback, loves! x