caricature of a typical British toff wanker, by the very talented DonkeyHotey, CC BY 2.0
I have a seemingly inexhaustible fascination with languages, and in particular how they have evolved. I recently came across an Oxford U site listing common British expressions that are supposedly rarely if ever heard anywhere else.
Being a Canadian, I am used to straddling, as politely as possible, the line between UK and US spellings and terms. When I hear an expression I’m unfamiliar with, in typical Canadian style I nod knowingly and then rush off to look it up.
Google forces me to choose, in its spellcheck, between UK and US English. It’s an annoying choice. If I choose US English, Google will expeditiously excise many of the u’s in my words containing -ou-. If I choose UK English, Google will toss my spam messages in the “bin” instead of the “trash”, and it will correct my “misspellings” by replacing them with words such as burnt, dreamt, learnt, spilt, spoilt, and spelt, making me sound even more like an old fogey than I am.
I confess I do love the Oxford style manual, which economically dispenses with extraneous periods and spaces, though it adds in that extra comma when clarity demands it, and even when it doesn’t.
Sadly, I don’t think I’ll ever master, or even understand, the protocol for putting brackets, periods, and quotation marks in the ‘correct’ order. (“This makes no sense whatsoever,” he said, without a pause.)
I also found the aforementioned (and above-linked) list of Britishisms quite puzzling: Most of these terms were very familiar to me (though many seem a bit dated), and I didn’t think they were particularly British at all. In fact, I’d hazard a guess that most Americans and nearly all Canadians not only know what these expressions mean, but have used them in their own conversations (mostly in the 1980s, I suspect):
- he’s dishy
- don’t cry over spilt (or spilled) milk
- that place is a dive
- haven’t seen him in donkey’s years
- you’ll get an earful
- for crying out loud
- flog a dead horse
- I’m gobsmacked
- I’m going to a do
- He got hammered
- It’s hunky-dory
- I’m easy
- I’ll be there in a jiffy
- what a kerfuffle
- what a letdown
- get one’s mitts on something
- miffed
- mind your Ps and Qs
- not my cup of tea
- nosh
- it’s a one-off
- odds and sods
- that old chestnut
- it’s a piece of cake
- quack (doctor)
- rank smell
- take the piss out of someone
- umpteenth time
- to be up for it
- to veg out
- bad vibe
- watering hole
- to wangle something
- wind someone up
- wonky
- it’s a keeper
- yakking
- yanking my chain
- zonked
If you’re American, please let me know if any of the above expressions is not familiar. If you’re a fellow Canadian, let me know likewise; even if these are British terms in origin, I think they’re common Canadian vernacular as well.
Here are the remaining entries from the Oxford Britishisms list. These are terms I think are distinctively British and would be puzzling to just about everyone else:
- he’d bite your arm off — he’d be more than willing
- elevenses — late morning snack
- gobby or lairy — loud and opinionated
- jar — pint of beer
- knees-up OR on the lash — partying
- lurgy — contagiously ill
- leave it out — stop doing/saying that, please
- minted — rich or newly rich
- numpty — stupid or awkward
- plonk — cheap wine
- telling porkies — lying
- reem OR xtra — cool, excellent
- rinsed — defeated in an argument OR paid too much for something
- skive — play hooky
- shirty — bad-tempered
- stitched up — set up or taken advantage of
- trundle — move slowly and awkwardly
- it’s up the spout — something that’s been wasted or lost
- under the cosh — under pressure
- from the valleys — Welsh
- well in it — in trouble
- you what? — what did you say? (Huh? Eh?)
- yonks — a long time
Again, if you’re American, or Canadian, let me know if you’ve heard these expressions from someone from this side of the Pond.
If you’re British, you can probably advise on which of the above expressions would never be said by any self-respecting Brit under the age of 60.
And if you’re an Aussie or Kiwi or South African, I’d be curious for your insight on which of these words are, and aren’t, familiar to you.
Plonk and Trundle are words I would use. I live in BC
Many of the Britishisms are more England and certainly more London / South East and I hardly say any of them ;)
I live in the USA and agree with you. In the first list, the only one that’s unfamiliar is “odds and sods.” Most don’t even seem particularly British, but many are old-fashioned. In list 2, most of words or their stated usage are unfamiliar, except “trundle.”
Same as Cher here.
Can’t advise, being a southern Brit but over 60 – though not by much – but I suspect my kids would never say “from the valleys” unless the person actually came from said Valleys, i.e. the ex-coal-mining portion of South Wales just south of Brecon Beacons. (One of them actually lives in Wales, though not in said Valleys.) They’d understand all of it, but wouldn’t use most of those particular phrases themselves; they have their own argot. I’d be afraid of sounding silly or pathetic if I used the phrases of their generation. I’d also quibble with “knees-up” and “on the lash” meaning the same thing; a “knees-up” is a party with dancing, as in the song “Knees up, Mother Brown” and “on the lash” is just – out drinking with your mates, as I understand it. But I’m probably just nit-picking – now is that a phrase you’d all understand?!
One of the many delights of the AppleTV adaptation on Mick Herron’s “Slough House” novels is both watching the wonderful Gary Oldham, and listening for some of these slang expressions he uses that so puzzle and amuse one!
Shame Gary Oldman is mulling retirement even though there are ever more Slow Horses they remain a must see and a must read. Although Mick Herron’s Bad Actors meanders a bit, it is still almost as compelling a read as Slow Horses. Mind you, that’s not surprising: on Amazon, Mick Herron is described as “The John Le Carré of our generation” and it’s all to do with bad actors and slow horses. Who would have thought le Carré might be associated with “any generation”! In terms of acclaimed spy novels, Herron’s Slough House series has definitely made him Top Of The Pops in terms of anti-Bond writers. For Len Deighton devotees that ends a long and victorious reign at number one.
Raw noir espionage of the Slough House quality is rare, whether or not with occasional splashes of sardonic hilarity. Gary Oldman’s performance in Slow Horses has given the Slough House series the leg up the charts it deserved. Will Jackson Lamb become the next Bond? It would be a rich paradox if he became an established anti-Bond brand ambassador. Maybe Lamb should change his name to Happy Jack or Pinball Wizard or even Harry Jack. After all, Harry worked for Palmer as might Edward Burlington for Bill Fairclough (real life MI6 codename JJ) in another noir but factual spy series, The Burlington Files.
Of course, espionage aficionados should know that both The Slough House and Burlington Files series were rejected by risk averse publishers who didn’t think espionage existed unless it was fictional and created by Ian Fleming or David Cornwell. However, they probably didn’t know that Fairclough once drummed with Keith Moon in their generation in the seventies. Both books are a must read for espionage illuminati.
Peter/Tricia: As a long-time fan of British mysteries (looking forward to the next season of Shetland) I will definitely check out Slow Horses.
Probably just a coincidence, but a friend of my father, Shaun Herron, also wrote (nine) spy novels, one of which won an Edgar, which are mostly I believe set in Ireland. Wonder if he and Mick might be related in some way, though there’s no suggestion of it online.