ForumGarden

well someone asked about what a British expression meant, (which i would not answer in public) so i thought it would be fun to have our many UK friends on FG come and share their favourite Briticisms. since my intended is an Englishman, i have been learning many new expressions, and love to use them around my American friends, co-workers and criminals who just say :-2 LOL....some are a bit uh, er, colorful. but i love them all! the same old F word does become tiresome. so UK friends....elucidate!

How are ya love?



Bill Sikes is your best bet here,



however I heard this saying many times.

Trouble & strife - the wife,

And the Irish one's Florrie?

Sod off, contrary to popular belief does'nt mean take a clump of earth of yer spade it means GO AWAY!!

Ay up our kid= Hello

Well i'll go to the foot of our stairs= I don't believe it.

As everywhere else its a regional thing, to me up north Gordon Bennet & trouble & strife are southern saying or cockney ryming slang, when i speak to my mate Sarah down south it seems strange trying to decipher our different dialect!

i learned 'well i'll go to the foot of our stairs' from Bothwell, and never did 'get it'... and i just learned someone is 'gone to coventry' = being ignored. fascinating, would love to know the origin of that stairs thingy. i find myself saying 'bloody hell' a lot! LOL

Not a full shilling, a roof short of a slate, a sandwich short of a picnic, not right upstairs= mentally challenged :-5

DUBLIN sayings, comes from the Yorkshire Regiment based at Dublin 1915.Still used today in workman's pubs.





Watch my jamjar mate - watch my car.

He's brown bread he is. He is dead

Gis a **** & Hen, Give us a Tenner (Pound)Money

Sky Diver, a fiver

a score, 20 pound

a ton, 100 pound



The Bird, Mot, your girlfriend

Tin of fruit, your suit of clothes

A nipper, a kid





I'll think of more later Lady Cop







I'm goin to see the far east in the pineapple. I'm going to see the priest in the chapel.

Representing the south of england. Skin diver= fiver. Shields=pound coins. Would you adam and eve it?= would you believe it. To chav something= to steal it.(hence the name of our Chatham chavs) Shes a bit of a minger= shes ugly smelly etc. somethings minging= something smells. somebodys a fruitloop= theyre mad mooching=walking a slag=a lady that sells herself for very little or nothing a muppet= a particularly stupid person and a common phrase round here is ol my mate usually refering to something they found amusing. There are probably thousands of them around here. Its really funny trying to stop and think of them. They are something we use without thinking and its only when talking to Johnny foreigner that we acknowledge them and then although we register what they mean its hard to express some of them. There are loads of rhyming slang though apple and pears=stairs whistle and flute=suit dog and bone=phone daisy roots=boots I have a fairly common southern acsent and am often commenting it by saying oh 'scuse my Chatham. I dont live there but sound like it sometimes.lol and not forgetting the old bill/ the pigs/coppers/the fuzz= the police.

Tonight I shall be going down the frog and toad to my favourite rub a dub and later having a ruby murray.

Where I live it's the more rural sayings you get such as

How bist old bird - how are you

Vampress is right, we use them all the time and it's only when talking to a foreigner that you think about it. Never mind all these effete southern english sayings.

In the middle of foggy night in the North-west Atlantic.....two lights are heading directly for one another... and on the radio an American voice is heard saying "We suggest you alter course by 10 degrees to port". Back comes the reply "We suggest YOU alter course by 10 degrees to port!" Then the American voice says "This is the battleship USS Missouri leading the American Atlantic battle fleet. You had better alter course by 10 degrees to port." Back comes the reply "This is the Outer Hebrides lighthouse, but it's your call, Jimmy".


ba'heid-empty headed person

bampot-idiot

scunner-objectional person

tak a scunner-take a dislike

wee nyaf-irritating small person

sheepshagger-aberdonian or welsh

havenae a scoobie-I haven't a clue

see you pal-be careful what you say or do next

you and who's &**^%%army-you are not in the least bit threatening

we arra peepul-verily the scots are truly the chosen people

stoater-as in wee stoater-an attractive person

glaikit-stupid

playing with his pudding up a close-a useless individual inordinately in love with himself making non-constructive use of his time in a dark corner (a close is a tenement entrance)

away you and play with yourself-go forth and multiply

puddock-as in usless puddock (a puddock is a frog)

he's got mair degrees than a thermometor-he's clever

Built like the back end of a bus- a singularly large individual

wee hairy-a girl with loose morals

woodentop-beat policeman (a detective told me that one)

jam sandwich-traffic police car (ours are white with stripes along the side)

bizzies-Liverpool slang for the police

stooshie-a row

wee sweetie wife-a gossipy person

Here is a piece which has been doing the rounds of the Scottish newsgroups. It illustrates some of the finer points of the Scots language...

Windows Recall

It has come to our attention that a few copies of the Scotland version of Windows 98 may have accidentally been shipped outside Scotland.

If you have one of the Scotland editions you may need some help understanding the commands. The Scotland edition may be recognized by looking at the opening screen. It reads WINDAES 98, Ye Ken, with a background picture of William Wallace superimposed on a St. Andrews Cross. It is shipped with a Mel Gibson screen saver.

Also note the Recycle Bin is called 'The Bucket.'

My Computer is called 'Thon Computer Thingie.'

Dialup Networking is called 'Phone the Bhoys.'

Control Panel is known as 'the Dashboard.'

Hard Drive is referred to as 'the tractor.'

Floppies are referred to as 'thae wee plastic disc things.'

Other features:

- Instead of an error message you get a windae covered with a picture of a neep.

- OK = 'ats fine'

- cancel = na na ma loon

- reset = Och ye'd be as weel startin again

- yes = Och aye

- no = nae chunce mon

- find = if ye'd bothered to pit it past in a safe place, ye widnae need to look for it noo

- go to = go'n ower 'ere

- back = back the wye

- help = geese a haun'

- stop = pack it in

- start = com on 'en

- settings = sittins

- programs = stuff whit daes stuff

- documents = stuff I hive done afore

Also note that Windaes 98 does not recognise capital letters or punctuation marks.

Some programs that are exclusive to Windaes 98:

- Pincil an paper...........A word processor

- Colourin book.......a Graphics program

- Addin machine......calculator

- Andrex......notepad

- Jukebox............CD player

- Photies.............A graphics viewer

- Tax records.........usually an empty file

We regret any inconvenience it may have caused if you received a copy of the Scotland edition. You may return it to Microsoft for a replacement version.

FABULOUS stuff GMC! Thanks! and Thank You Vampress!.......another cute one Bothwell taught me, easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. then of course there's the ever versatile 'bollocks'

Here's an article on the origins of the chavs if you're interested I think the terms council housed and violent etc were made up mostly by the papers.http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-cha2.htm

vampress.rozz wrote: Representing the south of england. Skin diver= fiver. Shields=pound coins. Would you adam and eve it?= would you believe it. To chav something= to steal it.(hence the name of our Chatham chavs) Shes a bit of a minger= shes ugly smelly etc. somethings minging= something smells. somebodys a fruitloop= theyre mad mooching=walking a slag=a lady that sells herself for very little or nothing a muppet= a particularly stupid person and a common phrase round here is ol my mate usually refering to something they found amusing. There are probably thousands of them around here. Its really funny trying to stop and think of them. They are something we use without thinking and its only when talking to Johnny foreigner that we acknowledge them and then although we register what they mean its hard to express some of them. There are loads of rhyming slang though apple and pears=stairs whistle and flute=suit dog and bone=phone daisy roots=boots I have a fairly common southern acsent and am often commenting it by saying oh 'scuse my Chatham. I dont live there but sound like it sometimes.lol and not forgetting the old bill/ the pigs/coppers/the fuzz= the police.Ah that's better Thanks

your shades - sun glasses.

Yer man well hung or she's well sprung:D

jam jars, very strong glasses

gmc wrote: Vampress is right, we use them all the time and it's only when talking to a foreigner that you think about it. Never mind all these effete southern english sayings.







ba'heid-empty headed person

bampot-idiot

scunner-objectional person

tak a scunner-take a dislike

wee nyaf-irritating small person

sheepshagger-aberdonian or welsh

havenae a scoobie-I haven't a clue

see you pal-be careful what you say or do next

you and who's &**^%%army-you are not in the least bit threatening

we arra peepul-verily the scots are truly the chosen people

stoater-as in wee stoater-an attractive person

glaikit-stupid

playing with his pudding up a close-a useless individual inordinately in love with himself making non-constructive use of his time in a dark corner (a close is a tenement entrance)

away you and play with yourself-go forth and multiply

puddock-as in usless puddock (a puddock is a frog)

he's got mair degrees than a thermometor-he's clever

Built like the back end of a bus- a singularly large individual

wee hairy-a girl with loose morals

woodentop-beat policeman (a detective told me that one)

jam sandwich-traffic police car (ours are white with stripes along the side)

bizzies-Liverpool slang for the police

stooshie-a row

wee sweetie wife-a gossipy personShould we mention the Taigs:D

what do you call an old penny?............................a dirty copper. :yh_laugh (i thought i'd beat someone to the punch).....i just watched all of the old "Thin Blue Line" series, and i LOVE the CID guy and his "hoity- toity-namby- pamby- no -fannying - about" ....LOL "

lady cop wrote: what do you call an old penny?............................a dirty copper. :yh_laugh (i thought i'd beat someone to the punch).....i just watched all of the old "Thin Blue Line" series, and i LOVE the CID guy and his "hoity- toity-namby- pamby- no -fannying - about ....LOL " The Bill (ITV UK Police series) fab. An old penny here in Dublin was a copper, cause it was made of copper hence the name

posted by capn buzzard

Should we mention the Taigs


Probably not.

north east scotland

gi wa wi ye - dont believe you or off you go

foos yer doos - how you doing

fit like or like - how are you

quine - girl

loon - boy

gan fur yer fly - ready to go for your break/cup of tea

sillar - money

fits a dee wi ye - whats the matter with you

aye its a sair fecht fur a half loaf - its a hard life

oh, ok. Kinda like saying that we are all in real "Barney" if there is a fight?

Barney=Barney Rubble= trouble

I learned that from Ocean's Eleven.

Hitch the bird. Give that girl a ride home:D

Well, isn't this interesting? Well, I'll be a git and a wanker if I've ever heard of these expressions before!

Dublin bloke, wat ya eyeballin at, ya bleedin bollocks..

Jives wrote: Well, isn't this interesting? Well, I'll be a git and a wanker if I've ever heard of these expressions before!Very British Jives, just don't go calling your head those things! :wah: